While attention is being drawn to Oregon Health Authority rulemaking to make masking permanent under the direction of Oregon Governor Kate Brown, in a sly move, OHA has launched amendments to a more controversial rule effectively mandating the COVID vaccines for school and daycare children. With little to no transparency, no media coverage, only one virtual public meeting held in November that was buried from the public, their unethical maneuvering is being exposed.

OHA is trying to hide their lack of authority by tying a COVID vaccine mandate to a school and childcare exclusion. OAR 333-019-0010 and OAR 333-019-1005 effectively grants unelected members of OHA the authority to “determine” if a vaccine, such as the 5-11-year-old COVID-19 immunization, should be added to the list of vaccine requirements, and it allows OHA to set an arbitrary “School Exclusion” date pressuring all students to meet or be “Excluded” from in-person attendance at school if they do not comply. However, the required list of immunizations is approved by the legislature with one exclusion date established, and, by law, Oregon has medical and non-medical exemptions for children.

The Stand For Health Freedom lists the damage they have “unearthed,” so far. The proposed rule changes:

• do not require that OHA offer Exemptions, as is currently required by law for all other immunizations.
• adjusts or removes definitions for natural immunity, attempting to create a new definition for immunity to effectively be vaccine-induced-only with the requirement to show proof.
• lays the groundwork to exclude anyone who already has established natural immunity or individuals who wish to exercise the right to decline a medical treatment.
• prevents any methodology from testing to use the “Test to Stay” option outlined by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).

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These rules are attempting to do what SB 442 (2015), HB 3063 (2019), and SB 254 (2021) have all failed to do, which is to mandate immunization as a prerequisite to attend school in Oregon and openly discriminate against students and families who exercise their right to decline. Out of all the issues that have been protested against at the state capitol, medical freedom tops the list. These bills drew hundreds of furious families out to protect their children.

The Stand For Health Freedom organization says there is no epidemiological reason to force vaccinate 5-11-year-old children as the risks from Covid are lower than the risk of vaccine injury. Pfizer’s own research verifies this fact, but executives and CDC officials moved forward with the mass vaccination of children anyway. Now the Pfizer wants 75 years to release their data burying trial results.

CDC does list possible side effects for the COVID vaccines including myocarditis and pericarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle and outer lining, in adolescents and young adults as being higher after getting the second dose. This isn’t as rare as they’d like you to believe. Even CDC’s website says 1-10 cases of myocarditis per 100,000 persons occurs among young people in the United States adjusted for the 7-day risk period – meaning it is higher during the first 7 days after vaccination, which is when most cases occur. Why would government mandate an experimental practice?

Stand For Health Freedom has made available easy messaging to OHA, Governor and legislators. The deadline for public comment if 5pm December 14, 2021.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-12-12 17:19:29

The Joint Interim Committee met December 11 in preparation for the second Special Session in 2021. The primary reason for the session was a push by Tina Kotek to help renters who face eviction. She is waging for an opportunity to put her leadership skills upfront and center to boost her visibility as a governor candidate.

However, the meeting Saturday only proved what Representative David Brock Smith said, “to get resources to Oregonians that need them and condemns the purely political fanfare of a Special Session as their hail mary attempt to cover up their disasters in leadership.”

As the meeting neared the two-hour mark on LC 9 related to emergency rental assistance, testimony was halted to the end of the hearing, but it was clear that Kotek’s reasons for her push was blowing up. Testimony after testimony spoke of the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department failure to process the applications that were already submitted.

It was stated that only four percent of the applications had been processed. Testimony from both rental owners and tenants were of unprocessed applications waiting for payment.

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Department and their failure to get needed checks to workers that lost their jobs due to her closing businesses and industries in Oregon. “Businesses continue to be crippled by a lack of workforce and data from other states clearly shows that an end to their eviction moratoriums had evictions lower than pre-pandemic numbers.

An extension will only increase existing fraud within the system, hasten inflation, perpetuate a lack of workforce and add to the looming recession facing Oregon. What we need is Oregonians to have the ability to get back to work, not this political posturing by the Governor and her Democrats. The Speaker’s Gubernatorial campaign doesn’t need another headline of broken promises,” said Rep. Brock Smith.

There may be other more important reasons for a second special session. Potential legislative concepts that were discussed are:

• Drought Relief Policy
• Illegal Cannabis Grows Policy
• Emergency Rental Assistance Policy
• Related Appropriations

Monday’s session will tell whether any of the testimony impacted the proposed bills.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-12-12 10:38:37

Last Update: 2021-12-12 10:52:18

According to the New York Times Oregon is one of five states that has a statewide mask mandate. Nine states have banned local mask mandates. Why does Oregon, who prides itself as a policy leader on so many issues, lag on this one?

According to Representative David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford), “Contrary to the Governor’s recent maskless escapades back east, she’s currently directing the Oregon Health Authority to draft permanent mask rules. Oregon’s current mask rules do not allow any number of unmasked individuals in indoor spaces while not actively eating or drinking. Oregonians are ready to move forward, get back to work and grow our economies, they are not fans of the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ mentality.”

Promises broken is not new for Governor Brown. What Oregonians thought was a clear roadmap to reopening the economy and discarding those infecting masks once 70 percent of adults were vaccinated was achieved in late June. But, here we are facing permanent masking rules without any real correlation between the vaccinated and new COVID cases.

At Thanksgiving OHA said new cases were down and infection were down too. Pat Allen, director, said “a steady drop in new infections during the past month allowed for a lifting of Oregon’s order mandating masks in large public gatherings outdoors.” Now that they are claiming success due to high vaccination rates, why not give Oregonians the option.

The Blaze conducted a study of cases over 229-days found that mask mandates are actually counterproductive. Even though conducted on the original COVID-19, variants have had smaller particles making the study more valid. The difference on a daily average was 10 cases more in states with mask mandates.

OHA established a Rules Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from faith-based organizations and the hospitality sector they claim covers stakeholders. The discussion was to get agreement on implementing the “indefinitely permanent” proposed rule. The “permanent” nature of the rule is because the law doesn’t allow for a temporary rule to go beyond 180 days. Their response is that it can be repeal at any time.

The public is skeptical that the rule is legal, and tends not to believe OHA’s assurance that the rule will be terminated when no longer needed. It does seem that reduced cases over the past month warrants a termination of masks now, especially since the Omicron variant has light flu-like symptoms. So, if not now, when?




--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-12-12 09:07:02

Last Update: 2021-12-12 10:02:45

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE), Oregon School Board Association (OSBA) and Coalition of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) met to work together on a roster of bills:

• Board and Superintendent Professional Learning Bill
• Racial Equity and Justice Student Collaborative Bill
• Superintendent Contract Protections Bill
• Funding for Wildfire Impacted Districts Bill

These bills include what was SB 334 in the 2021 session. The planned difference is to give unelected superintendents more power than the elected school board and limits the authority of the school board from firing the superintendent without cause. This will protect superintendents to follow the framework that ODE suggestions including what is put forth in SB 334 regardless of the school board and community positions.

Senator Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) and Representative Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) sponsored SB 334 in 2021 to require minimum professional learning and training for leadership positions that is under the control of ODE.

Their control suggests training in controversial areas of equity, diversity and sexual identity to be decided at ODE outside of local input as the law requires.

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The bill listed training to include the basics for critical race theory:

• Prohibitions against discrimination, including requirements for compliance with ORS 659.850
• Methods for promoting inclusion and for eliminating racism and bias in the classroom and the workplace
• Methods for achieving equitable academic outcomes for all students
• Failure to provide specified training causes the school district to be nonstandard and in jeopardy of losing funding under ORS 327.103

The Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon School Board Association provided an amendment to SB 334.that eliminated the CRT content and focused on collaboration to strengthen the partnership between boards and superintendents to enhance student success. They eliminated the threat and replaced it with a self- assessment of the adopted plan every two years that gives each board the flexibility for local decision making. It remains to be seen whether the proposed legislation will include these amendments.

The amendment may have had good intentions, but it still allowed ODE to control the training and framework to include CRT elements. How much input are parents really allowed? This framework eliminates feedback from parents when it is dictated by ODE. When parents object in numbers, it made the news when the National Association of School Boards proposed making parents that demonstrate domestic terrorists. ODE wants to not just silence parents’ voices, but handicap school boards from disciplining administration when not following the board directives. As of November, Oregon school districts filed 29 openings for school superintendents this year. Recently there were three superintendents removed from their positions.

• Adrian School District Superintendent Kevin Purnell for mandating masks
• Newberg Superintendent Joe Morelock for not enforcing a ban on political flags in classrooms
• Greater Albany Public Schools District fired Superintendent Melissa Goff to resolve a polarizing situation

Dr. Sue Reike-Smith, Superintendent of Tigard Tualatin School District, made national news when students forced her hand to address racial slurs at Tigard High School by walking out. The video that instigated the walkout was racist and needs addressing. However, Suzanne Gallagher, Executive Director of Parents’ Rights in Education, says “Dr. Sue” is telling students if someone says anything offensive to you, the one saying it should be punished. Those remarks have inspired students to ask for those responsible be expelled for what they do on their own time. That is unlawful, and goes against the First Amendment and Discrimination statutes. Since the video was made on school break, the superintendent is not responsible for speech outside her domain and giving students the wrong guidance puts her leadership into question.

It may be poor ODE leadership that is ultimately causing teachers to withdraw their membership from unions including Oregon Education Association (OEA). More then 1,100 have terminated their membership as a result of Freedom Foundation efforts informing employees of political and social stances the unions have taken that seems to be carrying out the agenda of ODE.

Teachers see the cry of parents that OEA, OSBA, COSA and ODE seem to ignore for the political agenda of state leaders.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-12-11 16:36:35

Last Update: 2021-12-11 21:14:06

Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division has announced a new funding opportunity for community-based organizations.

OHA has released a request for grant applications from community-based organizations that will create partnerships with communities of color, Tribal communities, disability communities, immigrant and refugee communities, undocumented communities, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, LGBTQ2SIA+ communities, faith communities, older adults, houseless communities and others.

The funding will supposedly support community-based organizations as an important part of Oregon’s public health system working toward equity.

OHA says their strategic goal is to eliminate health inequities by 2030.

OHA has available more than $31 million in funding provided by eight Public Health Division programs, including:

• Adolescent and School Health, $2 million
• Commercial Tobacco Prevention, $20 million
• Public Health Modernization (Environmental Public Health and Climate Change, Climate Change Health Impacts, Communicable Disease Prevention and Emergency Preparedness), $8.6 million
• HIV, STD, TB Prevention and Treatment, $225,000
• Overdose Prevention, $140,000
• ScreenWise (breast and cervical cancer detection and services), Patient Navigation and Barrier Reduction, $100,000

On the website, the public can view program activities eligible for funding. Community-based organizations can apply online using the website. Paper applications are also available and can be downloaded from the website.

Grant applications can be submitted now through Jan. 31, 2022. OHA welcomes applications from organizations of all sizes and perspectives, especially those that are new and have not received funding from OHA before.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-12-11 12:57:58

Last Update: 2021-12-11 14:30:36

Representative David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) calls out the failures of the Governor and her Democrat Supermajority to get resources to Oregonians that need them and condemns the purely political fanfare of a Special Session as their hail mary attempt to cover up their disasters in leadership.

“Republicans have solved this issue more than once for Oregonians, with nearly $360 million dollars allocated that includes over $70 million to administration costs for dollars to get to tenants and landlords” said Rep. Brock Smith. “The failure of the Governor’s Oregon Housing and Community Services Department to get these resources out the door is reminiscent of her disastrous Employment Department and their failure to get needed checks to workers that lost their jobs due to her closing businesses and industries in Oregon.”

There are a number of budgetary items on the list for a Special Meeting tomorrow (Saturday) to be heard by a Special Committee appointed by the Speaker and Senate President, to then come to a Monday Special Session. The ONLY piece that needs legislation is the extension of the Eviction Moratorium.

“Extending the eviction moratorium is unnecessary and disruptive”, said Rep. Brock Smith. “Contrary to the Governor’s recent maskless escapades back east, she’s currently directing her agencies to draft permanent mask rules. Oregonians are ready to move forward, get back to work and grow our economies, they are not fans of the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ mentality. There is no need for a special session and legislation to extend the moratorium as everyone to date that has applied for relief are in the que and if eligible for rental assistance, are covered. The other needed resources for drought relief, illegal cannabis enforcement and additional rent assistance dollars can be allocated through the Legislative Emergency Board that can meet at any time.”

“Businesses continue to be crippled by a lack of workforce and data from other states clearly shows that an end to their eviction moratoriums had evictions lower than pre-pandemic numbers. An extension will only increase existing fraud within the system, hasten inflation, perpetuate a lack of workforce and add to the looming recession facing Oregon. What we need is Oregonians to have the ability to get back to work, not this political posturing by the Governor and her Democrats. The Speaker’s Gubernatorial campaign doesn’t need another headline of broken promises. In fact, if the Legislature is going to allocate more resources to help renters and landlords, they should give them to Gubernatorial Candidate, State Treasurer Read. He would definitely get them out to Oregonians with the proper information and he could surely use a headline.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-12-11 06:20:47

Former Oregon National Guard soldier and U.S. Congressional Candidate for Oregon’s 4th Congressional Candidate Alek Skarlatos released the following statement regarding record-high inflation.

“President Joe Biden and the Democrats who run Washington, have been on a spending binge that has created the highest inflation surge since 1982,” said Alek Skarlatos. “Throughout Oregon, gas prices are near $4.00 a gallon, the cost to heat our homes and buy groceries continue to rise and it’s clear Joe Biden’s tax-and-spend agenda is not working. If elected, I will hold Joe Biden accountable and offer real solutions to lower the cost of consumer goods and energy bills.”

Inflation surged 6.8% in November, even more than expected, to the fastest rate since 1982. “Inflation accelerated at its fastest pace since 1982 in November, the Labor Department said Friday, putting pressure on the economic recovery and raising the stakes for the Federal Reserve. The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, rose 0.8% for the month, good for a 6.8% pace on a year over year basis and the fastest rate since June 1982. Excluding food and energy prices, so-called core CPI was up 0.5% for the month and 4.9% from a year ago, which itself was the sharpest pickup since mid-1991.”

Economist Larry Summers says Joe Biden’s White House misread inflation. “Larry Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Obama, said Wednesday that President Biden's White House has been ‘behind the curve’ in their predictions about rising prices during the coronavirus pandemic. ‘I think that the policymakers in Washington unfortunately have almost every month been behind the curve,’ Summers said on CNN. ‘They said it was transitory; it doesn’t look so transitory. They said it was due to a few specific factors; doesn’t look to be a few specific factors. They said when September came and people went back to school, that the labor force would grow, and it didn’t happen.’”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-12-11 06:09:43

Last Update: 2021-12-10 16:20:47

As the Legislature prepares to convene Monday for a special session, Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) expressed support for the special session priority list outlined by Governor Brown, saying, “We have a proposal before us to keep thousands of Oregonians from losing their housing while rental assistance is on the way. I applaud the two legislative housing chairs -- Rep. Julie Fahey and Senator Kayse Jama – for their ongoing work to address this crisis. Next week, we must honor our commitment to keep Oregonians housed.”

Despite making housing a priority during her tenure as speaker, Speaker Kotek has presided over a serious crisis in housing availability and affordability, some say caused by the very policies that she has supported and encouraged.

Despite record-low unemployment in Oregon, Democrats in state government continue to push taxpayer-funded rental assistance. Public assistance programs for renters have been criticized as poorly managed.

Multifamily NW, a housing provider advocacy organization of residential property managers, owners, and vendors throughout Portland, Southern Washington, and down through the Willamette Valley to Medford has produced a rental survey. Some of the comments made by respondents reflect the frustration with rental assistance program follow through at Oregon Housing and Community Services.

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One said, “People are starting the assistance applications but not finishing. Many people paying after applying for assistance and then receiving large assistance checks that give more than 3 future rent payments credit on accounts and cannot get a hold of Home Forward to find out what to do with excess funds.”

According to another, “Many residents are taking advantage of the rental assistance programs. We have found many residents, carrying high delinquency balances, are fully employed, but choosing to work the system to avoid paying rent.”

One finel, desperate respondent said, simply, “Hurry up on payment programs!”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-12-10 14:08:27

Last Update: 2021-12-10 15:09:43

Governor Kate Brown is relying on the Western States Scientific Review Workgroup to support her agenda for Health Smart Cards. The workgroup, made up of nationally-acclaimed scientists with expertise in immunization and public health, has concurrently and independently reviewed the FDA’s actions related to COVID-19 vaccines. What isn’t apparent is that the workgroup, even though stacked with qualified people, simply does what any analyst could do -- read the reports sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by pharmaceuticals. There is no investigation by the workgroup. Ironically, the workgroup was convened in 2020 by several governors of western states because they did not trust the Trump administration to provide adequate scientific oversight of the vaccine approval process.

In the wake of Governor Brown announcing boosters are now approved by the workgroup for 16- and 17-year-olds, the FDA and Pfizer are being exposed for not being transparent. Her decision follows the FDA requesting courts to hide Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine data for 55 years that reports 1,223 death and 158,000 adverse reactions including fetal deaths and spontaneous abortions during a 90-day trial study of the vaccine.

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As a result of vaccine mandates, Governor Brown still has serious problems at Oregon State Hospital having posted 12,382 vacancies. Taxpayers are supporting boosted pay by an extra $18 per hour not counting overtime to retain workers. She approved continued Oregon National Guard deployments of approximately 1,000 crisis response and other medical personnel for understaffed hospitals and the Oregon State Hospital through the end of December. Contract extension was also approved for Jogan Health Solutions staffing through mid-January 2022, covering pediatric and adult behavioral healthcare residential treatment programs, emergency staffing for hospitals with acute COVID-related needs, emergency medical services, long-term care facilities, vaccine hubs, homes for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other programs.

Oregon has spent more than $90 million to provide emergency staffing needs across the state. Some say that the solution is simple. Some say it could all be resolved if Governor Brown would terminate the vaccine mandate and adhere to three federal court rulings striking down vaccine mandates by the Biden administration.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-12-10 13:46:00

Last Update: 2021-12-10 14:08:27

After repeated failures by Oregon’s housing department to timely implement a rental assistance program, Senate Republicans are pushing for a bipartisan agreement to fix the problem and protect landlords and renters.

“When we first started, we were miles apart,” said Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend). “We were not willing to entertain coming in to pass legislation that we believed would do long-term damage to the rental housing market. Senate Republicans have voted numerous times to extend rental protections over the last 2 years. We weren’t interested in doing it again unless we had a bipartisan deal that would fix the problem at the housing department and ensure housing providers would be made whole.”

As part of the agreement, $5 million will be directed to the Oregon Housing and Community Services to speed up the processing of assistance applications. $10 million will be placed into the Landlord Guarantee Fund, which will ensure housing providers are made whole if a renter who applied for assistance is not eligible. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program will be replenished with $100 million to ensure those who have already applied will get assistance. The assistance application portal may reopen to spend any additional money left over. Another $100 million will go to local agencies for eviction prevention programs.

The safe harbor provisions passed in SB 278 will be available to renters who apply for assistance by June 30, 2022. Those protections will last until the application is processed, or September 30, 2022, whichever is sooner. Then the program will come to an end.

At the request of Senate Republicans, Monday’s session will also include important emergency legislation to support public safety and clamp down on illegal marijuana operations in Southern Oregon; a $99.725 million drought package to help farmers and ranchers recover from this summer's heatwave; money to support incoming Afgan refugees, and affordable housing investment in targeted areas.

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“Special sessions are for emergencies,” Senator Knopp continued. “These additional bills will address urgent problems facing Oregonians. The illegal marijuana situation in Southern Oregon is absolutely an emergency. The drug cartels are committing murder, stealing water, assaulting Oregonians, and engaging in human trafficking. Law enforcement needs our support to stop these dangerous operations.

“Oregon’s farmers and ranchers were hit hard by the heatwave this summer. The resources included in the drought package are going to do a lot of good. Our economy relies on a robust agricultural sector. We need to come together for them.

Representative Christine Drazan (R-Canby) called for new leadership at the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department, citing the agency’s repeated failures to implement Oregon’s emergency rental assistance program.

Representative Drazan urged Governor Brown to dismiss the current director and to respond to calls from housing providers to take concrete steps to address the agency’s systemic problems in advance of next week’s Special Session of the Oregon Legislature.

“The rollout and implementation of this much needed program has been grossly inadequate for struggling renters and landlords alike, who were promised relief but instead have been expected to wait patiently while the bills pile up,” said Representative Drazan. “Even today, thousands of promised checks have yet to be delivered. Oregonians should not have to keep waiting while this agency continues to underperform and put stable housing at risk. It is time for Governor Brown to take responsibility for this failure and appoint new leadership within the agency instead of simply throwing millions more taxpayer dollars at the program and expecting different results.”

“Oregonians need a functioning agency,” she continued. “I urge Governor Brown to take decisive action to fix this broken program and remove Director Salazar immediately.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-12-10 12:54:42

Last Update: 2021-12-10 13:46:00

Editor's note: The following is an anonymous letter from a Newberg School District parent.

Recently, I made the tough decision to take the last of my 4 children out of the public school system. I have always been a strong believer that we are our best advocates for our kids, and so we have looked for what worked best to help each child excel and reach their full potential.

I’m not sure what happened over the last few years, but the climate has completely changed in the public schools in Newberg, and I’ve had enough. The focus has shifted from academics to Pride Flags and BLM support. I personally have always and still do love and support the gay community as well as all people, no matter the color of their skin, religion, etc. I believe access to public education should be welcoming to all of the public. My kids are not pawns, and neither are your kids, your grandkids, nor our future leaders who are simply little kids right now.

When the middle school art class was asked to paint projects that are rainbow pieces to put throughout the school, the steps are painted in rainbows, the lights in the halls are rainbow colors, and the principals are wearing rainbow lanyards or pins, it makes any parent wonder what the focus is at the schools. When I know girls aren’t using the bathrooms at school because they are now genderless bathrooms, I worry about safety and access. When my middle school child was asked how she identifies gender wise by a teacher and asked to list her pronouns, she was confused.

When my high school child's class was asked who was vaccinated and who was not, I saw division created and medical privacy violated. When I read that the American Flag was too controversial and was removed from a classroom, I saw blatant infraction of the law. When my son’s English class was assigned a short story to read involving a gay 5th grader daydreaming about the professionals he would have sex with, such as policemen and fire fighters as well as referencing clitorectomies, I was appalled. When I saw a teacher creating Tik Toks to show all the Pride things in her classroom, I knew this teacher cared more about her message than my kids' education. When I saw the things counselors and staff said on Facebook, I knew my kids could not safely go to their counselors for unbiased help with anything.

When I know that recall signature sheets and flyers are being passed in the schools during school hours, and the leadership, including the superintendent, allows more and more material into the schools that has nothing to do with academics, I know my kids are no longer in a place where learning is the focus. I continue to wholly support the gay community and BIPOC, but we aren’t even helping kids pass classes because the focus has been lost. Doesn’t it feel like the kids, regardless of identity or color, are being used as pawns to further the divide? This is about learning, and our schools are failing our kids and generations to come. We owe it to our children to do better and be better.


--A Newberg School District Parent

Post Date: 2021-12-09 10:12:45

Last Update: 2021-12-09 10:45:59

As the 2022 elections near in a year in which Republicans expect to do well nationally, the hope that statewide coattails will follow combined with the fog of redistricting has inspired several Republican members of the Oregon House to run for the Oregon Senate.

In Salem, two-term Republican Representative Raquel Moore-Green has announced her decision to run in Senate District 10 which includes South Salem, West Salem and the cities of Monmouth and Independence. She will run against Democratic Incumbent Deb Patterson who narrowly defeated Denyc Boles in 2020.

Freshman Representative Suzanne Weber is seeking to take over Senate District 16 which is being vacated by Democrat Senator Betsy Johnson who is set to run for Governor as an Independent. The district includes Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia Counties.

Representative Daniel Bonham who represents The Dalles and much of the rural Columbia River Gorge will run for Senate District 26 which also includes Sandy and Hood River. He seeks to replace Chuck Thomsen who is retiring from a district that is very tight.

Also declared is Cedric Hayden who will run in Land and Linn Counties in Senate District 6, trying to replace Democrat Lee Beyer, who is retiring.

Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) supports all four candidates, “Raquel, Suzanne, Daniel, and Cedric are proven leaders who have fought for a better Oregon. I welcome their decisions to step up and run for the Senate.

“Oregonians are desperate for new leadership. Voters are angry and anxious about the direction of the state. They want public safety, real solutions on homelessness, no heavy-handed government controlling their lives, and parents need to be part of education decisions in the classroom. Making progress on these issues starts electing more Republicans to the Senate.”

Knopp focused on Moore-Green's opponent in Salem. “Since getting elected, Senator Patterson has proven she is out of touch with her constituents. She voted with Portland liberals 99.99% of the time to advance the same tired policies that have made Oregon a more expensive place to live and raise a family.

“In just one year, she has voted to keep schools closed, against bolstered funding for law enforcement, and has sided with Governor Kate Brown’s extreme overreach. She has voted to continue the same policies that have made homelessness in Salem worse. She has even advocated taking school resource officers out of schools, which has led to fights in Salem-Keizer schools to increase by 42%.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-12-09 09:11:41

Last Update: 2021-12-09 10:12:45