SALEM, Ore. (AP) \u2014 Oregon has long been seen as a quirky state whose main city was satirized in a TV comedy, where rugged country folk and urban hipsters could get along and political differences could be settled over a pint or two of craft beer.
But with a Republican walkout in the Democrat-controlled Oregon Senate in its third week, Oregonians these days are wistfully recalling \u201cThe Oregon Way,\u201d when politicians of different stripes forged agreements for the common good. Famous examples include establishing the nation\u2019s first recycling program, ensuring public beach access for the entire coastline and limiting urban sprawl in a pioneering land-use program.
A quarter-century ago, former Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith and current Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden championed legislation together in Congress and even jointly appeared at town halls across the state, said Kerry Tymchuk, who was Gordon\u2019s Oregon chief of staff back then. That spirit of cooperation was mirrored in the Legislature, he said.
\u201cThere were moderate Republicans in the Legislature who represented suburban Portland. There were conservative Democrats who represented some of the rural districts,\u201d said Tymchuk, currently the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society. \u201cAnd now there are no more Democrats in the rural districts. There are no more moderate Republicans.\u201d
The crisis in Oregon\u2019s statehouse is a microcosm of the deeply partisan politics playing out nationwide, often pitting urban against rural areas, and the growing divide in Oregon shows the Pacific Northwest state is not immune.
The gridlock in the state Capitol in Salem comes as Oregon grapples with homelessness, mental health issues, a fetid open-air drug market in Portland and gun violence in the state\u2019s main city, where some businesses are fleeing, including outdoor gear retailer REI.
Elsewhere, a campaign to have rural eastern Oregon counties secede and join neighboring Idaho has gained steam amid growing complaints about the state\u2019s progressive politics.
\u201cThere is no turning back now,\u201d Republican Sen. Daniel Bonham said of the GOP boycott.
\u201cWe are in it for the long haul. Oregon is in a leadership crisis,\u201d he emailed his constituents, who live mostly east of Portland along the Columbia River and along the flanks of snow-capped Mount Hood.
The drumbeat of political discord has been building in Oregon for some time: Republicans walked out in 2019, 2020 and 2021. A breach of the state Capitol in December 2020 was an eerie predictor of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
In 2001, Democrat House members, then in the minority, walked out over redistricting. There was even a walkout in 1860, a year after statehood, with six senators hiding for two weeks in a barn to prevent a quorum.
The departure this year of an unpopular governor and the success of several bipartisan bills on affordable housing, homelessness and mental health funding early this session buoyed hopes that this year, things might be different \u2014 until this month.
The GOP boycott, which began May 3, now threatens to derail hundreds of pending bills, approval of a biennial state budget and the boycotters\u2019 own political futures. Neither side seems willing to give an inch over a bill on abortion rights and transgender health care and another measure on guns.
This year\u2019s standoff has disqualified nine Republican senators and one Independent from serving as lawmakers in the next term under a ballot measure approved overwhelmingly by boycott-weary voters last November. After 10 or more unexcused absences, a lawmaker can\u2019t take office in the Legislature, even if the secretary of state\u2019s elections division allows them on the ballot and they win.
A disqualified lawmaker running for reelection could disrupt Oregon\u2019s election system, already shaken by the resignation of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan this month for secretly moonlighting as a highly paid consultant to a marijuana business. Striking Republican lawmakers have pointed to Fagan\u2019s actions as a sign of corruption among Democratic politicians.
Senate President Rob Wagner, new to the job after his predecessor, Peter Courtney \u2014 the longest-serving Senate president in Oregon history \u2014 retired last year, accused GOP lawmakers of undermining democracy.
\u201cThis walkout must end,\u201d Wagner said from the rostrum Thursday as he gaveled closed another session because of a lack of quorum. \u201cThe people of Oregon desire it. Democracy demands it.\u201d
In Oregon, two-thirds of the 30 members of the Senate must be present for a quorum for floor sessions. In recent days, 18 senators showed up but most Republicans and the lone Independent didn\u2019t.
Democratic and Republican leaders in the statehouse have met to end the boycott, but talks have repeatedly failed amid social media sparring, grandstanding to supporters and emailed accusations.
Republicans accuse Democrats of ignoring a long-forgotten 1979 law that says summaries of bills need to be written at an eighth-grade level \u2014 a law resurrected this month by the GOP. The boycotters also say they won\u2019t return unless \u201cextreme\u201d bills, like the ones on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun safety, are scrapped.
Wagner has said House Bill 2002 on abortion and gender-affirming care is nonnegotiable. Republicans object, in particular, to a provision that would allow doctors to provide an abortion to anyone regardless of age and bar them in certain cases from disclosing that to parents.
The last day of Oregon\u2019s legislative session is June 25. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek has signed a bill to keep funds flowing to state agencies until September if no budget has become law by July 1 and says she doesn\u2019t think the state \u201cis in crisis mode yet.\u201d
She could call a special legislative session in the summer to get a budget approved and hasn\u2019t ruled out ordering the Oregon State Police to haul the protesters to the Senate. Such an order was issued in 2019 but not carried out.
Despite all the rancor, Tymchuk doesn\u2019t believe The Oregon Way is dead.
\u201cI still remain hopeful and optimistic that Oregon will find its way back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n