Regarding your paragraph on Sen Lieber, "Although district boundaries have changed in the past decade, her District 14 has been held by a Democrat since 1998." 1998, 1998, what happened in '98? I remember, vote by mail! The Oregon voter isn't stupid or brainwashed, but has been tricked into believing the state went from red to purple to blue. Many voters just gave up, thinking they were out of touch with their neighbors. No, their vote was stolen by ghost voters, the left majority in Salem since 1998 has accomplished its goal, disenfranchise and discourage the conservative voice then run roughshod over everybody through a corrupt voting system.
Granted, Multnomah County and the college towns through the valley have attracted the socialist types that love communism and rigged voting, but the right thinking conservative can regain it's voice when the vote by mail scam is disabled and voter rolls purged.
What needs to be done is a series of initiatives defining and limiting "emergencies" and also prohibiting the governor and legislature from encumbering or prohibiting citizens ability to generate initiatives and referring them to the public for enactment, or not. All thats needed is will and intelligent voters; both of which seems to be in short supply
Fitzsimmons' point about HB 4002 is lost on virtually all other media:
"Lieber’s committee on Measure 110 took a lot of testimony in public hearings and drafted legislation. As a result, the legislature passed House Bills 4002 and 5204, in hopes of reducing drug overdoses and crime. But the only reason legislators dealt swiftly with such a controversial issue was that citizen groups were waiting in the wings with their own proposed ballot measure if the legislature failed to act."
Despite the lovefest of testimony from people who should know better, HB 4002 is so watered down that in any county where the DA isn't willing to put real heft into prosecuting an "unclassified misdemeanor" there will be no DISINCENTIVE for addicts to stop using. The bill doesn't allow any fines or fees (regardless of ability to pay) and has so many "off-ramps" (diversion, "deflection" and deferred prosecution) that the law is essentially "all hat and no cattle" as Lyndon Johnson used to say!
Great phrase..."The voters did what they had been trained to do."
Hate to say it, but this state's voters have a collective IQ around 80. (Maybe outside of Portland, it soars to 90.)
The political machine that has misruled the state for decades could be put out of business if voters simply asked themselves one question: why am I voting to put people into power who have created the state we now live in? Why reward the machine that misruled during Covid--ruining businesses, education, and basic rights? Why elect a governor who has never held a private-sector job (much less met a payroll) in her life? Why did we re-elect a lethargic state attorney general, whose legacy is "looking the other way" while the machine accrued almost unlimited power. Why vote for a Soros-backed DA in Multnomah County? Why vote for a law that will effectively deprive the minority of any power to stop the machine's runaway train?
Regarding your paragraph on Sen Lieber, "Although district boundaries have changed in the past decade, her District 14 has been held by a Democrat since 1998." 1998, 1998, what happened in '98? I remember, vote by mail! The Oregon voter isn't stupid or brainwashed, but has been tricked into believing the state went from red to purple to blue. Many voters just gave up, thinking they were out of touch with their neighbors. No, their vote was stolen by ghost voters, the left majority in Salem since 1998 has accomplished its goal, disenfranchise and discourage the conservative voice then run roughshod over everybody through a corrupt voting system.
Granted, Multnomah County and the college towns through the valley have attracted the socialist types that love communism and rigged voting, but the right thinking conservative can regain it's voice when the vote by mail scam is disabled and voter rolls purged.
Housing subdivisions can pave over farmland just as effectively as data centers, microchip plants and Amazon warehouses.
What needs to be done is a series of initiatives defining and limiting "emergencies" and also prohibiting the governor and legislature from encumbering or prohibiting citizens ability to generate initiatives and referring them to the public for enactment, or not. All thats needed is will and intelligent voters; both of which seems to be in short supply
Fitzsimmons' point about HB 4002 is lost on virtually all other media:
"Lieber’s committee on Measure 110 took a lot of testimony in public hearings and drafted legislation. As a result, the legislature passed House Bills 4002 and 5204, in hopes of reducing drug overdoses and crime. But the only reason legislators dealt swiftly with such a controversial issue was that citizen groups were waiting in the wings with their own proposed ballot measure if the legislature failed to act."
Despite the lovefest of testimony from people who should know better, HB 4002 is so watered down that in any county where the DA isn't willing to put real heft into prosecuting an "unclassified misdemeanor" there will be no DISINCENTIVE for addicts to stop using. The bill doesn't allow any fines or fees (regardless of ability to pay) and has so many "off-ramps" (diversion, "deflection" and deferred prosecution) that the law is essentially "all hat and no cattle" as Lyndon Johnson used to say!
Great phrase..."The voters did what they had been trained to do."
Hate to say it, but this state's voters have a collective IQ around 80. (Maybe outside of Portland, it soars to 90.)
The political machine that has misruled the state for decades could be put out of business if voters simply asked themselves one question: why am I voting to put people into power who have created the state we now live in? Why reward the machine that misruled during Covid--ruining businesses, education, and basic rights? Why elect a governor who has never held a private-sector job (much less met a payroll) in her life? Why did we re-elect a lethargic state attorney general, whose legacy is "looking the other way" while the machine accrued almost unlimited power. Why vote for a Soros-backed DA in Multnomah County? Why vote for a law that will effectively deprive the minority of any power to stop the machine's runaway train?
Why?