One-third of Oregon Senate now ineligible for another term as Republican walkout continues

[RandySF]

All but three Republicans in the Oregon state Senate have now made themselves ineligible to serve another term under a voter-approved state law intended to prevent walkouts.

Six Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, hit their 10th unexcused absence on Thursday morning. Three other Republicans and an independent senator reached that threshold earlier this week, meaning one-third of the Senate is now barred from serving another term because of a constitutional amendment voters approved last year.

Republicans initially said the walkout stemmed from the Senate failing to comply with a state law that requires bill summaries to be written at an eighth-grade reading level, though they’ve since acknowledged that they’re also protesting Democratic bills around abortion, gender-affirming care and guns.

On Thursday, Democrats all stood when called on for attendance and remained standing until after a somber-faced Senate sergeant at arms returned from a fruitless hunt for missing Republican senators around the building.



https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/05/18/one-third-of-oregon-senate-now-ineligible-for-another-term-as-republican-walkout-continues/

[catbyte]

1. Cutting off their noses to spite their faces?

What's next? Holding their breath until they turn blue? Didn't they read the new law? Is walking out such a thing in Oregon that they had to pass a law about it? Wow.

[Cha]

3. lol.. What I said!

[plimsoll]

9. Yes it is.

Democrats have pulled it in the past. It's about quorum and some other parliamentary process. No legislation can take place. When the GOP was in charge they'd send the state police out to round up Democrats. This is actually funnier, but I'm sure they think it won't be enforced.

[Whiskeytide]

10. "Didn't they read the new law?". They couldn't. It wasn't ...

… written on an 8th grade reading level.

[Cha]

2. What? Why are they cutting off

nose to spite their stupid face?!!

[MissB]

11. They think they'll prevail with a federal case to overturn

the new state law.

Or, they’re asses. Either works.

[Cha]

12. Both. TY

[CaptainTruth]

13. Article says it's a constitutional amendment, not just a law.

Thus far federal judges have been reluctant to meddle in state constitutions, unless it was an issue that violated the US Constitution.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. good

[Fullduplexxx]

5. laws applyto them remember?

[msongs]

6. seems to me dems used this same tactic there not so long ago nt

[ret5hd]

7. Did they disqualify themselves?

[aeromanKC]

8. Ya, but they are owning the libtards.

Never felt so owned. 🤣

[Kennah]

14. FAFO

[Kennah]

15. Fire! Fire! Fire!

[orthoclad]

19. I wish

you wouldn't compare R pols to principled Buddhist monks.

[Kennah]

21. A fair criticism. I just want the GOOPers to set themselves on fire. Usually that's a metaphor.

[orthoclad]

16. The actual politicians are disposable.

Follow the money.

[Hortensis]

17. From what I've read they don't always stay bought.

It's an ongoing frustration for wealthy RW activists. Those even bought before election, almost all of them these days, have their own interests and of course by nature tend to be dishonorable, unreliable, dishonest, self serving, hypocritical, and/or irrational.

I read about the poor dears' general problems around the time the Tea party faction broke their Koch alliance leash and forced their movement's secret creators to put it down. Things, of course, got really crazy and out of control since.

[orthoclad]

18. Maybe it's an open market

Free enterprise system.

[Hortensis]

20. Lol. "Whack a mole" doesn't begin to describe

the problem of wiping it out.

[gratuitous]

22. In for a penny, in for a pound

Republicans in Oregon don't have a really deep bench. They're betting very heavily, perhaps even ruinously so, that a federal court is going to nullify an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that voters approved last year by a 68-23 margin.

Yes, "both sides" have used the tactic of denying the Senate a quorum. Most recently, Democrats walked out for five days in June 2001 to subvert a Republican ploy to redraw districting maps without submitting their scheme to the governor, a Democrat who would have vetoed their attempt to gerrymander Oregon. I'll grant you that in geologic terms, 22 years ago is not all that long; but in political terms there's been quite a bit of movement in that time.

See the linked article for a precis of Republican walkouts in 2007 (taxes); 2019 (education funding); 2019 again (cap and trade); 2020 (cap and trade again); 2021 (COVID restrictions); and 2021 (redistricting). It was after this fifth walkout over two legislative sessions and one special session that voters got fed up with Republican shenanigans, and amended the state constitution. As per usual, Republicans hate consequences for their behavior worse than just about anything, and they're willing to roll the dice that a federal court will step in to save them.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Thank you for this excellent synopsis!

So, now what'll happen when the federal court doesn't step in to save them?

I'd really love to see that happen!

[gratuitous]

24. When they lose their bet?

Oh, they'll take the loss like the honorable gentlemen they are, regroup and put together a platform that will win over the hearts and minds of both rural and urban Oregonians all across the state and catapult them to victory and turn Oregon red for the foreseeable future.

Or they'll whine and pule and gripe about how unfair life is and everybody else is a poopyhead before running down the hall and slamming their bedroom door real hard so we all know how mad they are.

The second one, I'm thinking.

[GenThePerservering]

25. "Republicans initially said

the walkout stemmed from the Senate failing to comply with a state law that requires bill summaries to be written at an eighth-grade reading level, though they’ve since acknowledged that they’re also protesting Democratic bills around abortion, gender-affirming care and guns."

Peak Republican.

[Drum]

26. Suicide pact?