Sen. Boquist: More pot woes, PAC 12, Measure 110

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

— Remember: La Mota was all over the news after Shemia Fagan resigned in disgrace due to unethical work with La Mota. She used her job connections to help La Mota. Additionally, many Democrat leaders have accepted stacks of cash, upwards of $10,000, from La Mota in campaign donations that were misreported, a class C felony in Oregon. Don’t forget the recent FTX scandal and the Democrats involvement in that as well.

— What a shrinking Pac-12 means for OSU.

— Oregon is home to some of the fastest and most talented runners in the world. As reported by the Washington Post, one such middle-distance runner with the Bowerman Track Club, Shelby Houlihan, was poised to have an awe-inspiring career on the track, but after trace amounts of an anabolic steroid was uncovered in a test, she was labeled as a “cheater” and banned from running for four years. Houlihan has always maintained her innocence, as well as her coaches and teammates. If she did purposefully cheat (and the chances are small, with the officials finding her credible; official report here), the powers that be are throwing the rule book at this woman, and why? Football players that commit crimes are given a slap on the wrist and a couple of bad media headlines before they are right back on the field. Transgender athletes are allowed to pretend to be the other gender and get away with winning races. Something strange is going on here. She had the best lawyers to defend her case, with her lawyer quoted saying, “‘I’ve been doing this for 20 years,’ said Houlihan’s lawyer, Paul Greene, who specializes in sports doping cases. ‘And I think Shelby’s case is the most unjust one that I have seen or been part of.”’

— When entrenched corruption doesn’t work with the unions, they ATTACK. As reported by The Oregonian: “The grocery workers union targeted Holvey, a former carpenters union representative known in Salem for labor-friendly politics, over his choice as chair of the House Committee on Business and Labor to table a bill backed by UFCW Local 555 that would have cleared the way for cannabis workers to unionize… The union accused him of nixing the measure because of pressure from La Mota, a marijuana business that was a major donor to Democratic candidates – a charge Holvey denies.”

— The article concludes with “if Holvey is recalled or resigns,” which reads as an out for Democrat party leadership to tell him to get lost, which would avoid the embarrassment of a recall election and potential accountability with further news stories about La Mota and the Democrats’ corruption.

— Moving on, but staying on the topic of drugs: Oregon voters are souring on Measure 110 with many in favor of a complete repeal, new poll finds. This article includes stories from real people in Portland who are unhappy with the legalization of hard drugs. No one should be surprised the government did not have the right processes in place and that legalizing hard drugs for a population struggling with hopelessness (covid pandemic, job and school loss, political turmoil) is a VERY bad mix.

— More turmoil at OLCC: New Canby headquarters deemed to expensive, so staff will relocate to Salem.

— Betsy Johnson vs. Kate Brown PACS in the Multco DA race.

— Willamette Week reports about how the director of Diversifying Energy, a “clean energy” nonprofit that had a $12 million dollar city contract to distribute air conditioners (which are not considered “clean energy” according to Time Magazine in 2022 with: “Most AC units still use refrigerants that are powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs) thousands of times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main GHG.”), will shut down the nonprofit following a DOJ probe.

— PeaceHealth is the only hospital in Eugene, and it is closing, moving services 6 miles to Springfield. Oregonian reports: “PeaceHealth officials said patient volume has been declining, causing the hospital to lose an average of $2 million per month. The facility has about 95 patient visits daily, with about 15.5 patients per month admitted as inpatients and 7.5 patients per month admitted for observation, according to hospital officials.”

— Oregon Catalyst: Antifa loses $300,000 lawsuit. Andy Ngo vindicated.