A Bridge Too Far: Governor Brown slaps rural Oregon in the face, again

Following the Timber Unity Rally at the Oregon State Capitol last Thursday June 27, the Republican Senators who had been AWOL over the HB 2020 Cap and Trade Bill, came back to the capitol to close out the 2019 legislative session.

Many called their return a victory. I’m not one of them. Among the many problems with their return, the biggest by far was the passage of HB 2015, the bill granting illegal aliens Oregon Driver’s Licenses.

This issue had been clearly decided by Oregon voters back in 2014 with more than 66 percent (2/3rds) of Oregonians opposed. And a Zogby Poll published on June 19, 2019 shows over 63% of Oregonians still opposed to granting illegals driver’s licenses.

Oregon democrats hold a supermajority in both the House and Senate, as well as having a left-wing progressive socialist in the governor’s office. They are drunk with power, passing bills like HB 2015 that are clearly against the will of a majority of Oregonians.

And now Governor Brown has suggested that the job killing Cap and Trade legislation, that was thwarted by 11 Republicans denying the democrats a quorum, may be back on the table. This time with her exercising so-called executive power, similar to what her mentor Barack Hussein Obama used to ram his agenda through. The problem with Brown’s scheme though, as far as I can tell, is there is no such thing as Executive Orders for the governor of Oregon. And if so, nobody, and I mean nobody, can recall this type of extreme measure ever being used in Oregon history!

From the Oregon Secretary of State’s website the duties of governor are defined:

The Governor of Oregon has retained the powers and duties granted at the time of statehood. These include drafting and recommending a budget to the Legislative Assembly, initiating planning for future state activities and serving as the focal point for coordination of federal and local governments. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state’s military forces.

The governor may call legislative special sessions and may veto single items or emergency clauses on legislative bills. The governor may grant reprieves, commutations and pardons and serves as chairperson of the State Land Board.

In case of vacancy or disability, determined in accordance with statutory provisions, the Office of the Governor respectively passes to the Secretary of State, State Treasurer, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House.

I’ve done some preliminary research on the subject of executive powers; I’ve talked to a former state senator, and confirmed with a lobbyist who worked in the Oregon capitol for four decades, and they cannot point to one example where “executive powers” or “executive privilege” has been used.

It is also very peculiar that not one journalist, besides me (that I know of) has even raised the question! They’re all like deer in the headlights on this one. And I personally think Kate Brown is delusional, in addition to being unbalanced. But at the very least she has lost complete sight of the concept of a representative form of government. She simply is ruling by dictatorship.

There is a movement underway to recall Governor Brown, and if any recall could ever be successful this one might have a good chance.

The other significant problem with the Oregon legislative process, in particular as it is wielded by the democrat dictatorship, is the use of emergency clauses, which even in the clear absence of any real emergency, has been, and is being used to ‘seal’ any legislation, by preventing the referral back to Oregon voters. This has got to be put to a stop!

I strongly urge everyone to keep a close eye on this use of so-called ‘executive power’, and call the governor’s office demanding that she listen to the will of rural Oregon, and abandon her destructive Cap and Trade scheme.

It will ruin Oregon and lead to massive reductions in state revenues over the long run.

Not one word has come out of her office after hearing from thousands of her constituents last week. So let her hear from you!