{"id":23428,"date":"2024-02-03T02:54:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T08:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23428"},"modified":"2024-02-03T02:54:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T08:54:58","slug":"oregon-high-court-says-10-gop-state-senators-who-staged-long-walkout-cant-run-for-reelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23428","title":{"rendered":"Oregon high court says 10 GOP state senators who staged long walkout can\u2019t run for reelection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SALEM, Ore. (AP) \u2014 The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year<\/a> to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision upholds the secretary of state\u2019s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot<\/a> under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s boycott lasted six weeks \u2014 the longest in state history \u2014 and paralyzed the legislative session, stalling hundreds of bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five lawmakers sued over the secretary of state\u2019s decision \u2014 Sens. Tim Knopp, Daniel Bonham, Suzanne Weber, Dennis Linthicum and Lynn Findley. They were among the 10 GOP senators who racked up more than 10 absences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe obviously disagree with the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling,\u201d said Knopp, the Senate minority leader. \u201cBut more importantly, we are deeply disturbed by the chilling impact this decision will have to crush dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Senate President Rob Wagner welcomed the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court means that legislators and the public now know how Measure 113 will be applied, and that is good for our state,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political advocacy groups that backed Measure 113 had similar reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWalkouts allow a relatively small number of lawmakers to nullify the will of the majority, and that is to the detriment of our democracy,\u201d Alejandro Queral, executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During oral arguments<\/a> before the Oregon Supreme Court in December, attorneys for the senators and the state wrestled over the grammar and syntax of the language that was added to the state constitution after Measure 113 was approved by voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendment says a lawmaker is not allowed to run \u201cfor the term following the election after the member\u2019s current term is completed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debate was over when that ineligibility kicks in: If a senator\u2019s term ends in January 2025, they would typically seek reelection in November 2024. The \u201celection after the member\u2019s current term is completed\u201d would not be until November 2028, the Republican senators argued, so they could run for reelection this year and then hold office for another term before becoming ineligible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court disagreed, saying that while the language of the amendment was ambiguous, the information provided to voters in the ballot title and explanatory statement made clear that the intent was to bar truant lawmakers from holding office in the next term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose other materials expressly and uniformly informed voters that the amendment would apply to a legislator\u2019s immediate next terms of office, indicating that the voters so understood and intended that meaning,\u201d the justices wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senators\u2019 lawsuit was filed against Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who last August said the boycotting senators were disqualified from seeking reelection<\/a>. She directed her office\u2019s elections division to implement an administrative rule based on her stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All parties in the suit had sought clarity on the issue before the March 2024 filing deadline for candidates who want to run in this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knopp, the Senate minority leader, said he didn\u2019t plan to appeal the decision or join a separate federal lawsuit<\/a> filed by three Republican senators challenging their disqualification from the ballot. A federal judge in December ruled against the three lawmakers, and they have appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He conceded that the \u201csignificant turnover\u201d of Republican senators would be challenging but said he wasn\u2019t concerned. And despite being barred from seeking reelection, he said he wouldn\u2019t advise Republicans against lengthy walkouts in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think legislators need to stand on the principles that they believe in, and if you believe in it enough to make the sacrifice, then you most certainly should,\u201d he told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knopp added that he wasn\u2019t sure what he\u2019ll do next after the 2024 term ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho knows if this is a pause in public service for me and the others, or if it\u2019s the end of a road and a new beginning for something else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2023 walkout paralyzed the Legislature for weeks and only ended after Republicans forced concessions from Democrats on a sweeping bill related to expanding access to abortion and transgender health care and another measure regarding the manufacture and transfer of undetectable firearms, known as ghost guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon voters approved Measure 113 by a wide margin following Republican walkouts in the Legislature in 2019, 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SALEM, Ore. (AP) \u2014 The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection. The decision upholds the secretary of state\u2019s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9323,1637,21970,26364,26367,1681,26365,3506],"class_list":["post-23428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-9323","tag-campaign","tag-cant","tag-high-court","tag-long-strike","tag-oregon","tag-republican-state","tag-senator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23430,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23428\/revisions\/23430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}