Oregon Governor Tina Kotek's approval rating is the lowest at 45% among governors. Is it deserved?

John Horvick, senior vice president at DHM Research, told Capital Chatter that” Generally speaking, governors in Oregon haven’t been popular for a long time. There’s no big shifts, I think, in public sentiment around the governor. Tina Kotek inherited the societal residue of her fellow progressive Democrat, Gov. Kate Brown." Kotek may have better priorities in homelessness and housing, behavioral health and addiction, and early childhood and education, but Horvick said of Kotek’s work, “people aren’t seeing that translated into material conditions in their lives or changes in homelessness or housing affordability.”

If Kotek really inherited Governor Brown’s unpopularity, how did she get elected? Kotek was Speaker of the House for nine years and shares in Brown's criticism for not having a clear vision or being a strong leader. Kotek's staff has viewed her as micromanaging, and is said to show no real interest outside her priorities. That is evident according to the way she runs the State Land Board as a dictator. Even though nearly 100% of testimony was against the State Forestry Board managing the Elliott Forest, the request for more time for consideration was willfully ignored.

Kotek attempted to create a job for her First Spouse in the Governor’s Office, and ignored all the signs of opposition, until her staff resignations brought media criticisms. By then her pullback was too late to prevent scrutiny.

It was under Kotek's leadership that legislature passed Motor Voter, officially making Oregon a sanctuary state. She over road voters giving illegals drivers license, striped law enforcement of funding and weapons to control riots, and continues to ignore slave camps.

Protests and riots aren’t new in Oregon. Governor Brown allowed a cop hating campaign develop into defunding, and told enforcement to stand down. What is Kotek doing? There is an increased move towards censoring against election misinformation and hate crimes when it goes against her policies. However, hate censorship at PSU and U of O is going unchecked. A recent poll shows that Portland area voters overwhelmingly disapprove of how local governments are tackling crime. Activity continues as late as Saturday with an attempt to occupy another building at PSU. At U of O, students are joining the big campout not even knowing what they are protesting.

Shemia Fagan’s resignation also exposed over 20 elected politicians who took money from La Mota. Kotek received $68,365 in 2020 according to Willamette Weekly. It also came out that La Mote owners allegedly owes government agencies and vendors millions that was ignored under Kotek’s watch. Kotek knew about Fagan, so why wouldn’t she know about La Mota’s connection to cartels?

Kotek is also responsible for former Secretary of State Fagan contracting with foreign run KNOWiNK. It cost nearly $10 million to connect all Oregon Election Tabulators to an Intranet server Microsoft Azure, which allows anyone with a password to connect to it and change the election data. Oregon's elections are not safe because of this vulnerability. Kotek had to know the Gartner Report found this system inadequate to operate for the 2024 election for her to authorize Fagan to sign the contract. Voters need to ask why $10 million is being spent on a system that blocks the constitutional option to vote in-person.

The Governor Brown appointed Supreme Court isn’t placating to Kotek and ordered Terri Lee Brown released after Kotek illegally imprisoned her by revoking her commuted sentence. Brown’s release was revoked even after she had already finished her sentence when Kotek took action. She completed a five-year sentence for two counts of mail theft, serving the last eight months under post-prison supervision. The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Kotek’s actions were unlawful since Brown had completed her sentence.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Kotek’s advisory council floated possible massive tax increases in order to move Kotek’s agenda forward. They want people to be able to afford homes, so they recommended increasing income taxes, increase property taxes, double fuel taxes, and levy a sales tax. But increasing taxes will also reduces spendable income for housing.

Kotek’s advisory council is a-typical of why Oregon governors have not been popular for a long time. In order for Kotek to keep pace and excel where others haven’t, she has taken the same course. Oregonians see government as growing out of proportion to what government is meant to do.

Inheriting poor government policies isn’t a good excuse for low approval if the same strategy is continued. Until a governor is willing to cut and consolidate government, Oregonians seem set to continue to have low governor approval.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2024-05-13 11:39:37

Last Update: 2024-05-13 23:43:57