Rep. Roblan elected co-speaker, Sen. Devlin to key budget panel

Roblan to be House co-speaker, Sen. Devlin to lead budget panel
By NW Spotlight,

A major decision was made out of a House Democrat retreat this weekend when the Oregon House Democrat members voted to elect Arnie Roblan to be the co-Speaker to represent their party. Current House Speaker Democrat Dave Hunt chose not to run. It appears that the last Legislative Session that Speaker Dave Hunt was too partisan and too hostile to Republicans and minority opinions to work in a new divided and balanced House make-up. The Oregonian said…

Roblan said a key point in negotiations with the Republicans is preserving the right of bills to move forward if they have majority support in the House. When Republicans controlled the House before the 2006 elections, they generally did not advance bills unless it had support of a majority of their caucus.”They’re very much nervous” about this, Roblan said of Republican leaders. Still, Roblan said he thought his being chosen as co-speaker nominee would be well-received by Republicans. He said he had worked well with Hanna and other GOP members as chairman of the House Rules Committee, which plays a key role in shaping legislation toward the end of sessions.

In related news, Senator Richard Devlin was chosen to be the Senate co-Chairman of the joint Legislative budget panel.