HOUSE REPUBLICAN OFFICE
OCTOBER 3, 2017 DAILY CLIPS
STATE GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
ELECTIONS
Poll: Brown-Buehler governor race very tight
KOIN
Jim Moore, director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, said the responses to Brown are unsurprising. “While she is a fairly popular governor, she hasn’t really done anything to put her name on,” Moore said.
Survey: GOP no-name ranks better than Buehler in governor’s race
Portland Tribune
Half of Oregonians view Gov. Kate Brown unfavorably yet would re-elect her by a narrow margin if the election was held today, according to an online survey by Nashville pollster icitizen. Forty percent of the people surveyed said they would vote for state Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, to unseat the first-term governor, according to the survey. The survey of 645 respondents, paid for by icitizen, is the first glimpse into the mindset of Oregonians more than a year before the November 2018 gubernatorial election.
Facing recall, Sherwood Mayor Krisanna Clark-Endicott resigns
The Oregonian
Facing a recall election, Sherwood Mayor Krisanna Clark-Endicott resigned her seat Monday, saying she was moving to Redmond to be with her husband. “It has been my great pleasure to serve the citizens of the City of Sherwood,” Clark-Endicott said in a statement, adding that she worked under the belief that “you can disagree without being disagreeable.” Two other city councilors, Sally Robinson and Jennifer Harris, will face a recall election on Oct. 17, in part over their handling of a contract to manage the city-owned recreation center.
EDUCATION
Three More Schools in East Portland Vandalized and Painted with Racial Slurs Sunday Night
Willamette Week
State Rep. Diego Hernandez (D-Portland) said in a statement that he will be attending the community meeting. “Schools are meant to be safe places for our students to learn and feel welcomed,” he said in a statement on the incident. “This is an appalling and offensive display of ignorance and we should all stand together in denouncing racism and hate.”
COURTS
U.S. Supreme Court rejects case to test Oregon’s unusual nonunanimous jury system
The Oregonian
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case that could have tested Oregon’s unusual system of allowing nonunanimous jury verdicts, dealing a blow to critics who claim the rule is unconstitutional. Oregon and Louisiana will remain the only states to allow juries to convict most felony defendants with a 10-2 vote, though Oregon still requires a unanimous vote to find defendants guilty of murder.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
PGE joins California energy imbalance market
The Oregonian
Portland General Electric said Monday that is has formally joined California’s energy imbalance market, an automated trading market that will allow it to tap resources across six western states to meet short-term power deficits or trade surpluses. Maria Pope, PGE’s president and incoming chief executive, called joining the imbalance market an important milestone in building “a smarter, cleaner and more resilient electric grid,” which is likely to be one of the key operational, regulatory and financial challenges during her tenure running Oregon’s largest electric utility.
TAXES
Federal tax reform plan could cost Oregonians
Portland Tribune
Paul Warner, the head of Oregon’s nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office, said in a Sept. 20 presentation to the Oregon Senate Finance and Revenue Committee that the repeal of the deduction could “disproportionately affect taxpayers” in Oregon. Oregon would likely see dramatic effects if any substantial changes are made to federal tax policy, legislative economists said earlier this year. “While the ultimate form of federal tax reform is highly uncertain, Oregon is uniquely positioned to experience significant revenue effects both positive and negative,” they noted in a March report.
TRANSPORTATION
Daimler tests driver-assist big rigs on Oregon highways
The Associated Press
Daimler is pairing two of its Cascadia trucks to see how they perform together and what fuel efficiencies they achieve. The trials could result in running as many as five trucks together, a practice called platooning. “What they’re testing is truck platooning with a driver-assist system,” said Andrew Dick, the connected, automated and electric vehicle adviser at the state Department of Transportation. “Drivers are always at the wheel. The system is closely coordinating the acceleration and braking systems on the two vehicles so that they’re capable of safely traveling at a close following distance, maybe 45 feet.”
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING
Governor lowers flags to honor Las Vegas victims
Portland Tribune
Gov. Kate Brown has ordered all flags at Oregon public institutions to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Oct. 6, to honor of the victims of Sunday night’s Las Vegas shooting. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those tragically killed in Las Vegas,” Brown said Monday morning, Oct. 2. “My heart breaks that this will never be enough to console those who have lost a loved one to senseless violence and I thank the first responders who selflessly serve in times like these.”
OPINION
Editorial: Carbon bill deserves a longer look
Democrat-herald
But here’s one of the reasons why Brown and other Democrats might want to be pushing the carbon-tax proposal: It could raise big money — $700 million a year — for the state. Although numerous details remain to be worked out, two ideas are likely to be at the heart of the proposal, according to The Oregonian story: a statewide mandate to lower greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and a requirement that some of the state’s biggest polluters would have to pay for their emissions. That money would go to the state, but no one knows yet where exactly it would be spent — or, for that matter, which branch of an already stretched-thin state government will administer the program.
Sound complex? It is. All the better reason for the people pushing the proposal to take their time and aim for the 2019 session, when it will have ample opportunity for the full hearing — with ample opportunities for public input — it deserves.
Editorial: ESD pullout proposal might not be a win
Mail Tribune
Medford School District officials say pulling out of the Southern Oregon Education Service District will save the district money because it can provide in-house the services it now pays the ESD to provide. ESD officials say severing the relationship will wind up costing Medford more. They can’t both be right. But it’s impossible to know, looking in from the outside, whether Medford students will be better off with or without ESD services. District officials need to show their work as they calculate the answer.
Editorial: ‘An act of pure evil’
Register-Guard
President Trump could do something about that. Unlike Obama, he’s not perceived as being hostile to Americans’ Second Amendment gun rights. The NRA endorsed Trump in last year’s election. As president, Trump could throw his support behind several common-sense gun-safety measures that, according to the Pew Research Center, are supported by strong majorities of Americans, including Republicans: restricting the sale of guns to people with mental illnesses or who are on federal no-fly lists, background checks for gun sales by private parties and a federal database of gun sales. If Trump wanted to test the support of his base, he could back a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, a move supported by most Americans but only 47 percent of Republicans.
Guest: Law stops local police from helping ICE
John Bishop is director of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association
Oregon law enforcement leaders are in a very difficult position. We must maintain the trust of all community members so they to feel free to report crimes, appear at court hearings, and understand Oregon officers do not enforce federal immigration law.
Guest: Sen. Peter Courtney right for not voting on national voting system
Chuck Bradish, Salem
If you don’t like the Electoral System, do what Maine and Nebraska do, split the Electoral College by popular vote. If the state has 10 votes and 60 percent vote Democratic and 40 percent vote Republican, the Democrats get six votes and the Republicans get four. Everyone feels their vote counts. President Courtney, stay the course. Do what is fair and right for Oregon and the country.