Oregon's Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee says that they have identified expertise and experience that is missing in the current committee and is looking to add 3-4 new members.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is stating that their idea of ideal candidates are younger people (ages 16 – 24), a person with a disability and/or someone with different cultural or ethnic approaches, and/or perspective as someone in the health field.

Timeline and process: The application will be open through September 15. Staff will follow up with applicants in September. A sub-committee of the Safe Routes to School Advisory committee will recommend 3-4 new members to ODOT’s director in October. New members will begin their term in January of 2023.

You can access the application in English and in Spanish online.

ODOT has an equitable engagement compensation policy that offers payment for time spent engaging with the agency and it's programs for those who qualify.

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The SRAC recommends which grants to fund for ODOT’s Safe Routes to School Construction and Education programs. The SRAC is advisory to Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon Transportation Commission, and consultants with the Oregon Transportation Safety Committee. The SRAC’s charge is outlined in Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 737-025.

New SRAC members should attend and fully participate in six 3-hour meetings annually (generally every other month) starting in January 2023.

Meetings may be held online, in-person or as hybrid options. Accommodations to participate in meetings are available, such as material in alternate formats.

The SRAC determines the priorities for the SRTS program, provide feedback to staff for program implementation, and makes recommendations for grant funding.


--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2022-08-14 15:07:09

Last Update: 2022-08-14 17:26:02

Saying "We will not stand on the sidelines as these attacks mount," Oregon Governor Kate Brown joined the governors of Washington and California in signing a Multi-State Commitment to Reproductive Freedom.

According to the letter, "The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn half a century of settled precedent and rescind the U.S. Constitution’s protection of reproductive freedom jeopardizes safe access to reproductive healthcare across the United States." The letter includes a commitment to the following:

• Protect against efforts by states hostile to abortion rights to target patients who receive legal reproductive healthcare services in our states
• Protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, inquiries, and arrests regarding abortion

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• Refuse non-fugitive extradition of individuals for criminal prosecution for receiving legal reproductive healthcare services in our states li>Protect against adverse actions by personal or professional liability insurers against those who assisted an individual from out-of-state in receiving an abortion
• Defend and protect licensed medical professionals in continuing to provide reproductive healthcare, in compliance with state and federal law
• Promote greater access to abortion care services
• Defend against false and misleading reproductive healthcare information.

--Ryan Bannister

Post Date: 2022-08-13 06:12:11

Last Update: 2022-08-15 15:27:06

The Oregon Court of Appeals has sided with Governor Brown in the case of Marteeny v. Brown in which Linn County District Attorney Douglas R. Marteeny and Lane County District Attorney Patricia W. Perlow asked the Court to reverse a decision of the lower court and keep the Governor from granting clemency to 1,073 felons.

The actions of Governor Brown were affirmed by a three-judge panel from the Oregon Court of Appeals which included judges, Bronson D. James, Robyn Aoyagi, and Ramón A. Pagán. According to an opinion of the Court, "The grants of clemency at issue in this case were a lawful exercise of the Governor’s power under Article V, section 14."

In 2020 and 2021, Oregon Governor Kate Brown granted clemency to approximately 1,026 convicted felons, comprising three groups: (1) individuals “vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19,” (2) individuals who had fought “the historic wildfires that ravaged the state around Labor Day 2020,” and (3) 73 individuals who were sentenced as juveniles before the passage of SB 1008 in 2019.

According to the Court, the power of the Governor to pardon is enshrined in the Oregon Constitution. Article V, section 14 provides: “[The Governor] shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, after conviction, for all offences except treason, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law. Upon conviction for treason he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the Legislative Assembly, at its next meeting, when the Legislative Assembly shall either grant a pardon, commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a farther reprieve.”

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SB 1008 made substantial changes to the prosecution and sentencing of juvenile offenders, including providing for early release hearings, conducted by the Board of Parole and Post-Prison supervision, after 15 years of incarceration. The legislature did not make SB 1008 retroactive. The effect of the Governor's commutation order for these 73 individuals was to afford them the same procedure, under ORS 144.397, that would be afforded to a juvenile offender convicted today. Four family members of victims of the crimes of which some of the youth prisoners were convicted petitioned the Marion County Circuit Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Governor, the Department of Corrections, the Oregon Youth Authority, and the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision "to honor and follow all procedural and substantive provisions of Oregon law." In their legal arguments, they argue that the commutations here were procedurally flawed, and unlawful for a variety of reasons. According to a media release by the Oregon Court of Appeals, "underlying those technical arguments exists a palpable emotion that deserves acknowledgement: they feel that they have been denied justice."

The Court of Appeals explained that clemency power of presidents and governors traces its origins to the earliest days of English common law. The arguments and emotions present in this case echo through the centuries. The power to pardon, sitting within a singular executive -- be they monarch, president, or governor -- has always been controversial, seemingly at odds with legislative determination and judicial decision-making. Whenever it has been used, it has been lauded by some, and condemned by others.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-12 16:06:19

Last Update: 2022-08-12 16:43:50

Oregon Governor Kate Brown praised the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act trying to regain some trust with Intel. Intel has rejected Oregon for new plants several times and most recently it chose to move part of its operations to Ohio. In the first governor’s debate, Betsy Johnson called out Brown when she said she knew why Intel left Oregon “because I talked with Intel executives and the answer was answering that damn phone. Nobody in the governor’s office saw the warning signals or reached out to Intel when the tallest tree in our Silicon Forest is headed out the door to Ohio. There were plenty of warning signs. And because Kate Brown has not been tuned into the economic development, allowed Intel’s needs to go unheard.”

Perhaps Johnson is right seeing that Intel spent $20 billion to build two new chip plants in Arizona last year. However, Oregon has 30 viable semiconductor companies in Portland alone, and 25 cities with businesses in the semiconductor or related devices category. The industrial corridor between Beaverton and Hillsboro with a cluster of high-tech companies has been nicknamed Silicon Forest. That is what the Governor was referring to when she said, “In Oregon, we are known as the Silicon Forest, having one of the densest concentrations of semiconductor activity in the country, which has spurred career opportunities and significant economic growth. The CHIPS Act will help ensure Oregon remains a leader in the semiconductor industry, allowing us to develop further technological innovations and grow our high-tech workforce.”

Brown stated, “The passage of the CHIPS and Science Act is a monumental step towards ensuring the U.S. continues to lead the way in technology and manufacturing. This legislation represents $280 million of investments that will expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing and grow our high-tech workforce, which is critical for our businesses and working families.”

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The United States ranks fourth in silicon production, behind China, Russia and India. Intel Corp. in Hillsboro ranked first in the nation in 2021 employing 19,300 employees, and second in market cap of $414.20 billion. Google thought so highly of Oregon’s technological possibilities that it ran their high-speed fiber optic network through Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Lake Oswego, and Tigard.

However, the source mines for silicon in Oregon are lacking with only 13 mine prospects, one silica mine plant and 24 silicon producers.

“Not only can we leverage these investments to advance technology and manufacturing,” Brown continues, “but we can also create living wage jobs with career pathways that will open the door of opportunity to many families who have been left behind.”

For the Silicon Forest to continue to stay on top, the Governor needs to realize that Oregon is competing for distribution channels for a high-demand product. So, how will she use the federal funds to grow and flourish Silicon Forest?


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-08-12 10:26:02

Last Update: 2022-08-12 10:32:04

Due to a failure to provide adequate notice to its members of its nominating convention, the Oregon Secretary of State has rejected all nominees from the Constitution Party of Oregon. The move was based on a complaint filed June 10. The party expects to hold a new nominating convention on August 21st -- just 79 days before the general election will be held.

In a letter to the Constitution Party of Oregon Chair Jack Brown, Jr., Elections Program Manager Alma Whalen at the office of the Oregon Secretary of State describes the violations of Oregon election law:

ORS 248.009 requires a party to provide all registered party members within the electoral district an equal opportunity to make nominations or to select delegates who will make nominations. Further, the statute requires the party to provide specific notice of the place of the convention, the time of the convention, and the office(s) for which nominations will be made. This requirement makes clear that the intent of the statute is to provide notice specific to each nominating convention, and in a time frame within reasonable proximity to the election to allow all party members to participate meaningfully.

In this matter, the Party provided two kinds of notices: notice of the Steering Committee meetings at which the candidates received the Party’s nomination, and notice (in 2020) that the membership could elect precinct committeepeople. Both notices were insufficient to meet the requirements of ORS 248.009.

The Constitution Party of Oregon has been racked by factional fights. Party registration in Oregon is 3,842 as of August 2022, according to the Secretary of State's website.

Whalen concluded, "Because the Party did not comply with ORS 248.009(1) and (3) in any of its nominations this year, the Division is rejecting the candidate filings (SEL 110s) for all candidates nominated by the Constitution Party of Oregon for the 2022 general election."


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-12 09:30:46

Last Update: 2022-08-12 10:16:29

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services Division of Financial Regulation under the direction of Andrew Stolfi has issued a bulletin saying that all health care plans in Oregon must cover monkeypox vaccines. It says, "in accordance with ORS 743A.264(2), all health benefit plans (including grandfathered health benefit plans) in Oregon must provide coverage for approved hMPXV vaccines and their administration in accordance with this bulletin."

According to the bulletin, "The virus hMPXV, more commonly known as the monkeypox virus, is a type of Orthopoxvirus with symptoms that include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. The virus has an estimated1 percent case-fatality rate in endemic countries and the potential of higher rates among immunocompromised people. The virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus. It is then transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials such as bedding. Most infections in the current outbreak appear to be due to skin-to-skin contact.

On July 23, 2022, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared that the recent multi-country outbreak of the monkeypox virus constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. On Aug. 4, 2022, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra determined that a Public Health Emergency exists across the United States due to the outbreak of monkeypox cases across multiple states.

the Oregon Health Authority under the direction of Pat Allen issued a public health director’s declaration On Aug. 5, 2022, pursuant to ORS 743A.264, stating that an outbreak of viral illness caused by hMPXV is occurring in Oregon and that vaccination is necessary to prevent the spread of hMPXV. ORS 743A.264 prohibits health benefit plans from restricting coverage for the cost of necessary treatments, vaccines, immunizing agents, pharmaceutical agents, medical supplies, or other prophylactic measures approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the public health director deems necessary to prevent the spread of a disease.

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Further, according to the bulletin, "a health benefit plan may not restrict coverage for an approved hMPXV vaccine and its administration to innetwork providers. Health benefit plans must provide coverage for an hMPXV vaccine in accordance with this bulletin, regardless of whether an enrollee receives the vaccine from an in-network or out-of-network provider. The division encourages health benefit plans to be proactive in including approved vaccinators in their networks and to update operational systems to accept and process out of network vaccine claims.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-11 09:32:23

Ahe Ashland School District has banned members of the public -- even those with a concealed handgun license -- from bearing arms on its property.

According to the district, Oregon law has allowed members of the public possessing a concealed carry license to carry firearms on district property in accordance with ORS 166.370(3)(g). SB 554 from the 2021 Session allows districts to prohibit even those with concealed carry licenses from carrying firearms by adopting a policy and posting notice at entry points.

The Oregon School Board Association considers this policy to be conditionally required because if the district wants to prohibit concealed carry licensees from carrying firearms on district property, the district must adopt a policy. If the district does not want to limit concealed carry licensees, the district does not need to adopt this policy.

The policy, which was presented by Superintendent Samuel Bogdanove to the Ashland School District Board of Directors School Board Chaired by Victor Chang, reads:

No person on grounds of the schools controlled by the Board (including in school buildings), will possess any firearm, except when said firearm is possessed by a person who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing the firearm, and is unloaded and locked in a motor vehicle. The exception provided in Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 166.370(3)(g) for concealed carry licensees (see ORS 166.291 and 166.292) does not apply to the possession of firearms on grounds of the schools controlled by the Board.

Firearms under the control of law enforcement personnel are permitted. The superintendent may authorize other persons to possess weapons for courses, programs and activities when in compliance with law and board policy. Any person violating or threatening to violate the above rules, as determined by the district, may be issued a trespass citation, ejected from the premises and referred to law enforcement officials.

The district will post clearly visible sign(s) at all normal points of entry to the school grounds subject to this policy indicating that the affirmative defense described in ORS 166.370(3)(g) does not apply. The district will post on the district’s web pages designated for school board operations, identifying designated school grounds that are subject to this policy.

Kevin Starrett, the Director of the Oregon Firearms Federation noted "Ashland joins Salem- Keizer and other left leaning school boards in banning the most law abiding and responsible people from their property. Now, lawfully armed parents may not even drop off or pick up their kids from the schools they pay for let alone attend a sporting event or school function. These schools boards have advertised a giant bull’s eye on the backs of the kids they are supposed to be caring for. Especially ironic so soon after we have learned that you cannot rely on responding police to stop a mass murderer.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-11 06:31:26

Last Update: 2022-08-10 20:06:50

Oregonians sighed relief when President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13792 directing a review of the Antiquities law and its uses. That act protected the Cascade peaks from federal grab. But the proposed Douglas-fir National Monument is again being pushed by a Springfield based nonprofit under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Antiquities Act gives the President authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from federal land to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features.

Douglas-fir National Monument proposes to cover more than 530,000 acres that includes parts of Linn, Marion and Jefferson counties. It would be the largest national monument in Oregon, and 14th largest in the nation.

The Monument mostly includes Willamette National Forest in the Cascade foothills consisting of wilderness areas. However, of concern is the 44,000 acres of private forest, which appears to not be qualified for inclusion.

It’s the age-old argument of the best way to manage forests. Two sides claiming the same outcome. On one side, they claim federal protection ensures that trees mature, burn, and fall as they would naturally. They claim mature Douglas fir stabilizes soil, shades streams, scrubs and sequesters carbon from the air and has the potential to act as a balm on a warming climate.

On the other side, forest management is needed to physically restore forest, reduce wildfires, protect mature growth, foster recreation, and increase carbon sequester with new growth.

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The Good Neighbor Authority Agreement was first passed in 2016 as a step for Oregon to enter into cooperative agreements with the United States Forest Service that allows the state to perform forest management and watershed restoration services on National Forest System lands. Jeff Burns, Program Director, said in 2021 that 92-93% of all burned acres were on federal lands, which accounts for 60% of forested lands in Oregon. “Any efforts to reduce wildfire risks in Oregon, must involve federal lands in a meaningful way.”

Designating the Douglas-fir National Monument that would leave the land dormant is not the federal involvement needed to reduce wildfires or preserve mature growths. As director Burns reported, since 2016, significant progress has been made in wildfire risk reduction on federal lands through fuels reduction and forest thinning projects. These kind of results take action.

Officials in Linn County are seeking intervention from Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representative Peter DeFazio. Considering Wyden is in a tight race for reelection, it may not be wise to disappoint voters.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-08-10 10:53:30

Last Update: 2022-08-10 13:04:18

After last week’s inelegant display of the Wildfire Maps and the subsequent “pulling” of the maps by Oregon State Forester, and former Democrat House Candidate Cal Mukamoto, Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) pushed for more clarification.

“Oregonians are fed up with Democrats continued assault on rural Oregon. These maps were rushed out the door, championed by Senator Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), then after 1200 people in his own district area stood up against the maps, they were yanked back.” Senator Knopp said. “Southern Oregonians deserve better representation than Senator Golden, even in his own district he was not aware of the effect these maps would have on his constituents.”

It is important to note the quote from ODF Spokesperson Derek Gasperini "I don't think that we anticipated the amount of response about the downstream implications,” he then went on to finish “While we'll have some minor adjustments, the map is not gonna look drastically different than it looks currently.”

Senator Knopp finished, “It is not going away, it will just get repackaged and sent back out again.”

Other quotes and statements from Mayors, Representatives, Senators across Oregon echoed last week.

House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville) - “State and federal land mismanagement are the driving force behind our wildfire issues, not private land, but these maps leave most of the burden on private land owners,”

House Deputy Republican Leader Kim Wallan (R-Medford) - “Having experienced the tragedy of the arson-caused Labor Day 2020 fires, as well as the devastating smoke that we live with year after year, I am beyond frustrated that this bill and these maps are the way our state has decided to respond to the need for more and better forest management,”

“I listened to the whole thing, and there wasn’t anybody on there who was happy. Not one person said ‘this is a good idea,’”

Senator Lynn Findley (R-Vale) - “The intent behind SB 762 was to mitigate future significant loss, lack of preparedness and financial hardship in future wildfires, among many other things. Oregonians have been handed anything but that through the new map.”

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Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) - “The growing outrage over high risk classifications of primarily rural property threatens to overwhelm the Oregon Department of Forestry with thousands of appeals that the agency will be unable to handle.”

“Ultimately, we need better management of our public forests at the state and federal levels so that we can begin to reduce the dangers of wildfire for rural and urban Oregonians alike.”

Representative Mark Owens (R-Crane) - “The map as it stands has no credibility and the Oregon Department of Forestry needs to take ownership and leadership and reevaluate immediately. This map serves as an ill-informed, unreviewed, and dangerous and divisive product pitting homeowners against the state of Oregon.”

Representative Lily Morgan (R-Grants Pass) - “The current map is simply unacceptable. I am disheartened that my constituents will have to spend their time and energy submitting appeals for an inaccurate map,” said Representative Morgan. “This just isn’t right.”

Mayor Randy Sparacino (R-Medford) - "Like many Southern Oregonians, I am relieved that our voices were finally heard and the proposed map was withdrawn. However, although the maps have been withdrawn, more rule making is still to come and will need to be addressed. The fight is not over!”

“The bill IS the problem, and I am committing to fixing it. Landowners should not be required to shoulder the burden of fire protection while government lands go unmanaged and pose the greatest threat.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-10 09:27:14

Last Update: 2022-08-10 10:26:13

For complete understanding, “science” has historically been a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts systematically arranged in the form of testable explanations showing the operation of general laws in the physical world.

The word “transgender” gained widespread popularity in the 1990s as an umbrella term to describe people who cross over -- or trans -- traditional gender roles. Currently, transgender is generally understood to be a broad category encompassing many gender identities and expressions, including transsexual, genderqueer and cross-dresser, among many others. Adults can’t settle on what the word transgender means.

However, the Oregon Department of Education, has settled the science for kindergarten through fifth grade. Empowered by Governor Brown, Rob Wagner and Tina Kotek, transgender science has been institutionalized, and is sexual and phycological abuse of young children in our public schools.

Portland Public Schools have adopted a 198 slide lesson curriculum for the fall, targeting Kindergarteners through fifth graders, titled "Understanding our Bodies - Kindergarten Health Scientists."

Under “Kindergarten Health – Unit 5 (page 17), it states “Gender is like outer space because there are as many ways to be different genders as there are stars in the Sky! Each person is different and that is cool.” The curriculum was developed by trans people as “very intentional” and teachers are asked to “use the wording written on the slides.” (page 26)

Second grade students are forced to ingest the idea that “Gender is Colonized.” “When the United States was colonized by white settlers, their views around gender were forced upon the people already living here” (page 89), and (page 90) it states “Other cultures around the world, especially Black, Indigenous, and Brown cultures and people, view gender in different ways and use different words.”

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The science gets real fuzzy presenting sex and gender as an assigned option that the student has the right to choose. At birth, doctors and adults assign gender based on physical appearance, but they don’t really know the child’s gender because they can’t ask the baby. (page 40)

Starting in Kindergarten the students learn about private parts that are of two kinds. From there the science goes down hill fast. God created male and female. He also created each as unique individuals with special gifts or aptitudes, which doesn’t include nonbinary or LBGTQ+. The two-spirit message presented (page 105) as some spiritual indicator of two gender spirits is a better confirmation that we all have masculine and feminine traits. Neuroscientist Lise Eliot, Chicago Medical School, says brains are a unisex organ.

Because we are a social culture and our brains are formed within a culture, our way of viewing ourselves as men and women is imprinted by the cultural environment we grew up in. The cultural definitions of which traits are appropriate for men and women influence the personality characteristics that boys and girls develop. Such a curriculum is intended to influence your child’s cultural environment.

Research, reported by Popular Science, shows that culture’s "Big Five" personality traits of psychology -- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism -- do not categorically vary between men and women. The curriculum is aimed at arousing emotional responses, intensifying undeveloped brain activity hindering aspects of normal development – in all aspects it is abusive.

Now our school system wants to confuse students, too young to know who they are, and question their God given birth gender. They are being abused for having normal feelings for both genders. According to Psychology Today, they should be encouraged to accept themself with all of their different characteristics and personality traits as who they are. It isn’t sexual or gender identity that causes difficulties, it’s human character.

Ben Edtl, candidate for SD19, wrote in his newsletter of the Portland School curriculum: “I believe that educating children that Black, Indigenous and Brown people viewed gender in different ways until the white Europeans showed up is completely senseless and blatantly racist to every person mentioned. Our schools should be focused on uniting our children regardless of their differences and focusing on basic education like math, reading and writing.”


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-08-10 06:54:21

Last Update: 2022-08-10 10:33:19

Two initiative petitions proposed for the November 2024 election have been filed with the Oregon Secretary of State to significantly change the way Oregonians vote. Initiative Petitions 11 and 12 are the same, except that the former contains a provision for presidential elections.

Chief Petitioners for the initiatives are Deanna Kallen and Bryan Lewis of Portland and Zach Hudson of Troutdale.

The text of the initiatives describes how the process works:

For each seat up for election by means of STAR Voting, votes shall be tallied using a two-round process which consists of a scoring round and an automatic runoff round. The scoring round shall calculate the sum total of the scores received by each candidate and determine the two candidates who received the greatest total scores. Those two candidates shall be the finalists and shall advance to the automatic runoff round, where the finalist preferred by more voters wins.

According to the website, starvoting.us "In STAR Voting, voters fill in the bubbles to score candidates from zero up to five stars. Voters give their favorite(s) five stars, their last choice(s) zero stars, and score other candidates as they like. The five-star ballot allows voters to show their preference order and indicate their level of support for all of the candidates. Voters are allowed to give candidates the same score, if they support them equally. Candidates left blank receive zero stars.

"With STAR Voting we could skip the low-turnout primary and just vote once in November. STAR Voting eliminates vote splitting and the spoiler effect, so it’s highly accurate with any number of candidates in the race. Skipping the primary would save taxpayers money, would save voters time, and the shorter campaign season would make it much more accessible for grassroots candidates to run for office.

"For situations where a primary is needed, such as partisan primaries or the presidential primary, STAR Voting can be used for either or both elections."




--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-09 11:04:28

Last Update: 2022-08-09 13:24:14

Oregon 4th Congressional District candidate Alek Skarlatos is calling out his opponent, Val Hoyle for backing a bill that will pack the Internal Revenue Service with thousands of new agents.

According to Skarlatos, “Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle has always stood with the extreme wing of the Democratic Party, and it’s no surprise that she voiced her support for Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act that will hire 87,000 new IRS agents. For context, Autzen Stadium can only hold 54,000 people, and Reser Stadium can only hold 26,400, which combined is less people than the 87,000 new IRS agents that Joe Biden and Val Hoyle are going to hire to audit your taxes.

“Oregon’s 4th Congressional District is the poorest in the state, nobody feels the pain of inflation and high gas prices more than us, and Val Hoyle’s response is to support Joe Biden’s decision to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to audit small businesses and families in Oregon,” said Oregon National Guard Veteran Alek Skarlatos. “While large corporations have an army of lawyers to deal with the IRS, that’s not the case for small business owners and is further proof why Val Hoyle’s extreme idea to hire 87,000 new IRS agents is bad for small businesses, farmers, fishermen, timber workers and families in Oregon.”

According to the Washington Times "The reconciliation bill Democrats rushed through congress calls for $80 billion in new IRS funding so the agency can hire as many as 87,000 new agents and auditors. Democrats are doubling the size of the IRS, with most of the new money going into its enforcement arm. The bill provides 14 times as much funding for “enforcement” -- what some are calling fishing expedition audits -- than it does for “taxpayer services” such as answering the phone. It is dangerous to give an unaccountable and incompetent agency this much power over families and small businesses.” (The Washington Times, 08/08/22)


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-08-09 09:55:22

Last Update: 2022-08-09 11:04:28