Courtney: Legislature 'disgrace,' budget plan dead (Oregon)

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — State Senate President Peter Courtney said Tuesday a Senate budget agreement had collapsed and that the Legislature is a "disgrace."

At a hastily called news conference, the angry Salem Democrat said he saw no chance of lawmakers finishing a budget before Labor Day. That would mean schools would open without knowing for sure how much state money they will receive for the academic year.

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Senate leaders announced a bipartisan agreement Friday on a budget-balancing plan requiring $800 million in new revenue, much of it income tax increases. House leaders had not signed off on it.

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The legislative session last week became the longest in state history.

More.

Looks like it's High Noon in the state of Oregon. I only hope that Governor Kulongoski and the responsible leaders in the State Senate stick to their guns. No more "compromises." The current Bill is wretched with compromises as it is. At this point, the government needs to be shut down to its barest minimum. Send everyone home and I mean everyone. A lot of people in this state desperately need a wake up call- a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, complements this time undeniably of the No-Tax Republicans.

I'd go further and say they need a flogging, but they've already been doing a pretty good job of that to themselves lately.

Oregon Repub's are total amatures at everything - only one in the state that's intelligent is Gordon Smith and he's one of Rove's boys triangulating dem issues like the environment and gay rights so he can get elected. We need in-state redistricting to cut them out of all the house seats and some of the senate seats so we can get this stuff passed so schools etc. can operate.

They can't manage money or anything else for that matter. We lock up drug prisoners and let guys that go by the name "Thanatos" who think they're Highlander - out on good behavior (that was actually bad behavior) after serving 10 years for murder, only so they go kill again within months of their release. Not to mention a revolving door on the front of the Portland jail so that property crimes offenders get sent in and out somewhere over a dozen times per month.

Oh and we've got a big desert that was turned into farm land with water from a resevoir that's running out so endangered fish die, sport fisherman down river lose business, and the Native Americans have trouble participating in their traditional fishing. So the farmers storm the water control facility after the water to irrigation is turned off, so that the fish don't die, and turn the water back on. Again. And then Again.

Among the highest unemployment in the nation, if not the highest - voters turn down an opportunity to require labeling of GMO food, turn down a proposal for statewide healthcare, the only thing they get right is electing dems to statewide office, keeping gay rights, and the minimum wage.

What a mess.
I'm sure my facts are wrong. If not well, I got lucky. I'm a product of Oregon's public education system, the one that cuts days at the end of the school year to save money because of Repub's like these. The one that hikes tuition at one of the state universities 30%. Ech. We need a Democratic president to make up for all the Repubs in my state.

Or is it "Here, here?"...Anyways, what you said! Don't forget that last week the Repugs passed a bill forbidding the city of Portland's attempt to make public PGE, the state's largest utility...I'm sure they'd rather go along with Enron's attempt to auction off PGE's assets piece by piece to the highest bidder, which sounds pretty ominous to me...I read in a post here earlier that it's the old rural-urban split, with the rural Republicans in the majority and trying to punish the more liberal cities in the valley (who happen to be most of the people in this state).
I say let the state government shut down if it has to, the age of consensus and agreement is over, and it's not something the Democrats asked for. Like it or not, things are going to get worse before they get better, if things are ever to get better. It's up to the voters, and even with the mail-in ballot most people are incredibly apathetic.

Yes the Republicans want to pick a fight with the urbanites even though the only money in the state is in the urban areas where most of the population is - they've got no vision except to do things opposite of what the Democrats, and any rational person, would do.

That Enron/PGE thing is more of their dirty work - The concern I heard voiced last week on "Seven Days" on OPB was that the utility, when parted out, could be sold off to foreign interests who could simply shut things down if they wanted - leaving the city of Portland and the six counties or so that get power from PGE in the dark.

If a government shutdown is what it takes, well then I suppose that is what we'll have to do.

That's the jist of it.

Did you know there's now talk of a recall effort against Gov. Kulongoski?

I'd guess they'd probably try to run Saxton or some other moderate Repub now that they figured out they can't elect hard right fanatics like Kevin Mannix. Maybe it's part of Rove's plan to take the Western states for Bush in '04? If they did run Saxton, it'd be like California where they first ran the conservative over the moderate option they had in the primary and of course the conservative lost so they came back to try again with the moderate.

evil bastard that he is...

I hadn't heard about threats to recall Kulongoski......but I am damn sure not going to sit by while any of that nonsense goes down in my state of Oregon!!

And I would demand that we have volunteers following petition circulators around and hand out REAL information to anyone considering signing!

IIRC, you've been around Oregon politics much longer than I, so I'll defer to your greater knowledge/experience. Mannix would be awful. He's not even pro-choice. Total right winger.

But it doesn't surprise me. After all, they're trying to recall Mayor Katz even though she isn't running for re-election here. Obviously these folks don't mind spending government money on such endeavors. Who's trumpeting the charge at Kulongoski, Lars Larson? I wouldn't put it past him one bit, nor his eventual running for office...Imagine what a fine public official he'd make! But he's got a base of fans, and does have considerable influence, and let's face it, Oregon wingers are just as right as the rest of them!

All the bleating right-wingers on his show were trying to find someone to get behind a recall-Ted effort.

It requires the wisdom of Solomon and the dexterity of Houdini (plus a series of impractical ballot initiatives), even so

Check it out:

Let state services and corresponding state contributions to local services be apportioned on a district wide basis; allow state taxes to be apportioned on a similar basis.

Under this set of proposals, if DMV offices need to be closed- then they will be closed in districts whose representatives decline to vote for adequate funding. In Karen Minnis' district, for example.

If health care clinics need to be closed- shut them down in the same kinds of districts (actually, Randy Miller's district notwithstanding, this is already happening, i.e., rural Oregon. The sheeple just haven't connected the dots... yet).

The way I see it, this is simply a collectve expression of personal responsibility. If your district votes for a Charles Starr who doesn't believe in funding public schools, then your school year gets drastically cut.

It's the wisdom of Solomon.

The dexterity of Houdini come into play because many of the Republican districts contain our state treasures and parks- the same treasures and parks that we in responsible districts love, cherish and try to protect (even though local representative often don't). So we can't very well cut funding for those or drastically raise hunting and fishing license there (for example). That would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

But maybe there are certain county roads (for example) needing state funding that most of us can do without. Following Republican logic, unless the people of those districts are willing to pay for them- just as Multnomah County and Beaverton recently agreed (by wide margins) to pay extra to keep their schools somewhat intact, then the citizens in those districts can "home grade" or pave their own roads.

That seems fair and consistent to me.

PS: anyone else see the story about State Rep. John Mabrey (R- The Dalles) being arraigned on 10 counts of theft yesterday?.

Apparently, he couldn't figure out that he and his girlfriend weren't married.

What a great idea!

I've gotta say, and I hope this isn't obnoxious, but living in Ashland, I can only look at the rest of southern, central and eastern Oregon and shake my head. If these guys WANT to have lousy schools, no health care for seniors and the handicapped, etc., perhaps we should let them. We'll take care of the citizens where we live until the rest of the region figures it out.

Always remember that Ballot Measure 5 (passed in 1990) centralized school funding statewide and mandated that students in Oregon receive the same amount of tax dollars whether in Portland or Spray. Don McIntire is responsible for centralized school funding.

Decentralizing the system would be a return to the (sensible) way we used to fund Oregon's schools, allowing for communities to have a direct say in the level of support their own schools get.

If I get what you are saying, why not extend this to all functions of the state, according to the whims of the electorate of each state rep's district and how they vote.

This would erase the urban/rural divide in a hurry. I've lived equal parts of my life in both rural and urban Oregon, so I see both sides. Rural Oregonians want to blame the Willamette Valley and Portland for all their problems. Urban Oregonians see the self-preservation instincts of the ruralites as selfish. The truth lies somewhere between. The only way to remove this is to return funding to the local level and out of Salem for good. I'm all for this.

and so much of what you say is true. Yet it's complicated, and many similar initiatives were voted down before 5 finally passed. As you say, there was a rural/urban divide- especially a fiscal divide, even then, but we were all still Oregonians first. No matter where we came from.

Now things have changed. Not only demographically- in places like the Gorge, Bend and Jackson County, which ought to portend well, but also in the nature of the politicians in Salem.

The Norma Paulus' have been replaced by reactionaries like Lynn Snodgrass and Karen Minnis. There is hardly such a thing as a decent "can do" Oregon Republican anymore, other than the last warrior- Len Hannon (R-Ashland). The rest- ALL of the rest- all of them- are beholden to outside interests. They don't care about, nor do they love Oregon. To them, Tom McCall might as well be the Devil.

So, now once again there's fire at Eden's gate. And it needs to be contained. Shutting down most ALL functions of government for a time, seems to me necessary. like a fire line. The lunacy must stop here. Balkanizing... or as you say, decentalizing governmental functions-, not just schools, according to each districts' preferences, seems to me the interrim solution, and it'll be done one way or another, whether purposefully or by fiat.

What we do long term will take vision and intelligence (which the current crop of Republicans absolutely LACK). There's no question that they have to go. Anyone who cares and looks within their heart of hearts knows that. And I think that they will go... once they've caused enough suffering.

Then we'll see what we can do to pick up the pieces and forge a better and even more forward looking state than the one we had before.

Let them suffer the consequences of voting for wingnuts. If you're keeping a list of Oregon Repub Criminals, remember to add that guy who got picked up for DUI in Washington. I think he's from Hillsboro.

Sadly these stories are becoming all too common and I'm afraid the worst is yet to come!