Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in Oregon Politics: Conversion Therapy, Bobbie Regan, Vapers

Friday, May 15, 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:

Multnomah County Voters

Thanks to Tim Scott, Director of Elections, voters in Multnomah County can now track the status of their ballot either through text, email or phone. This free service is being tested out in Multnomah, Yamhill and Marion County and will tell you when your ballot has been received AND when it has been counted. This service is only going to be helpful to the projected 15% of registered voters in the county that are actually going to vote in the election next week. Unfortunately, voters cannot be notified when their ballot is counted twice. Sorry, Multnomah County GOP.

Social Venture Partners Portland

Bridging the divide between the people who have money and the non-profits who need it, SVP is addressing the biggest issues affecting our community. More than building relationships between givers and givees, they sponsor events that bring socially conscious people together. One of these such events is Changemakers Night next Tuesday, May 19th at Washington High School. So if you are a good person wanting to mingle with other good people, go to this event.

Logan Gilles

The Chief Policy Advisor to Senator Michael Dembrow has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for many years and he is finally getting some recognition. Tomorrow at the Celsi Dinner, the annual Democratic love fest where attendees rub elbows and dine on rubber chicken, Mr. Gilles will be receiving the Barbara Roberts Young Democrat Award. Hopefully this well-deserving politico will entertain the room with some of his vocal stylings as he accepts his award.

NOT:

Conversion Therapy

The Senate gave House Bill 2307 final approval this week and is now headed to Governor Brown's desk to be signed into law. For those of you who don't know, conversion therapy is the highly controversial and destructive attempt to "cure" gay people of their homosexuality. This should be filed under "How is this even a thing?". If anything, people should be cured of their self-hate and their inability to live and let live. Kudos go out to Senator Sara Gelser and Representative Rob Nosse for their efforts with this issue.

Bobbie Regan

Everyone knows the importance of an endorsement as it lends credibility to a candidate. Candidates work hard to earn these endorsements. That is what makes the actions this week by Bobbie Regan's re-election campaign so disconcerting. On Tuesday, a post on Ms. Regan's Facebook page erroneously stated that she received the endorsement from The Oregonian. She did not. They endorsed her opponent, Amy Kohnstamm. The campaign then blamed an employee for "assuming" she got the endorsement. Talk about getting thrown under the bus. It is not like Ms. Regan is short on endorsements either. She's got plenty including big names like Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici and Commissioner Nick Fish on her side. So, for her late-stage shenanigans, Ms. Regan earns the Burnt Biscuit Award and finds herself in the Not Column. On a side note, President Obama fully endorses this column. He told me this himself.

Vapers

Electronic cigarette users were dealt a painful blow this week when the state Senate puff, puff, passed a law making it illegal to use e-cigarettes indoors. Also banned was the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. If you are unfamiliar with what an e-cigarette user looks like, these are the people huffing on a metallic tube that looks like something a bounty hunter from the future would smoke. The bill is now headed to the House to become final which should be automatic. It should be. Don't screw this up, Democrats.

Related Slideshow: Oregon Leaders React to PERS Ruling

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Oregon School Boards Association

"Clearly the court’s decision is going to have enormous impacts on school budgets from 2017 and beyond, unless the Legislature addresses the situation," said OSBA communications specialist Alex Pulaski. "We have all seen the Legislative Fiscal Office’s estimates that school districts will face an additional PERS bill of about $358 million total in 2017-19. If districts have to cut their budgets as a result, as they have done repeatedly over the last 10 years, that would likely lead to teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and lost teaching days.

After talking with our legislative team, it appears we are not in a position to predict what path legislators might take to resolve the situation. First, we all need more time for PERS to determine precisely how much rates will go up and whether any other changes will be taking place as a result of the decision. Although we expect to be working with legislators on a solution to mitigate the effects of this ruling, it’s unclear at this point what forms that might take."

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House Republicans

"It’s clear that we need to focus on growing and strengthening our economy to cover the costs of these ballooning pension liabilities since the Supreme Court reversed much of the work the Legislature undertook to address this fiscal crisis facing Oregon. Local governments and school districts across the state again face massive uncertainty and risk as they struggle to adequately fund schools and critical public safety services, said House Republicans communications director Kara Walker.

"Given the Supreme Court decision’s implications for any future attempts at PERS reforms, the Legislature must take steps to foster growth in Oregon’s private sector and also enact legislation that protects and promotes Oregon employers. Creating permanent, family-wage jobs and increasing incomes and wages across the state will help to stabilize local governments and also work to address the PERS costs that we and future generations now face because of decisions made in the past."

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Representative Tobias Read, (D-Beaverton)

“This bill would help earn money to fill the gap by cutting Wall Street fees instead of cutting public services. It upgrades and modernizes our investment programs and practices while improving oversight.”

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Senator Tim Knopp (R-District 27)

“As far as what the Supreme Court ruled in regards to the Public Employee Retirement System I believe that we have to focus on three things: Redirecting the 6% IAP member contribution, setting the amortization rates for money match at a level that will reflect the private sector rates, and placing new employees in contribution plans similar to those in the private sector.”

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Governor Kate Brown

“I will be reviewing the ruling and assessing next steps, including the short and long term fiscal needs of PERS, and I will be working with the PERS Board to determine what next steps they will take.”

Melissa Navas, Press Secretary for Governor Brown:

"The opinion leaves a lot of questions about implementation. Governor Brown has asked PERS and DOJ to analyze the opinion and provide advice for implementing it."

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Senator Chris Edwards (D-District 7)

"I'm not aware of any immediate solution to the PERS issue. Oregonians have a choice to either continue underfunding public services, or to get real about revising the tax system. It's not going to be easy. This was devastating to Oregon's budget."