Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in Oregon Politics: Gays, Sick Workers, Charlie Hales, Ted Ferrioli
Friday, June 12, 2015
HOT:
Portland Pride Festival
Dust off your party dress and get ready to celebrate all things LGBTQ, the Portland Pride Festival is back and from the buzz around town, this one is going to be big. The celebration kicked off last night with a party sponsored by Portland Monthly and runs through the weekend. For all of you who will survive the Gaylabration party Saturday night at the Crystal Ballroom there is the annual Pride Parade on Sunday.
Sick Workers
Too sick to report to work? No problem, the Senate Democrats have got your back. Senate Bill 454, one of the Dems' priorities of this legislative session, passed Wednesday requiring Oregon employers to give workers up to five paid sick days a year. This was not an easy feat and much credit goes to Senators Diane Rosenbaum and Michael Dembrow for spearheading this effort. The bill now goes to the House for its approval which is as close to automatic as you could get. There was no word on whether GolocalPDX contributors will be covered by this new law.
Mayor Charlie Hales
Mayor Charlie Hales put the wishes of his constituency before the demands of the business community and changed his mind regarding a proposed propane facility in North Portland. Hales was the biggest supporter of the proposal in City Hall and without his support the project might be DOA. The Mayor almost made the Not Column for this quote: "At some point, those of us in power have to listen to those who put us there,". Well, no shit. We all just wish you would have realized this a little sooner. Maybe we all should be thanking Future Mayor Ted Wheeler for making Hales listen to the voters. Finally.
NOT:
Senator Alan Olsen
Republican Senator Alan Olsen experienced a heart attack last week and if not for the quick action of Senator Alan Bates, he might have died. He stayed home several days to recover. This must have been traumatic for him and I am happy to see he has returned to work. In fact, he returned on Monday just in time to weigh in on SB 454 by saying, "This bill is not about paid sick leave,... [t]his bill is about 'I can take off any time I want.' " The thing is, he stayed home last week recovering and he still got paid and didn't think twice about it. He just doesn't think other workers should enjoy the same benefit he does. So for having compassion that doesn't extend beyond your own front porch, welcome, Sen. Olsen, to the Not Column.
Senator Ted Ferrioli
Talk about a fly in the hemp ointment. Legislators and city and county lobbyists had finally reached an agreement regarding the sale of recreational marijuana when an email by Senator Ferrioli sent the deal up in smoke. The arrangement allowing cities to levy a 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana sales in exchange for putting off local control issues while the matter is litigated in the courts was reached after many hours of negotiation. Everyone was happy. Except Ted. He doesn't want these sorts of businesses in his neck of the woods. News flash, Senator, there is already marijuana in Eastern Oregon. People are growing it and smoking it. Now you just want them to drive to another county to buy it. Good idea. Why would you want to keep any money in your flourishing district?
Mayor Greg Maas
When you describe yourself as an 'activist-journalist', the bar is set very low for your behavior. We expect you to be obnoxious. We have higher expectations for our elected officials. After the Rose Festival Parade last Saturday, a few of these "journalists" were hounding Mayor Hales and peppering him with questions. To his credit, Hales tried to ignore them. Greg Maas could not muster the same self-control. Maas, the Mayor of Waterloo, Oregon (yes, named after that Waterloo) thought it would be a good idea to confront one of these people and break his camera. When you take a bad situation and made it worse, you are no better than these so-called 'journalists'. With a population of 229, I imagine Mayor Maas doesn't get to interact with the variety of people we have in Portland. Maybe he should get out more.
Related Slideshow: The 20 Most Effective Legislators in Salem
GoLocalPDX analyzed the success rate for bills put forth in the 77th Legislative session -- in the 2013 long session, and the 2014 short session. Legislators were ranked on what percentage of bills they introduced passed into law during the session.
These are the 20 Oregon lawmakers with the highest bill success rates.
Note: This metric does not reflect the ranging complexity of bills introduced.
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