House floor protest: Rep. Kropf’s hostile work complaint

House Republicans pause floor session following no accountability, no investigation into “hostile working environment” allegation against Rep. Kropf
By Oregon House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer,

SALEM, Ore. — Today, House Republicans paused deliberations on the House floor, claiming Democrat leaders did not fully investigate a Rule 27 complaint against Representative Jason Kropf (R-Bend) following his behavior during a vote on House Bill 4145, a firearm bill in which he is a chief sponsor.

In the House Judiciary Committee last Monday, Representative Thủy Trần (D-Portland) initially voted no after expressing concern that the bill was contradictory, and could be harmful to lawful gun owners. Kropf then asked the committee to stand at ease, and Tran followed him into the hallway. When they returned about 10 minutes later, Tran voted in favor of the bill, breaking a potential tie with a 5-4 vote, and allowing it to advance to the House floor.

After a conduct complaint was filed, alleging Rep. Kropf appeared to “verbally abuse” and “intimidate” another lawmaker into changing her vote, Tran acknowledged it, saying Kropf “created a hostile working environment.”

Today, after Democrats delayed the House floor session for more than two hours, Representative Ben Bowman (D-Tigard) made a motion to accept Rep. Kropf’s resignation from the House Committee on Conduct and replace him with Representative Tawna Sanchez (D-North and Northeast Portland) without further explanation. The motion was then ruled undebatable.

“The allegation that a lawmaker created a hostile working environment by intimidating another lawmaker into changing their vote is a serious allegation that creates distrust in the democratic process,” said Leader Elmer. “It must be properly addressed and thoroughly investigated through a transparent process that respects the victim and remedies the wrong committed against them. Instead, Democrats attempted to sweep this under the rug and move on, instead of supporting Rep. Tran during this process. I am requesting that the Legislative Equity Office conduct a full investigation into this matter that is both inclusive and transparent.”