Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in Oregon Politics: College Bound Kids, Senior Citizens, Senator Devlin

Friday, July 10, 2015

Douglas Fasching, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Every Friday, GoLocalPDX breaks down who's rising and who's falling in the world of Oregon politics. Check out who made the lists this week.

HOT:

Wannabe Representatives

The fact that Representative Tobias Read was going to give up his seat representing District 27 to ~~be elected~~ run for State Treasurer was the worst kept secret in Salem. He finally made it official on Tuesday a day after the legislature ended its session. Be prepared for the Running Man-esque battle that is going to take place to fill that seat. I predict there will be at least four people duking it out in the Democratic primary. The first to throw her hat in the ring was Community Health Nurse and Emerge Oregon graduate Sheri Malstrom who filed this Wednesday. Expect recent graduates of the Oregon Labor Candidate School and the Center for Women's Leadership to jump in the race as well. The real question now becomes, who will come out victorious, ONA, OAR, OEA, SEIU...

College Bound kids

In 2013, the "Tuition Equity" bill passed giving undocumented Oregon high school graduates the benefit of in-state tuition rates if they met certain criteria. An estimated 75 students have taken advantage of this. Under Senate Bill 932, those students would also be eligible for state tuition grants worth about $2,000 a year. If you really wanted to see fireworks, you didn't have to wait until the 4th of July. You could have sat in on the debate over this bill. Hoo-boy! Things got so heated that a time out had to be called and House Speaker Kotek had to remind everybody not to be a-holes. The word she used was 'decorum', but whatevs. Same thing. Why is it that some legislators don't bat an eye when they vote to give millions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations but balk when asked to spend a few thousand for a kid to get a decent education?

Seniors and People with Disabilities

Social Security, federal disability payments and pensions are shielded by federal law from collections. That didn't stop the Oregon Department of Revenue. They routinely went after people even after they knew the income the person was living on fell under one of these federal exemptions. House Bill 2089, signed into law on Monday, directs the Revenue Department to suspend collection of unpaid state taxes from Oregonians getting by on these forms of income. Thanks to this bill, they can no longer send to collections sick and elderly Oregonians who are living month to month and often hand to mouth. Oh, what a sad day at the Revenue Department. Maybe there are some orphanages out there they can audit. That might cheer them up.

NOT

Senator Richard Devlin

Senator Richard Devlin, the Co-Chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee is running for Secretary of State. That is the rumor anyway. That in itself does not warrant placement in the Not Column, but the way he intends to go about it does. The speculation is that he is not giving up his Senate seat while he runs for higher office. He intends to hold onto his leadership role whilst campaigning. While it is not required to give up one's seat, it is still poor form. Lastly, the rumor has him intending to dip into his campaign war chest to finance his campaign. A war chest that now stands at about 272k. Money he raked in by being the 3rd most powerful person in the Senate chairing the most powerful committee in the legislature. Money that should be going to help get other Dem Senators elected not financing your own aspirations. Using your position and a shit-ton of money to deter others from jumping in a race really isn't fair. Nobody likes a bully. Cheer up, Val, at least you don't have a recall to deal with.

Sid Leiken

Current Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken is a man with goals. One of those goals was to one day be Governor of this great state. That was until last week when he lowered his expectations and decided to run for Secretary of State instead. Why is he wasting his time? He has little name recognition and about 9k in his campaign account. It is hard not to feel badly for him as he seems like a decent guy. A guy who is already making a pretty good living serving the people of Lane County. Unfortunately for him, no republican has won state-wide office since 2002 and that isn't about to change now especially for the race for Secretary of State (See above). Why can't he just be happy? Why must he continue his trajectory towards the sun?

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

If you heard City officials humming 'Taxman' by The Beatles recently now you know why. One of the marijuana-related laws passed in Salem this session allowed for medical marijuana dispensaries to sell weed to recreational users. Unfortunately that same law let the cities dictate how that weed would be sold. Enter the Office of Neighborhood Involvement. ONI, under the direction of Mayor Hales' bestie, Commissioner Amanda Fritz, has been tasked with overseeing the permitting of these dispensaries. These permits are going to cost $1500. That's right, $1500. And what does the City plan to do with all this money? Officials say they will use the money to monitor "neighborhood public safety and livability concerns." What the hell does that mean? How about transferring some of this money to PDOT to fix some potholes. Potheads For Potholes. There you go, ONI, I just gave you your next PR campaign. You're welcome.