Legislative "wins" don't negate a failure to address misconduct

Some important bills passed in the just-completed legislative session, but failure to address legislative ethics and conduct breaches leaves a stain.

Mark worked 20 years at The Oregonian in positions including business editor & editorial writer. He currently is a communications consultant.

"Oregon Capitol" by OregonDOT is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The 2021 Oregon legislative session is over and hopefully we never have another one like it. That’s an easy statement to make because this session was defined by COVID-19 both in terms of how business was conducted and what bills received the most attention. No one wants to face those conditions again.

Despite those conditions, it must be acknowledged that some good things happened during the 2021 session. The legislative wins, though, came amid significant missed opportunities—in particular, a failure to address what amounts to a worsening and long-stemmed ethics issue in the Legislature.

First, some positives. Federal stimulus money enabled the state to fund a long list of mostly needed local projects spread across Oregon. For the most part, the Legislature dealt with the rent crisis created by COVID-19 shutdowns in a timely and reasonable manner by providing both lenience for renters and compensation for landlords. A separate bill made it easier to gain approval for affordable-housing development. Also, the Legislature made progress on climate change by passing a bill, one that’s both doable and effective, to decarbonize the state’s electric grid by 2040.

Equally as positive, each of these issues moved through the Legislature in the way legislation should – with sponsors listening and accepting others’ ideas to improve the original bills. There were political skirmishes, stalling tactics and power plays to be sure, but you could at least find hints of compromise if you looked hard enough.

So, like any session, this one had policy achievements and policy failures. Opinions on what qualifies as success and failure vary according to ideological leanings. And only time will tell which bills achieve their goals and which fall short.

Unfortunately, one failure is already apparent: conduct. I’ll admit that there were a few grading periods in elementary school when conduct was the lowest grade on my report card – I talked too much in class. The conduct grade didn’t seem as important as grades in “real” subjects to me. Some might be inclined to take the same attitude toward the Legislature, focusing on policy instead. But legislators aren’t in elementary school – even if they act like it at times – and poor conduct diminishes trust in government. Unruly legislators were often left to wreak havoc – playing class clown (and worse) during a time in which there was no space for jokes and even less for actions undermining democracy.

The two biggest trust-breakers were on display at the beginning and end of the 2021 session. Early in the session, Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, announced his resignation amid sexual harassment allegations. Late in the session, Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, was expelled from the Legislature after he refused to resign despite evidence he helped armed protestors gain access to the state Capitol. Hernandez and Nearman were the only legislators to resign or be removed during the session, but they were not the only ones to face accusations of harassment or other misbehavior.

Sadly, these incidents have not led to significant change. In fact, county commissioners in his district faced pressure to re-appoint Nearman to the seat from which he was expelled. Thankfully, this week they resisted that pressure and chose someone else.

Failure to address legislative behavior in a meaningful way not only invites more misbehavior but threatens to further erode the credibility of a body that doesn’t have any credibility to spare. Bills addressing both ethics and campaign finance, which at times become intertwined, come up in most every session and either fail or are watered down. Legislation in these two areas is long overdue, especially well-designed campaign finance measures. But legislation alone won’t resolve these issues. It’s hard to improve behavior just through legislation. And if trust is the goal, as it should be, the only solution is to elect legislators who are committed to holding themselves to the highest standards of behavior. That responsibility falls to us, the voters.

This problem hardly is unique to Oregon. Nor is it unique to this hyper-partisan period of American politics. But it’s too important to ignore, because as some of us learned in elementary school, improved conduct usually leads to improvement in other areas – whether it be math class or legislative policy.