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Posts published in “Day: March 6, 2012”

OR filings: Three apiece

March 6, 2012

Oregon candidate filings ended just a couple of hours ago, and we'll have a few thoughts dribbling out.

Starting with a statistical oddity: Exactly three candidates have filed in the primary election (there may be more from minor parties) for each of the five U.S. House seats. When has that happened before?

The five incumbents account for a third of them. In addition: Two Republicans in the 1st district, two Democrats in the 2nd, two Republicans in the 3rd, a Democrat and a Republican in the 4th, and two Republicans in the 5th. No really big, major figures among the challengers, and incumbents appear likely to, as usual, sweep the field.

Okay, an asterisk needs to be added to that. In District 4, where Democrat Peter DeFazio is running again, he has a primary election from Matthew L. Robinson, and (presumably) a general against Republican Art Robinson - the same Art Robinson who ran such a peculiar race against DeFazio in 2010. (Google away for the details on that; be such to note his calls for abolition of public schools and Social Security, among other things.)

There's an obvious question: Is Matthew Robinson related to Art Robinson? Apparently, yes: He does have a son by that name. Which would make for an unusual case of a single family trying for two bites of the political apple in a single election ...

The finish line

March 6, 2012

On the TV series Lost, one of the key lines was this: "It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress."

So at a legislative session. Lots of discussion and, in news accounts, ink were devoted to discussions of how, especially in the last couple of weeks, the Oregon legislative session had gotten testy. Bills were being held hostage. The Republicans (last weekend) bolted for Dorchester. One legislator told another to shut her mouth. Key legislation that actually had widespread support might not clear. The budget wasn't getting done.

The session closed out last night, and the end result was something else.

Governor John Kitzhaber wound up with everything he had asked for: Two major health bills and two major education bills, what was needed to keep sweeping initiatives in those areas on track. Republicans got bills on expanding enterprise zones (a good idea) and denying public access to concealed weapons records (not so good). Democrats got a bill through to help homeowners facing foreclosure. There was a bill to help with recovery of troubled stretches of the ocean off the Oregon coast. And more besides.

A month from now, the squabbles and the hostage-taking will be forgotten (other than by a few participants). The results will be remembered, and the results were substantial - more substantial, it appears now, than in the other state legislatures meeting at present. (Sessions in Washington and Idaho are ongoing.)

And it marks another productive legislative session in a state where, over the last decade, highly productive sessions (last year's was another) have become the norm.