Well, it didn't take long for Republicans in the Oregon Senate to give an extended middle finger to the 68% of Oregonians who approved Measure 113 last November, which says that any legislator with ten unexcused absences from a legislative session can't run for reelection.
After walking out in 2019 and 2021, once again Senate Republicans are refusing to do their job, as reported by the Oregonian.
Oregon Republicans boycotted the state Capitol on Wednesday, testing for the first time a 2022 measure that punishes state lawmakers for walkouts. The boycott comes as Democrats advance an abortion and gender-affirming health care proposal and gun regulations scorned by conservatives.
Five senators — one Independent and four Republicans — were unexpectedly absent when the state Senate convened Wednesday morning. In addition, another seven senators were granted excused absences in advance. The absences denied the 20-member quorum necessary to conduct business, forcing Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, to bang a gavel ending the session.
I wish those Republicans (the independent is Brian Boquist, a former Republican who caucuses with the Senate GOP members) would be honest and simply say that they're against gun safety, abortion rights, and gender-affirming care.
Instead, they made up a bunch of crap to justify being paid while failing to perform their legislative duties. Here's the absurd reason they conjured up, according to the Salem Reporter.
The walkout – which Republican leaders called a work stoppage – comes amid frustrations between minority GOP senators and Democratic leaders over contentious issues like firearms regulations, transgender rights and abortion. GOP leaders say the move is not tied to any one bill and aims to combat an unconstitutional process of passing bills that fail to meet legal requirements for readable language that the public can understand.
So we're supposed to believe that the top priority of Senate Republicans now is readable language. I'd say Good luck making this a centerpiece of your reelection campaign, but if the Republicans in the Oregon Senate (12 including Boquist) keep on with their walkout, many or most of them won't be able to be reelected because of Measure 113.
Not surprisingly, the GOP is thinking of challenging the constitutionality of Measure 113. You know, the measure that over two-thirds of Oregon voters said "yes" to. Try explaining that to the public, Senate Republicans. Here's another excerpt from the Salem Reporter story. Tim Knopp is the Senate Republican leader.
Knopp said Republicans and an independent senator are taking their protest day-by-day, and that it’s possible at least one will rack up 10 unexcused absences to have legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of the new voter-approved law.
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