Oregon House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) released the following statement in regard to preserving public access to the legislature amid historic power and heat outages across northern Oregon:

“A virtual session requires access to power and internet for Oregonians to meaningfully participate in the legislative process. Legislative leaders committed to an open and transparent session. We must honor that commitment and not leave Oregonians behind in a rush to return to business as usual.

“Today I am calling on the Speaker to put the welfare and on-going recovery of Oregonians first and pause all legislative activity. We have over 200,000 families who have suffered extensive storm damage and are without power and heat, many since last Friday, with no clear end in sight.

“We need to keep our focus on serving constituents and the most vulnerable while we await power to be restored. “Our work in the legislature should come back online once the power does.”

At the time of this release Portland General Electric is reporting 216,000 customers without power and an uncertain restoration time period.

Drazan's statement was met with a -- as one Republican Representative characterized -- "a defensive and thin-skinned tweet" produced by House Majority Leader Barbara Smith Warner (D-Portland) at a time when more than one State Legislator is without power and internet while being expected to participate in the session remotely. That same Representative, who declined to be named, chided the party in power. "First, they lock out the public, then they move forward when some legislators are not able to attend. If the only way for the people and legislators to participate is electronically and some have no electricity, they can't participate."


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-02-16 19:57:11

Last Update: 2021-02-16 20:23:20