The Liftoff: Kotek's inaugural ball
PLUS: Portland-area candidate announces 2024 re-election campaign; a major reversal in Newberg; monkeys and kangaroos in the legislature; a blistering editorial; Oregon's health care crises; and more!
Welcome back to The Liftoff!
First, some sad news. Oregon last an icon last week with the passing of legendary Portland Trailblazers announcer Bill Schonely. Sports columnist John Canzano saw Schonely days before he died and asked him if he had a message for his fans. If you’re a nostalgic Blazer fan, it’s worth the read.
One quick note before we dive in: we’re just a handful of of subscribers away from hitting 3,000. One easy way to support the newsletter is to forward this email to a friend or colleague. The other way is to become a paid subscriber!
1. Kotek’s inaugural ball (and more state government news)
Well over 1,000 people attended Gov. Tina Kotek’s inaugural ball at the Oregon Convention Center (Kotek pictured above with her wife Aimee Wilson at the ball).
Kotek has received over $500,000 in campaign contributions since the end of the election, including big checks from the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems—who had an “anyone-but-Kotek strategy“ in the primary and general election, according to Willamette Week.
More from WW: “Rural Oregon Counties Unhappy at Exclusion From Kotek’s Emergency Order on Homelessness”
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has released her office’s legislative agenda, which includes concepts on consumer privacy, labor trafficking and sales of untraceable firearms, according to the Capital Chronicle.
Willamette Week has published the list of 12 campaign finance-related fines over $2,000 from the Secretary of State’s Office that the former Elections Division director wanted to post on her office’s website.
2. Monkeys, kangaroos, and open doors: news from the state legislature
Rep. David Gomberg is taking on the Oregon Primate Research Center after numerous violations, including a monkey being accidentally scalded to death in a cage sanitizing machine.
Rep. Brian Stout has been stripped of his committee assignments and will follow special rules while in the Capitol, including keeping his door open during meetings and having his wife or another staff member present during meetings. Stout, who is accused of assault and sexual misconduct, received a restraining order from his accuser. WW has the latest in the saga.
A bill to annex 65% of Oregon’s landmass to the state of Idaho has been introduced by Senator Dennis Linthicum.
From the Oregon Capital Insider: “A bipartisan bill backed by a coalition of recreational businesses and groups would reverse a landmark liability ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court involving an 2006 accident at Mt. Bachelor.”
From KLCC: “Oregon bill would ban products made from kangaroos”
3. John Tapogna on how to think about Oregon’s housing and homelessness crisis
John Tapogna is a well-respected figure in the Oregon policy scene. He served as president of ECONorthwest, a prominent economic consulting firm, from 2009-2021. He now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor. Previously, John worked for U.S. Congressional Budget Office and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile. This episode is about a recent paper that ECONorthwest published called “Postcard from the Future: What Portland can learn from the implementation of Los Angeles’s Measure H?”
We hope this provides a framework for thinking about housing and homelessness policy issues that the state must grapple with. In the first half, we talk about which specific interventions are most effective (and which aren’t)—and in the second half, we talk about the six specific recommendations for policymakers to avoid the missteps from LA’s measure.
4. Sponsored Message from Harrang Long P.C.: Same Firm, with a New Name
This message is from our sponsor, Harrang Long P.C.
For decades, our clients, colleagues and friends have called us “Harrang Long.” Now, we are making it official: Harrang Long Gary Rudnick P.C. has shortened its name to “Harrang Long P.C.” Otherwise, we’re the same as we’ve always been: a dedicated team of legal professionals solving our clients’ thorniest legal problems and helping them navigate the intersections of law, policy, business and government. Although Sharon Rudnick plans to retire from the firm at the end of January, Bill Gary continues his busy practice representing clients in complex appellate, litigation and regulatory matters. We recently moved our Portland office into larger space. All our other contact information, including our website address at harrang.com, remains the same.
5. Quick hits on big issues
Education
The Oregonian wrote a blistering editorial taking on Colt Gill and the Oregon Department of Education. Here’s an excerpt: “Such a slow awakening to meet Oregon’s need for better literacy curriculum is an unequivocal failure by those who are supposed to be paying attention.”
Health Care
From Willamette Week: “Oregon Provides Hardly Any Rehab Beds for Patients With Brain Injuries. Powerful Interests Want to Keep It That Way.”
From the Capital Chronicle: “Oregon’s largest nurses union and the hospital industry are gearing up for a push – and potential fight – in the Legislature to bolster the ranks of nurses that have dwindled over the past three years.”
From the Capital Chronicle: “Oregon hospital industry group floats alternatives to nurse staffing bill”
Business
From the Oregonian: “Intel won’t build a $700 million ‘mega lab’ it had planned in Hillsboro, pursuing cheaper options instead as it implements billions of dollars in cost cuts amid declining revenue.”
From the Oregonian: “Shares in electric vehicle manufacturer Arcimoto plunged Wednesday after the company announced it has shut down production at its Eugene factory because it is nearly out of money.”
From the Capital Chronicle: “Oregon is better positioned than many states to receive billions of dollars from the federal government to expand the semiconductor industry, but it still has work to do, according to legislative testimony this week.”
Behavioral Health
From WW: Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s office released their audit of the state’s implementation of Measure 110, highlighting numerous significant challenges with implementation. Among the tidbits released in the audit include that the hotline created for the measure received only 119 calls in the first 15 months, at a cost of roughly $7,000 per call. New OHA Director James Schroeder agreed with the findings and pledged to make improvements.
6. Schmidt running for reelection and the next steps in Portland charter reform
Mayor Ted Wheeler has nominated the full slate of Portlanders who will draw the boundaries for the new multi-member city council districts that will take effect in 2024. WW has the full list of names (politicos are likely to recognize some of them).
From WW: “Mayor Ted Wheeler’s attempt to soft-launch the allocation of power to the chief administrator during the two-year transition met strong resistance from some city commissioners last week”
Willamette Week reports that Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt will seek reelection.
7. The partisan divide on wildfire risk
Thanks to our friends at the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center for this week’s graphic showing the partisan divide when it comes to Oregonians’ risk tolerance for building housing in areas of high wildfire risk.
8. News Round-up: McLeod Skinner back in the news, a non-exploding whale, and how to recruit teachers in Monument, OR
Jamie McLeod-Skinner is one of two finalists for the top job at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (the other is interim director Leah Feldon).
After months of public outcry and significant staff turnover, the Newberg School Board was forced to reverse its ban on symbols like the LGTBQ+ Pride flag and the BLM flag after a settlement agreement led by the Newberg Education Association.
There will *not* be another exploding whale on the Oregon coast, according to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
The Monument School District (with an enrollment of 66 students) in eastern Oregon has had so much trouble recruiting teachers it’s building a house to try to recruit a new teaching hire.
From the Oregonian: “EO Media plans Medford newspaper after Mail Tribune goes dark”
From ABC News: “2 treated for likely fentanyl exposure at Oregon school.”
Officials at the FBI are warning of a plot by neo-Nazis attack the power grid. This comes after Washington and Oregon sustained multiple attacks on electrical substations which are still unsolved.
The attorney who represented the Oregon Firearms Federation in their failed challenge of Measure 114 is now suing the organization for failing to pay him.
From Jefferson Public Radio: “Residents in Josephine County are angry at local commissioners for making what they call a political decision to remove required public notices from the Rogue Valley’s largest newspaper”
Thank you for reading.
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About the Authors
Ben Bowman is the state representative for Oregon House District 25 (Tigard, Metzger, and South Beaverton) and a member of the Tigard-Tualatin School Board. In his day job, he works as an administrator for a public school district. Previously, he worked as a legislative aide for former Reps. Margaret Doherty and Val Hoyle. He also co-hosts The Oregon Bridge podcast. In the newsletter and podcast, he speaks only for himself.
Alex Titus is a small business owner and consultant to businesses, nonprofits, and associations. Previously, he served as an Advisor in the Trump Administration and as a Policy Advisor to President Trump’s Super PAC. His writing has appeared in National Review, Fox News, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, and other publications.