Sen. Boquist: Redistricting, backroom deals, Covid fallacies

By Oregon State Senator Brian Boquist,
Highlights, excerpts from Sen. Boquist newsletter

• 5 bills to limit Gov Brown’s open-ended emergency powers – sponsored by Republicans, so they will not see the light of day.

• Democrat lawmakers reward trial lawyer donors with new payout law.

• From Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) on redistricting: “Redistricting is one of the most critical things that happens once every ten years, but the Legislature drawing themselves line is a relic to a time when things were not so divisive.”

• Op-ed about why Oregon needs an independent redistricting committee

• Oregon is slated to get a 6^th seat in Congress.

• Bill to turn hotels and motels into housing, shelters heads to Gov. Kate Brown’s desk. Interestingly, this concept already got $65 million dollars in funding during an emergency session in 2020. Why a new bill?

• Gov. Kate Brown forced 15 counties into the “extreme risk” category because Oregon exceeded the arbitrary 300 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the entire state. Multnomah and Clackamas counties are part of the 15 that must face new restrictions, such as shutting down indoor dining, but Washington county is notably missing. Follow the money: Washington county is home to Nike – one of the biggest corporations in Oregon that benefits from backdoor deals with Democrat governors, including Brown. In an April 27 email, OHA noted where 97 COVID-19 cases came from this week, directly leading to Gov. Brown’s recent lockdown: 22 nursing facilities, 74 assisted living or residential care facilities, & 15 adult foster homes.  WHY are restaurants being forced to stop indoor dining if cases are coming out of congregate care facilities and other places, some managed by the state? The Sandy mayor poses other questions about the arbitrary rules: “Why can I go to Costco or Best Buy to buy a big screen TV but I can’t go sit inside a local restaurant and order a cheeseburger?”

• Sen. Dennis Linthicum (R-Klamath Falls) issued a statement: “Bureaucrats running the state think they know better than Oregonians, and they are using this SARS-Cov-2 emergency to destroy a cornerstone of American freedom – local control and independence. Oregonians are not being asked, they are being forced to comply, and the consequences are intentionally malicious.”

•  From the Oregon Catalyst: “This lockdown may prove different. Opposition is coming from the top down instead of the ground up.”

•   An Oregon track coach called for the end of outdoor masking when a student runner passed out after running the 800-meter: “Unfortunately in Oregon, we have to follow the [Oregon Health Authority]… I would like those people to come out and run an 800 with a mask on.” Gov. Brown reversed course to allow indoor full-contact sports for kids of all ages.

•  Days after the AP reported on OR-OSHA trying to make masks permanent, the agency received thousands of hostile comments to the awful idea.