Dori: Republicans leaving Oregon State Senate no different than sanctuary touters
Jun 25, 2019, 6:35 PM
Two Oregonians are starting a petition to secede from the United States and is asking Washington to join. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
Down in Oregon, they want to pass a ridiculous carbon tax. The Democrats control the Oregon State Senate 18-12, so it’s veto-proof.
Republicans in Oregon have made the same kind of arguments we heard in Olympia during last year’s Washington carbon tax debate. They think it will be too expensive for working families and will not have any real impact on stopping climate change.
There is only one way the Republicans can stop it. You have to have 20 senators there for a quorum, so 11 of the 12 Republican senators have left the state. The reason they left the state is because the governor sent out the Oregon State Patrol to drag them back to the capitol for the vote.
Here’s the thing — this is the way the game of politics is played today. You want an example? The immigration issue.
Not enough votes for Oregon climate bill
We’ve declared that Washington is a sanctuary state, so our politicians stand in direct violation of federal law by refusing to communicate with ICE and hand illegal immigrants who commit crimes over to ICE after they serve their sentences. County sheriffs have publicly announced that they will not follow sanctuary state laws because they violate the U.S. Constitution. Democrats are fine with violating the Constitution and not following the law if it suits them.
But my goodness — if Republicans manipulate this quorum rule to avoid a carbon tax, the whole media world is on fire. And they are not even refusing to follow laws — they are just manipulating and taking advantage of the rules of the Oregon State Senate.
I haven’t heard too much explosion over this, though — Nancy Pelosi on Monday caught herself asking what the point was of enforcing immigration laws.
But in terms of interior enforcement, what is the pur[pose], what is the point — well, I won’t even go into what the motivation for that might be here, because this is not a political event.
She caught herself, but she revealed herself. She is fine ignoring federal laws when it suits her and suits her party. But everyone goes berserk when Republicans decide not to play by the rules.
Both parties do this. The only difference is, when Republicans do it, the media loses its collective mind and writes about “the Republicans on the run in Oregon.” But when Inslee signs a law that leads to a rape survivor being re-assaulted by her rapist, no one says anything.
I’m not saying what the Republicans in Oregon are doing is right. All I’m saying is, if we’re going to lose our minds over their actions, let’s also lose our minds over the Democrat politicians who refuse to obey the laws. Democrats routinely ignore laws that they don’t like, so let’s have the same amount of coverage in the mainstream media.
If we’re going to be passionate about our state lawmakers following the laws, let’s go after the law-breakers on both sides.
