If you think that such mandates as wearing masks and the increased programs for tests as well as tracking of positive results is about Covid-19 and public safety, it isn’t playing out that way.

Today, the Oregon Senate began to fulfill its constitutional mandate to conduct the people’s business in 2021.

What does that have to do with Covid-19?

It established a level of fear that the Democratically-controlled Senate passed unconstitutional rules that lock the public out of their Legislature. The Oregon Health Authority knows that the BionaxNow POC tests have a very high false positives and admit the PCR tests detect other coronaviruses and still they are recommending it’s use. It sets up a perfect reason for Governor Brown to keep from how many objects to her policies, and legislators from seeing in-person testimonies that can’t be cut off by the switch of a button.

Article 4 Section 14 of the Oregon Constitution states, “deliberations of each house… shall be open.” But under the Democrat rules, the public may not enter the Capitol, give public in-person testimony, nor view the people’s business in-person. The move continues anti-public involvement rules from last year’s legislative sessions. All the while big box stores, schools, and even the California Legislature are partially open to the public.

The people have a right to participate in their democracy,” said Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Lyons). “This participation doesn’t stop after they vote in November and locking the public out of their house is just wrong. Their input is imperative to good public policy. The decision to lock the public out of their Capitol isn’t based on science – not even close,” Leader Girod continued. “We are nearly a year into this pandemic. We have data and information on how to make public spaces safe. Some restaurants are open, big box stores are open, and even California, a state whose COVID case numbers are among the grimmest in the county, has acknowledged the importance of allowing the people to safely access their capitol.”

“Some things are sacred, and the public’s full participation in their democracy is one of those things.”

As of yesterday, California has the third-highest daily reported cases per capita in the country. Oregon is ranked 48th.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-01-12 17:55:12

Last Update: 2021-01-12 18:39:45