Latest / Crosstabs / A Principled NO Vote w/ Rep. Annessa Hartman

Transcript

A Principled NO Vote w/ Rep. Annessa Hartman · Crosstabs

0:00
SPEAKER_03: We're clear to engage.
0:01
SPEAKER_03: Time on target.
0:02
SPEAKER_03: Five mics.
0:03
SPEAKER_03: Out.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even sure where to begin.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: There's been so much that's happened, Reagan.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have a special session that's still going on.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: The Democrats, of course, love the fact that.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, they get their per diem every day.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of funny.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, they don't.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Didn't you hear?
0:49
SPEAKER_01: They have to donate theirs.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: The Democrats are being, they can keep it.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Just show up and vote.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, they can't.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: They don't have enough votes.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: They're denying quorum, Reagan.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: They're denying quorum.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they're necessarily...
1:07
SPEAKER_01: So when...
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh,
1:09
SPEAKER_01: stupid Olus is still defaulting to interim for me.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: I think it means I need to clear my browser cache.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: But I was going to pull up special session and see.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Well, they convene at 9 a.m.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: on Friday, August 29th.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Not today.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: So crazy.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:32
So when they had to meet...
1:36
Oh,
1:39
are they having to gavel the house through too?
1:41
SPEAKER_00: That's hilarious.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everybody does.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Because even though the house...
1:45
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:46
SPEAKER_00: went into sine die,
1:47
SPEAKER_00: they passed the resolution,
1:49
SPEAKER_00: but it doesn't,
1:49
SPEAKER_00: they're not actually gone.
1:51
So I'd be so,
1:52
I need to make like one amendment or something in the Senate.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: So it has to go back through concurrence.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: More than the force.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Suspend the rules a minute on the floor.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: Go vote again.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: Of course, Democrats would come back with 37.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: So frankly,
2:11
my biggest frustration with that is that he probably knew he
2:15
was going to change
2:15
his party and he didn't mention it on our podcast and break the
2:17
news here.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: That's annoying.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: That is annoying.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: He should have done it.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why he didn't.
2:22
And then he goes on,
2:24
you know,
2:24
David Medina's podcast and blows up right to life.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Like that was kind of screwed.
2:29
I bet that Planned Parenthood loves that he announced he's
2:32
pro-choice on a Jan 6 podcast.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: I saw the press release from Right to Live 2 on it.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I could feel the anger kind of coming through.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, and so here's what I think.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: And I haven't talked to Representative Javity since the podcast episode,
2:51
SPEAKER_01: so I don't know for sure.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: I watched the interview.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: I suspect...
2:57
SPEAKER_01: that he is so here.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And I think I disagree with Oregon rights to life on this,
3:00
SPEAKER_01: on this point,
3:01
SPEAKER_01: but I suspect he is still pro-life.
3:04
He just doesn't wish to run under that banner because he knows
3:08
it's unpopular in
3:09
his new party and he knows it will complicate his life more in
3:13
his new party.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And so it's easier to say that he is for choice.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: And, um,
3:20
SPEAKER_01: And he probably has a good explanation for why he thinks that is.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: People usually do have an explanation.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: But I suspect that he is personally and wants to be pro-life,
3:32
SPEAKER_01: but it's too politically difficult for him to do it.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: And that's a shame because I think that he would make,
3:37
SPEAKER_01: even if he was going to continue to be a Democrat and vote other ways,
3:41
that he would make a very good pro-life Democrat and it would
3:44
be good to have some
3:46
SPEAKER_01: pro-life Democrats.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't seem interested in doing that, which is too bad.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Well,
3:51
it just tells you that I believe he was told you can't be
3:55
pro-life and be in the
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Democratic Party.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't doubt that at all, Brian.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: I totally agree.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Whatever advice he's getting,
4:01
SPEAKER_00: because we know his consultant,
4:03
SPEAKER_00: good friend of ours,
4:04
SPEAKER_00: David Collada,
4:04
SPEAKER_00: quit.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: his race.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: So he's not running a Democrat race.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: I think you probably texted him too.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, you're doing Democrat races now?
4:14
SPEAKER_00: And I was giving him some crap for that.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: But he said, no, I am no longer working on his campaign.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder, where does a Republican...
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Turn to to find a Democrat consultant to take on his race.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: This should be interesting to see how that how that will play out.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: But I don't Dan Levy or Kevin Looper.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Looper for sure.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Levy probably does.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: He'll do anything.
4:43
Of course,
4:45
they might not because I heard Betsy Johnson's pretty upset at
4:48
Javity.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: So I think that and that's her neck of the woods up there.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: So I would find that to be I think everybody.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And here's my take on it, Reagan.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't see really how he kind of works his way out of this.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he may.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, with enough money, that can solve a lot of problems.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
5:08
You know,
5:10
he kind of says that he was told that the Democrats are going
5:14
to fund his race.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: I haven't heard Ben Bowman come out,
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Majority Leader Bowman come out and say he's,
5:21
SPEAKER_00: you know,
5:21
going to fund Jabbity's race to the tune of whatever it takes
5:25
for him to win.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm told that future PAC,
5:30
SPEAKER_01: so sort of representing Bowman,
5:32
SPEAKER_01: saying that they were going to ward off primary challengers,
5:35
that does not mean they're going to fund the full general
5:39
election depending on
5:40
SPEAKER_01: where his polling is at.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where it's going to be dependent on, right?
5:44
SPEAKER_01: If it comes back and he's...
5:46
SPEAKER_01: in striking distance or ahead, they will fund him.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: And if he's not, they won't.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: I think that's as easy as it is.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's how it always is, how it always should be, honestly.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Some people think there's extra loyalty here.
5:57
But,
5:57
you know,
5:57
even an incumbent Republican,
6:00
you think about,
6:01
what was it,
6:02
Sherry Helt?
6:03
SPEAKER_01: She did not get infinite money.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: The caucus cut her off as soon as it was not a winnable race, right?
6:07
SPEAKER_01: You get hung out as soon as you can't win.
6:10
And for the rest of the sake and for the sake of managing the
6:12
whole thing,
6:13
SPEAKER_01: that's the right call.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: That's a hard call.
6:15
to make so he may find that his new party is not particularly
6:19
um loyal either um
6:22
but it's just because it's all it's all just business at the
6:25
end of the day but not
6:28
necessarily true because they the democrats if i've always been
6:33
told and from their
6:35
leadership too that if it is an incumbent they will go down
6:40
swinging with every
6:41
SPEAKER_00: dollar they got left
6:42
SPEAKER_01: They have more money than we do, so maybe that is different for them.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: They have access to more money than we do,
6:48
so I don't think I've ever seen them pull out of a Democrat
6:53
incumbent race in the
6:56
SPEAKER_00: general.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen them pull out.
6:59
They stuck with Anthony Medina despite all of the massage
7:02
parlor situation.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: All the way.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're right.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't even an incumbent.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: right?
7:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean... Oh, that's true.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: That was just an open seat,
7:12
SPEAKER_00: but I think that there's...
7:14
SPEAKER_00: I just don't believe they'll just fund that thing.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: And also, if you look at their map, right?
7:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
7:19
SPEAKER_00: their map probably on the Democrat side,
7:23
SPEAKER_00: if you're the Democrats,
7:24
SPEAKER_00: you're looking at your roadmap going,
7:27
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Javi's probably a decent pickup for us,
7:29
SPEAKER_00: so now we've got to defend it.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: We get a year to kind of repair his name ID a little bit,
7:34
SPEAKER_00: and they'll probably do some things that way and then try to
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Come out,
7:38
SPEAKER_00: I would imagine,
7:39
SPEAKER_00: with an anti-Trump-esque kind of message or something and try to blow up.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: But I just don't know because you've got that.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Republicans are now going to be galvanized against him.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: All the people that don't want a gas tax,
7:51
SPEAKER_00: which is an 80-20 issue,
7:53
SPEAKER_00: like he's become the face of the –
7:56
SPEAKER_00: taxed the hell out of people in Oregon.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, literally, he's the reason why the gas tax passed.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: He is literally the reason the gas tax passed.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: It would not have passed the House if Cyrus Javity did not vote yes.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Period.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: 100%.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: And I think that if you're a non-affiliated voter and you care about your
8:18
SPEAKER_00: pocketbook,
8:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't think you're going to say,
8:20
SPEAKER_00: well,
8:21
but I think I want the maintenance guy to show up between
8:24
Manzanita and Telemuc,
8:25
SPEAKER_00: you know,
8:26
SPEAKER_00: when it's raining.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, eh.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: And I've driven those roads.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: I was just in Seaside.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, I literally left Seaside the other day and drove home Wednesday.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: And all those roads suck.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:41
You can't – roads on the coast always suck because the road –
8:46
you have shifting soils.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: You've got tons of things that happen.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: It's a hard place to build good roads.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: It's constantly going to be a problem.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: You could throw billions at it.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: They would still shift and move because it's what they do on the coast.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: And so – and then now he's anti-police with this stupid –
9:03
anti-masking kind of thing that he did with representative tom
9:08
anderson not my boss
9:09
senator dick anderson i want to make sure that that's very
9:13
clear i almost want to
9:15
put out a press release because we've gotten a few emails from
9:17
people and i'm like
9:19
it's not us you guys can you guys can put out a press release
9:23
and you guys can
9:24
partner up with drazen on spelling of names there's no ian
9:28
drazen there's no ian
9:30
SPEAKER_01: anderson
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: I just don't.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: So anyway,
9:34
my whole point is I don't really see how Jeff and apparently
9:38
he's getting a
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Democrat primary,
9:40
SPEAKER_00: too,
9:40
which I think will kind of expose him a little bit because I
9:43
think at the end of
9:43
SPEAKER_00: the day,
9:44
SPEAKER_00: he's a fraud.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I just don't know how.
9:50
And then how do you just jump ship and all of a sudden you're
9:52
putting out photos with Ron Wyden?
9:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, really?
9:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And I recruited the guy, Reagan.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
10:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm like,
10:00
SPEAKER_00: you know,
10:01
SPEAKER_00: I spoke to him,
10:02
SPEAKER_00: you know,
10:03
SPEAKER_00: three years ago or whatever it was,
10:05
probably four years ago at this point when he first wanted to
10:07
run as a Republican.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's just like I think this is my theory.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And I talked to Vicky about this today.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: We were walking and I just said my theory is that he didn't get his way.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: The last couple,
10:23
he's been there two long sessions and he's struggled to just
10:29
get his way on his
10:30
SPEAKER_00: bills,
10:31
SPEAKER_00: right?
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Getting them past the TLT bill.
10:33
I mean,
10:34
you know,
10:34
it took him two cycles to get the corporate practice and
10:38
medicine bill passed.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And in his mind, Cyrus believes he's right, right?
10:44
SPEAKER_00: On policy.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: He believes his way is the right way.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And the best way to pass those bills is in the majority.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think that he just clearly doesn't care about left, right or other.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he cares.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Democrat, Republican.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't care.
11:02
He wants to pass his policies and he wants the best and easiest
11:06
path to do it.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: And he thinks being a Democrat is going to get him there.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think that it's going to be hard to get through the campaign.
11:14
I think also my opinion on the Javity race has evolved,
11:17
obviously,
11:18
as his changes have evolved.
11:20
So one,
11:21
it was clear that in the last election,
11:24
he was a vulnerable Republican.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Now he hung on, but won by 0.14% or something like that.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: So very close race against a candidate who was terrible.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: So if he got a better challenger,
11:40
SPEAKER_01: if Democrats brought a better challenger next time,
11:42
SPEAKER_01: they would beat him.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: I think he knew all of that.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: So he thought, well, if you can't beat him, join him.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: And he was worried about beating him.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: So there was that piece of it.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: Now,
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I think he would have had a chance to survive if he was like,
11:59
SPEAKER_01: look,
11:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm an independent player.
12:01
democrat i'm an independent thinking democrat i'm still for
12:04
lower yeah well i guess
12:05
you can't say he's still for lower taxes but he's still for
12:08
less regulation he's
12:09
still for a smaller government he's still pro-life like those
12:12
things would have
12:13
allowed him to keep a lot of potential republican voters and i
12:16
think would have
12:17
caused big problems for him because he can run on a lot of
12:20
issues that he cares
12:21
about the health care and the gas tax increase with democrats
12:24
and then hold some of
12:25
SPEAKER_01: those voters and
12:26
um and so i think he was in a pretty good spot if he didn't
12:30
change his values but
12:31
changed his party because he can argue that the party changes
12:34
not what is the most
12:35
important thing it's that his values have mostly remained the
12:38
same again he would
12:39
have been challenged on the tax stuff because his website said
12:43
he was for cutting
12:44
taxes his video said he's for cutting taxes not for raising
12:46
taxes and then he voted
12:47
to raise taxes okay so that was always going to be a
12:49
vulnerability after he voted
12:50
SPEAKER_01: for the bill
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Now that he's evolving in his positions,
12:54
SPEAKER_01: though,
12:54
SPEAKER_01: he's probably not going to hold those Republican voters anymore.
12:57
And clearly Oregon Right to Life will go out and say that he's
13:01
pro-choice,
13:02
SPEAKER_01: that he either lied about being pro-life or is scared or whatever,
13:05
SPEAKER_01: and that will cause the pro-life voters to flee.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: They won't vote for him again.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: So now I think it's a lot harder.
13:12
Not that he can't win it again,
13:14
but I think it'll be a really,
13:16
really tough race now.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
13:19
SPEAKER_00: it makes for,
13:21
it should make for some awkwardness on the house floor too
13:25
during short session and
13:27
SPEAKER_00: stuff,
13:27
SPEAKER_00: which is,
13:27
SPEAKER_00: hey,
13:28
SPEAKER_00: I love awkwardness.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a blast, but you and I both love that stuff.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: But I just,
13:35
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:35
SPEAKER_00: because now you got,
13:37
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:37
SPEAKER_00: a lot of people on the right that really feel betrayed.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: It didn't come as a huge shock to me.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's not like that,
13:47
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:47
SPEAKER_00: it didn't really shock me just because I kind of felt like he,
13:51
SPEAKER_00: since near the end of session,
13:53
SPEAKER_00: he was really kind of,
13:54
SPEAKER_00: the TLT bill,
13:55
SPEAKER_00: he was really reaching on that one to really drive that thing through.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: And we know how transient lodging tax has been an issue now.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't think,
14:09
SPEAKER_00: you know,
14:10
he will find that the Democrat somehow he thinks that the
14:15
Democrat caucus and we
14:17
SPEAKER_00: can ask our guest who's coming on.
14:19
We should ask her how she feels that they're going to welcome
14:23
him into their into their caucus.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: So I did.
14:26
I did tell her we were only going to talk about transportation
14:29
kind of commission.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: So let me text her real quick and see.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll hit her with it.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: She'll be fine.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Anessa Hartman is going to join us soon.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: But I think we'll...
14:38
SPEAKER_00: But in the wake of all of that,
14:39
SPEAKER_00: because she voted no,
14:41
SPEAKER_00: and then they're bringing in somebody who voted yes.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: And so if you...
14:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's the context under which I think we can talk to her about it,
14:51
which I think will be interesting because she probably got tons
14:55
of pressure to vote
14:57
SPEAKER_00: yes.
14:58
Also,
14:58
his website still says he will advocate for local jobs,
15:03
lower taxes.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have a consultant.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Like who's he's got, he's out there.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: He, I think he updated his own website.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: It's different now.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: It has different colors.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: He's got no money either.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know who, right.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: That's the other thing, Reagan, who, who gives them money?
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Like lobby wise.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: It'll, it'll, it'll have to be future pack.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: And then probably the healthcare groups will still give him money.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: Hospitals.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: A lot of them.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: I think they'll all be there.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Um,
15:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's interesting, though.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: Let's see if he's got ActBlue set up yet.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: No,
15:37
SPEAKER_01: he's still on Anodot for now,
15:38
SPEAKER_01: but it's with the old logo,
15:39
SPEAKER_01: so I'm sure that could be coming any day.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Anodot's the worst.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: People that use Anodot are just, you're like still on dial-up.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: I've seen, I mean, you see on Twitter all the updates that WinRed gets.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: It's good technology now.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: It makes me laugh.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Well, while we wait, how about we hit it?
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you want to talk about Charlie Kirk or not,
16:10
SPEAKER_00: but a couple other quick news stories.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: We can get into the Charlie Kirk stuff.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we can end with that.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: But I found it interesting in the wake of the Charlie Kirk stuff.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: I think everybody's kind of been inundated with
16:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so much going on right now in the media with that stuff.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: But the Cliff Bentz not holding events for reporters is a little,
16:33
SPEAKER_00: or sorry,
16:34
SPEAKER_00: he's not holding enough town halls for the reporters.
16:37
So they were all reporting that he's coming home and not doing
16:41
any town halls.
16:41
But in the wake of everything,
16:45
it kind of makes you look like Bentz is pretty smart on this
16:48
one.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: He is.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: He is.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: The reporters are all – here's the thing.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: The question isn't why aren't you holding town halls?
16:58
SPEAKER_01: It's why aren't you letting the left protest you endlessly?
17:01
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, they're not just doing it to Republicans.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: In Oregon, they're doing it to Democrats.
17:06
Ron Wyden had to cancel an event because lefty nut jobs were
17:10
all saying that Israel sucks.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: and that he was too supportive of Israel.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: And so it's happening across the board.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: We're not in a place as a country,
17:22
SPEAKER_01: as we see with Charlie Kirk,
17:23
SPEAKER_01: to be able to hold all the kinds of public outdoor town halls.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: The people are unable...
17:30
Whether it's for mental health reasons or just unhealthy
17:33
political rhetoric and
17:34
SPEAKER_01: dialogue or just unhealthy,
17:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you call it,
17:38
SPEAKER_01: lack of people skills.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is that's causing this evil, which is basically what it is.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: It's evil.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Causing this evil display.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: It's not really just First Amendment protesting.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: It's obviously not when you bring a gun.
17:52
It's not a First Amendment protest when you bring a gun and
17:55
shoot somebody.
17:55
It's really not a First Amendment protest when you go to shout
17:58
people down and
17:59
you're an enviro who breaks up an event and say you're killing
18:02
people without
18:05
SPEAKER_01: supporting everything that they support in Green New Deal.
18:08
And when you're showing up and say more Jews need to be dead,
18:11
that's not First Amendment stuff.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: This is all evil stuff.
18:15
And so when you've got that kind of evil out there,
18:19
what's the point of holding a public event?
18:21
SPEAKER_01: There's not going to be any value because they don't listen
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Usually the politicians try to reason with these people.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: It never works because they're not reasonable.
18:31
So why would you hold these endless amount of events so you can
18:33
get protested?
18:34
And then all it does is all the Democrat groups like it for us
18:38
to generate
18:38
SPEAKER_01: headlines to make you look unpopular.
18:41
And ultimately,
18:42
it's a very typically very small segment of that district.
18:45
It's Congressional District 2 until the Democrats try to
18:49
redistrict Oregon again to
18:51
SPEAKER_01: try to pick up an extra seat with additional gerrymandering.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: That's a heavy report.
18:56
Republican district so it's not like he is unpopular in fact
18:59
all those things will
18:59
make him more popular so it's not he's just what he's doing is
19:04
what's the right
19:04
SPEAKER_01: thing to do which is holding functional events where he can actually have
19:08
conversations with people but he's not I applaud him don't have
19:11
public events to
19:13
let unreasonable people yell at you for a couple of hours it
19:15
doesn't make sense I
19:17
agree 100% and I've been to so many town halls I mean a lot of
19:21
times town halls are
19:22
SPEAKER_00: meant for
19:24
SPEAKER_00: you know,
19:25
SPEAKER_00: getting people's poll,
19:26
like usually go out on town halls and you talk about what
19:28
you're working on,
19:29
SPEAKER_00: right?
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And whether you're in Salem or in DC and you kind of get some feedback,
19:34
SPEAKER_00: you're usually talking about the bills of the day,
19:37
SPEAKER_00: right?
19:37
And then you also glean other things like what's going on in
19:41
that community that
19:43
SPEAKER_00: you need to be made aware of.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: And so that dialogue is important in those town halls.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: I've seen a lot of
19:51
Good policy and ideas that led to good policy come out of town
19:55
halls and the discussions.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: But if you have paid agitators,
19:58
SPEAKER_00: which is what they are,
20:01
SPEAKER_00: also known as paid assholes,
20:02
SPEAKER_00: but to just show up and be jerks for the sake of being jerks,
20:09
SPEAKER_00: there's no good that comes out of any of that stuff.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that comes out of that is bad, bad, and Charlie Kirk bad.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what happens.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And it's very difficult when we get down to that level of...
20:23
SPEAKER_00: It's just that base level of evil and hate that is just...
20:29
not helpful to anything and well why if you're cliff bentz come
20:34
home for august and
20:35
you want to you know do a do a thing in pendleton and cruise
20:39
down to you know uh
20:40
madras and go to klymouth falls and do a couple of town halls
20:44
you're just gonna get
20:45
you know people yelling and screaming at you it's just not a
20:48
lot of fun you know i
20:51
saw that mark meek is doing a town hall this saturday so i
20:54
can't i was uh i can't i
20:56
SPEAKER_00: almost want to drive over there and bring my sign
21:00
still vote no join anessa yeah yeah that's what we have
21:06
representative anessa
21:07
hartman here with us and i think she's gonna be there and she's
21:10
just gonna be like
21:10
please vote no please vote no she's like no i'm not gonna be
21:15
there she's like
21:16
that's his problem i saw that and i said why why would you do
21:20
that to yourself but
21:22
SPEAKER_02: you know what good on him he
21:25
SPEAKER_01: I will be interested to see how that event would go,
21:27
SPEAKER_01: but I am not going to go to the effort to attend.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: It is the first Saturday I have.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: My daughter has no soccer games.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: My other daughter has no choir commitments,
21:38
SPEAKER_02: so we will be doing nothing but staying in our pajamas.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: So,
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Representative,
21:47
SPEAKER_01: we had on last week Cyrus Javity to talk about why he voted yes on the
21:53
transportation package or the – I don't know if people – so
21:57
there's disagreement
21:58
SPEAKER_01: about whether or not it's a package,
21:59
SPEAKER_01: I suppose,
21:59
SPEAKER_01: in some way.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you have your viewpoint on whether or not it is a package.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Also,
22:04
SPEAKER_01: but anyway,
22:05
SPEAKER_01: the six cent gas tax increase,
22:07
SPEAKER_01: the registration fee increase,
22:10
SPEAKER_01: the miles driven charge for EVs,
22:14
SPEAKER_01: those kinds of things to stabilize agency and to fund maintenance,
22:19
SPEAKER_01: supposedly.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Although,
22:20
SPEAKER_01: again,
22:20
SPEAKER_01: the governor had to write a letter to ODOT and tell them,
22:22
SPEAKER_01: hey,
22:22
SPEAKER_01: you have to spend this on maintenance.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, it's not in the bill, but you definitely just do that.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: So there's some faith included in all of this.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: But what...
22:31
SPEAKER_01: What was your feeling?
22:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, where were you at with the original transportation package?
22:36
SPEAKER_01: And then what did you think about the new bill?
22:38
SPEAKER_01: And how did you end up going the way you did on the vote?
22:42
SPEAKER_02: How much time do we have?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Friday, we can do this all day long.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: We don't care.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: We can turn into the Joe Rogan podcast.
22:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:54
So original podcast or sorry,
22:56
original,
22:57
um,
22:57
bill is it from the 2025 long session?
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: The original one.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: Like a house built 2025 or one of the versions of it.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: There was a lot.
23:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: Um,
23:05
SPEAKER_02: so I,
23:07
SPEAKER_02: I was also a no,
23:10
SPEAKER_02: um,
23:11
SPEAKER_02: like kind of many others were on that particular,
23:14
SPEAKER_02: the larger like iteration that we received.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: What?
23:16
SPEAKER_02: Like the second week of June,
23:19
SPEAKER_02: you know,
23:19
SPEAKER_02: we received the talking points,
23:21
SPEAKER_02: you know,
23:21
SPEAKER_02: the,
23:22
SPEAKER_02: the,
23:22
SPEAKER_02: what were they calling it?
23:23
SPEAKER_02: The, um,
23:24
SPEAKER_02: sort of the overview of what was going to be in it.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: But as we know,
23:28
it is not real until we see how this bill language is written
23:32
and what is actually
23:33
SPEAKER_02: in the bill.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: So when that came out, it was a little bit of a sticker shock.
23:39
I think for my particular community,
23:42
the RUC,
23:42
the Road User Charge,
23:43
was a huge no.
23:46
We originally were going to phase in regular gas cars down the
23:50
road,
23:51
not just EVs.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: Originally, in my head, it was like EVs and hybrids, right?
23:54
SPEAKER_02: get their fair share, pay their fair share, totally get that.
23:57
But then down the road,
23:58
in the initial bill,
24:00
it was also going to include regular gas as well.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: So that was a huge no.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: And then the payroll tax has always been a big no for me,
24:07
SPEAKER_02: for my district particularly,
24:09
SPEAKER_02: because we don't have adjustments in transportation here.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: We are in that TriMet,
24:13
SPEAKER_02: my district is in the TriMet sort of district,
24:16
SPEAKER_02: and then some of my district is just a little bit out of it.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: So as you can imagine, we've had our strike with that.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: So
24:21
And then when that whole thing went down in the last week where
24:24
we tried to come up
24:25
SPEAKER_02: with a final package,
24:27
SPEAKER_02: you know,
24:27
SPEAKER_02: I was getting,
24:28
SPEAKER_02: we were getting close,
24:29
SPEAKER_02: right?
24:29
But then when we took the cities and counties out as a previous
24:31
city counselor,
24:32
SPEAKER_02: it was like,
24:33
SPEAKER_02: we can't,
24:33
SPEAKER_02: we cannot be,
24:35
SPEAKER_02: we cannot be taking them out.
24:37
SPEAKER_02: And so up until the special session,
24:39
SPEAKER_02: I was pretty much,
24:40
SPEAKER_02: as long as that payroll tax is in there,
24:41
SPEAKER_02: I can't,
24:44
SPEAKER_02: my district is not something that we can support.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: And I will say, my impression was we were being called back
24:51
to for gap funding like we are going to be called back to hold
24:56
over the positions
24:57
that you say we have to cut instead of like looking at other
25:01
things fine okay um
25:03
but in my you know to me we passed a transportation package we
25:08
passed we did not
25:09
pass a gap funding package to put us into 2027 right that's
25:12
what happened in 2015
25:14
you know they didn't we weren't able to pass anything we
25:15
continued conversations we
25:16
SPEAKER_02: did something in 2017
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Well,
25:19
SPEAKER_01: and ultimately,
25:20
SPEAKER_01: I think that the bill that passed the House,
25:22
SPEAKER_01: it's still sitting in the Senate waiting on some health issues to,
25:26
SPEAKER_01: you know,
25:26
SPEAKER_01: hopefully be resolved.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: We don't wish any ill will to Senator Gorsuch or anything like that.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: We hope he comes back and is healthy and then votes no,
25:34
SPEAKER_01: because that would be the funniest thing of all time.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: But and I say that speaking for me and Brian,
25:39
SPEAKER_01: not for our guests,
25:40
SPEAKER_01: but the bill that passed the House.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: Seems like,
25:44
SPEAKER_01: and this is the interesting thing to me,
25:46
SPEAKER_01: it seems like exactly what ODOT wanted to do.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: ODOT wanted funding without sideboards and no new projects to do.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: And that is ultimately what happened in this bill.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: And the whole time through the long session,
26:02
it seemed like the legislature was pushing hard to try and get
26:07
something that
26:08
SPEAKER_01: wasn't that because there was more that they wanted to do.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: wanted to go further modernizing transportation,
26:13
SPEAKER_01: wanted to finish the projects from 2017 that didn't get finished.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, there was all kinds of other things.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: Some of them were wanting to do more electrification of cars.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: Some of them were trying to reduce lanes and not do,
26:24
SPEAKER_01: you know,
26:25
SPEAKER_01: the we don't need more roads where we're going caucus.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Where we're going, we don't need roads.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: That's the back to the future quote I got mixed up there.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: And the transfer tax.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: We have the transfer tax as well.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and the transfer tax.
26:37
But the governor sort of representing ODOT called a special
26:41
session to put forward
26:42
SPEAKER_01: a bill that was exactly what ODOT wanted.
26:44
And that was when they were – they have a greater ability to
26:47
control the special
26:48
SPEAKER_01: session,
26:49
SPEAKER_01: the bill,
26:49
SPEAKER_01: the agenda,
26:50
SPEAKER_01: all that stuff.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: And so I think that that whole strategy –
26:54
SPEAKER_01: It's super interesting.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Now,
26:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't know,
26:56
SPEAKER_01: and like you said,
26:57
SPEAKER_01: at the end of the session,
26:58
SPEAKER_01: they brought forward this bill that was three cents,
27:00
SPEAKER_01: and they eliminated the 50-30-20 split from that three cents,
27:04
SPEAKER_01: which is what you're talking about,
27:04
and that's why all the local governments came out opposed and
27:06
tried to kill that
27:07
SPEAKER_01: bill at the end,
27:08
SPEAKER_01: and it did die,
27:09
SPEAKER_01: but...
27:10
A lot of people think that that was strategic brilliance from
27:14
the governor to get
27:14
SPEAKER_01: everyone on board with the new sixth sense.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: At least I've heard that, at least on the Republican side.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a tinfoil hat thing.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they knew what they were doing.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: I think they struggled through this entire process.
27:24
I think the governor showed up late because there were some
27:26
questions about how
27:27
leadership had handled the prior five months of bill work and
27:32
all that stuff.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:33
I just think it's interesting that the final bill that got
27:35
passed is more of what
27:37
SPEAKER_01: ODOT wanted than what the legislature wanted.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think that that,
27:41
I don't know what the ramifications are that long-term for
27:43
transportation.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: And if we're going to do something in short session,
27:46
SPEAKER_01: if people are going to try again in 27 for more stuff,
27:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's going to be the will for that,
27:50
SPEAKER_01: but who knows?
27:52
SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
27:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know that there have been conversations, right.
27:55
That's about making a project or finishing the project that
27:57
were promised.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
27:59
SPEAKER_02: I look out my balcony here and I can see Abernathy.
28:01
SPEAKER_02: So it's not,
28:02
SPEAKER_02: you know,
28:04
SPEAKER_02: it's a challenging topic because,
28:05
SPEAKER_02: yes,
28:06
we need to continue finishing that project that is already in
28:10
the middle of
28:10
SPEAKER_02: construction.
28:12
SPEAKER_02: Let's finish it.
28:13
SPEAKER_02: But when we start to talk about the I-5 corridor,
28:16
SPEAKER_02: which was very important to 2017,
28:17
SPEAKER_02: and that's a whole other conversation,
28:19
SPEAKER_02: but that project still very much feels a few years out.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: And when we are prioritizing budgeting hundreds of millions of dollars,
28:28
to prepare for that project instead of putting that money into
28:31
what we need right
28:32
SPEAKER_02: now in critical services,
28:33
SPEAKER_02: that's where I start to have an issue,
28:35
SPEAKER_02: right?
28:35
It's like that project should have been started a long time
28:37
ago,
28:37
but it hasn't,
28:38
and that's fine.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: But if we're,
28:41
SPEAKER_02: I can't remember what the number was,
28:42
SPEAKER_02: but the amount that we are setting aside for consultant fees,
28:44
SPEAKER_02: I was like,
28:46
SPEAKER_02: what are we consulting on right now?
28:47
SPEAKER_02: Because right now it feels like we're in an emergency.
28:51
Let's focus on what is present and then talk about a couple
28:53
years,
28:54
in a couple years from now.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: But that is not the thinking,
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Well,
29:00
SPEAKER_00: the Abernathy Bridge,
29:01
SPEAKER_00: like that's I mean,
29:03
SPEAKER_00: if there's one reason alone to vote no,
29:06
SPEAKER_00: you can look out your window and see that that I mean,
29:09
SPEAKER_00: I've been driving.
29:09
I grew up over in Gresham in that area and that Abernathy
29:13
Bridge and I've been up and down.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: It's been under construction forever, and it looks the same.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't see anything different.
29:23
I'm like,
29:23
do they just park the cranes out there to make it look like
29:26
they're doing something?
29:29
And I think that's just all that frustration just boils up,
29:32
especially if you drive on 205.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the frustration.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:36
of getting around i205 and around portland now especially
29:40
compared to even you know
29:42
20 25 years ago you know because all the growth has happened
29:46
out that way right
29:47
right and so um because portland doesn't have anywhere else to
29:50
grow right i mean
29:51
there's a border to our north and we got nowhere else to go so
29:54
everybody's moving
29:55
out that way but there's no increased capacity there's no and
29:59
it just feels like
30:00
SPEAKER_00: there's no sense of urgency
30:02
to get any of that stuff done same with like the rose quarter
30:05
project i mean that
30:08
is to me i mean we've wasted hundreds of millions of dollars
30:13
and gotten no i mean
30:15
that's the part that just kills me is we've gotten nowhere and
30:19
without having that
30:20
oversight with the agency i think amongst your party as well as
30:24
i know with ours i
30:25
SPEAKER_00: mean the apprehension of just saying here's another blank check
30:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, so let's see what happens.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, in this whole, what else are we going to do?
30:35
You know,
30:35
it's kind of like,
30:36
like,
30:36
no,
30:37
what we do is we say it's not good enough.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Right.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: 2025 right at the end of session is like, this is not the bill, you know?
30:47
SPEAKER_02: Right.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: I like,
30:49
SPEAKER_02: I think I said it in my floor speech was like,
30:51
SPEAKER_02: you know,
30:51
when the audit came out and they couldn't account for the 120
30:54
something million
30:55
SPEAKER_02: dollars,
30:56
SPEAKER_02: you know,
30:56
SPEAKER_02: how am I supposed to go back to my community and say,
31:00
SPEAKER_02: we're going to increase the X, Y, and Z for you.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, like some people, and this, you know, this frustrates me.
31:05
Like some people think like,
31:06
oh,
31:06
it's only going to be what,
31:08
you know,
31:09
$500 a year.
31:10
Like to someone who like has to literally live paycheck to
31:14
paycheck or barely live
31:15
SPEAKER_02: paycheck,
31:15
SPEAKER_02: like $500 divided by 12 is a lot for some people.
31:19
SPEAKER_02: And I remember,
31:20
SPEAKER_02: like,
31:20
SPEAKER_02: I remember those days where it was tough,
31:22
SPEAKER_02: but then like,
31:22
SPEAKER_02: how am I supposed to go back and say,
31:24
SPEAKER_02: hey,
31:24
SPEAKER_02: they couldn't find this,
31:25
SPEAKER_02: but we're going to give them more money.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: you know,
31:28
SPEAKER_02: and I shared this story with,
31:29
SPEAKER_02: with a couple other people,
31:30
SPEAKER_02: but you know,
31:31
SPEAKER_02: I work in a nonprofit and I was like,
31:32
you know what happens to nonprofits when they don't meet their
31:34
deliverables or
31:36
SPEAKER_02: let's say they couldn't get all the money out that they were awarded or,
31:39
SPEAKER_02: or they missed like by,
31:40
SPEAKER_02: by one,
31:41
SPEAKER_02: by a small margin,
31:42
SPEAKER_02: we get our money reduced.
31:43
SPEAKER_02: We don't get the same amount.
31:45
And so it's like,
31:45
all right,
31:46
well,
31:46
I'm just going to,
31:46
I'm going to think that way.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to treat our agencies the same way.
31:50
SPEAKER_02: Like that feels right.
31:51
SPEAKER_02: You can't manage the money you have right now.
31:53
SPEAKER_02: Like,
31:54
SPEAKER_02: And so it just didn't sit well with me.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: And as you guys know,
31:58
SPEAKER_02: my district particularly has been at the center of these transportation
32:01
SPEAKER_02: conversations forever,
32:02
SPEAKER_02: for a very long time.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: And so in my head,
32:06
SPEAKER_02: I was like,
32:06
SPEAKER_02: all right,
32:07
SPEAKER_02: the way that it ended,
32:08
or the way that the whole tolling conversation happened at the
32:11
end of last short
32:13
SPEAKER_02: session,
32:13
SPEAKER_02: long session,
32:14
SPEAKER_02: my first term,
32:14
SPEAKER_02: I was like,
32:15
the number one thing leadership has to do is get Clackamas
32:18
County caucus on board.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: If you get Clackamas County caucus on board, then you should be okay.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: I would think because, I mean, Clackamas County is the epicenter of –
32:30
SPEAKER_00: kind of everything.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: It's really, you know, of Oregon.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: If you think about Oregon,
32:34
SPEAKER_00: because you've got rural,
32:36
SPEAKER_00: you've got urban,
32:37
SPEAKER_00: you have highways,
32:39
SPEAKER_00: you have,
32:40
SPEAKER_00: you know,
32:40
SPEAKER_00: everything really in Clackamas County.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And I always think so goes Clackamas County, so goes the state.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really a bellwether county to see where things are.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Are we moving a little more right of center?
32:54
SPEAKER_00: Are we moving a little more left of center?
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Clackamas County seems to be
32:58
that county that I look at that really give me a sense of
33:02
what's the political
33:03
SPEAKER_00: fever of the state right now.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And it really is.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: And there's been a lot of good things,
33:10
SPEAKER_00: especially with transportation,
33:11
SPEAKER_00: because it's just...
33:14
And you have Christine Drazen on one end of Clackamas County
33:18
and you on the other
33:20
SPEAKER_00: end of Clackamas County,
33:21
SPEAKER_00: right?
33:21
SPEAKER_00: So you got D's and R's on both sides of the political spectrum, too.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: Different kind of D's, too.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: Don't forget, you got...
33:27
mark gamba and you got daniel witt you got all kinds i forgot
33:32
about gamba is that i
33:33
was gonna say is that the spectrum from gamba to win yeah like
33:37
gamba gamba did
33:38
reason i think is a good uh spectrum it used to include james
33:42
eeb too which is
33:44
SPEAKER_01: which is something um yes so sort of to that point um
33:53
SPEAKER_01: I think that,
33:54
SPEAKER_01: sorry,
33:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm responding to a text message,
33:55
SPEAKER_01: which is bad,
33:56
SPEAKER_01: but it was my wife,
33:56
SPEAKER_01: so I'm going to take that.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: You announced that you are not going to seek re-election.
34:04
And to the legislature,
34:05
you are going to seek a seat on the county commission.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Is there somebody that is,
34:10
SPEAKER_01: I didn't look this up,
34:11
SPEAKER_01: is there somebody that's retiring or are you challenging an incumbent?
34:14
SPEAKER_01: I didn't look.
34:15
So it is actually the individual,
34:18
Melissa Fireside,
34:19
who lost her seat because she
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: So someone got appointed to that seat.
34:24
SPEAKER_02: Her name is Diana Helm.
34:26
She was,
34:26
I believe she was a previous mayor or previous mayor of
34:29
Damascus,
34:30
I think.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: And so I had let her know, I was like, I am not challenging you.
34:34
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is not like, I have a relationship with, with Paul Savas.
34:38
SPEAKER_02: I have a relationship with Ben West.
34:40
They both have been very supportive and instrumental and work
34:43
in separate spaces
34:43
SPEAKER_02: like mental health care and substance use and then transportation.
34:47
SPEAKER_02: And I would never dream to try and challenge those two.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: And so I was like, I hope you know that it's not you.
34:52
SPEAKER_02: So it is seat four is the number.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: And so it is in the middle of what would have been a four-year term.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: So technically it would be for two years and then run again.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh, man.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: In two years, four.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm used to it, right?
35:07
SPEAKER_02: But it would be,
35:08
SPEAKER_02: yeah,
35:08
SPEAKER_02: for two,
35:08
SPEAKER_02: and then if I won,
35:09
SPEAKER_02: then run again in two more years,
35:11
SPEAKER_02: and then it would be a four-year term.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
35:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: And so you're on,
35:15
SPEAKER_01: that's the ballot,
35:16
SPEAKER_01: is it's Savas running again,
35:17
SPEAKER_01: Ben West running again,
35:19
SPEAKER_01: and then that fourth seat?
35:21
SPEAKER_02: The fourth seat.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm not quite sure if that person is running or who else is.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: You know, I got a thing for numbers, too.
35:27
SPEAKER_02: So it's like from 40 to 4 sounds really nice to me.
35:30
SPEAKER_02: And 4 was my basketball number growing up, so it felt right.
35:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: And then I updated the candidate tracker today because filing opened.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: And so we'll see if Charles Gallia,
35:41
SPEAKER_01: who you had defeated once before in the primary,
35:43
SPEAKER_01: had lost once to Kenimer.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: He had lost once before to Allen Olsen as well.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: So maybe this is his opportunity, his chance.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: He lost the number two pencil Olsen?
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh, boy.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I am aware.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: I know that there's someone else that I'm not familiar with.
36:07
SPEAKER_02: It's just a new person who's reached out also.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: And I haven't really responded.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm taking this week kind of slowly.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: That's smart.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: I knew this was coming.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Actually, the funny thing is, though, I was going to announce on Friday.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: And then another announcement happened.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, well, that feels weird to do it at this stage.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, maybe this isn't the right time.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Let me give him his space and then we'll just do it next week.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: And you're not announcing a party change.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: You are staying Democrat.
36:43
SPEAKER_02: As of right now, have I thought about going independent for sure.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: But as of right now, I'm not.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: The Independent Party of Oregon sucks.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: They're the worst of all time.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: Not affiliated.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: Can I be not affiliated?
36:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not affiliated.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: Now I have to do it.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Now every political guest we have to ask,
37:01
because Javity didn't announce his party change until right
37:04
after our podcast,
37:04
SPEAKER_01: I've got to ask him,
37:05
SPEAKER_01: are you planning on changing your party anytime soon?
37:07
SPEAKER_01: I just have to add it to the repertoire now.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm damaged.
37:11
Clackamas is all non-affiliated,
37:12
and then the top two move on to the general,
37:14
right?
37:15
SPEAKER_00: So unless you can get 50.1%.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: in the primary, then the top two would just move on to the general.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: So it's pretty non-affiliated-esque, you know.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: Which I recommend, by the way, winning in May if you can.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: Totally awesome.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: You know, I've thought about that too.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: Makes November easy.
37:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, can I have a summer?
37:34
SPEAKER_00: You could, yeah.
37:35
SPEAKER_02: I could have a summer.
37:36
It'd be weird to win in May because then you're not seated for
37:39
like seven months,
37:40
too.
37:40
It's like,
37:41
you know,
37:41
you have to sit around and wait for seven months for them to
37:44
actually.
37:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, have like a little bit of a life for a minute.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: That'd be a good idea.
37:49
Go run hard early,
37:49
I think,
37:50
which is what you're doing,
37:51
clearly,
37:51
by announcing so soon.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: And I think probably trying to clear the field a little bit,
37:56
SPEAKER_00: right,
37:57
SPEAKER_00: to let people know,
37:57
SPEAKER_00: hey,
37:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go after this,
37:59
SPEAKER_00: jumpstart your fundraising,
38:01
SPEAKER_00: all this stuff.
38:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
38:03
SPEAKER_02: I would say it was actually more driven by,
38:05
SPEAKER_02: I want,
38:06
SPEAKER_02: not that I will have any control over who decides to run,
38:09
SPEAKER_02: Republican or Democrat.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: I just, I really wanted someone to take the time to figure it out.
38:15
SPEAKER_02: Because I know that,
38:17
SPEAKER_02: you know,
38:17
SPEAKER_02: four years ago,
38:18
SPEAKER_02: it was around in September when I started thinking about it.
38:22
It took me about a month to decide,
38:24
just to get like,
38:24
is this going to work for my family?
38:26
SPEAKER_02: Like all of the things.
38:27
SPEAKER_02: This is a big commitment, you know, and it's a lot.
38:29
SPEAKER_02: And so,
38:30
SPEAKER_02: My hope was to not give someone like a week, right?
38:33
SPEAKER_02: I think there was a lot of people that were like,
38:34
SPEAKER_02: oh,
38:35
SPEAKER_02: you could have waited until after a short session.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: I was like, yeah, I could have, but that seems awful.
38:39
SPEAKER_02: And I also really disingenuous,
38:41
SPEAKER_02: like,
38:41
SPEAKER_02: or like wait until the end of the year and raise all this money as a
38:45
SPEAKER_02: representative.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: And like, oh, sorry, guys.
38:47
SPEAKER_02: Like, I wasn't going to do that.
38:49
I think that's really kind of you,
38:52
honestly,
38:53
because I think that that annoys people.
38:56
SPEAKER_01: There's no way to stop it, but it annoys the crap out of people.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it annoys the lobby.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it annoys party leaders.
39:03
Now Ben has lots of time to go recruit for your seat if he
39:07
doesn't like who's already filed.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: He should leave Charles there, by the way.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: I think amazing candidate.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: You can you can decide if I'm being sarcastic or not.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: He can decide.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: It's up to him now.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: But I think that that is it's just it's it's just straightforward.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: I like it when people announce their plans.
39:24
I think it helps people understand what the actual state of
39:26
things are instead of
39:27
SPEAKER_01: having to do this weird tap dance where it's like,
39:29
SPEAKER_01: well,
39:29
SPEAKER_01: if I see it all the time in national politics,
39:31
SPEAKER_01: this person doesn't run,
39:32
SPEAKER_01: then I'm getting in.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I like this person and I'm going to defer to them.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: And and I think all that is kind of silly.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: So props to you for just going for it.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: Did you believe did the I mean,
39:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to assume the answer is yes to this,
39:48
SPEAKER_00: but I would maybe maybe expand on the rationale.
39:51
But you're no vote and running for commissioner because I think
39:55
some people are
39:55
SPEAKER_00: probably like trying to put the two and two together.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: Right.
39:57
I mean,
39:58
I think some people think Javity was already planning on
40:00
becoming a Democrat.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: So he was going to vote yes and had a deal with Bowman to fund his race.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: So if he votes yes, they'd fund it.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm making up assumptions.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, these are things.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Hold on.
40:15
I'm going to call Ben and I see if I can get him to confirm the
40:18
line here real quick.
40:20
But these are questions I would have asked him if he would have
40:22
came on and told us
40:23
SPEAKER_00: he was going to be a Democrat.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, what did you?
40:26
SPEAKER_00: So.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: I assumed you looked at this commissioner seat.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: By the way,
40:30
Ben West is one of my really good friends and he loves you and
40:33
thinks the world of
40:34
SPEAKER_00: you.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: And he would never help us beat you in the state rep race.
40:38
So I think this is better for him because now you can join him
40:41
on the commission.
40:43
SPEAKER_02: This is what we need.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: We need more nonpartisanship.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I won't come out publicly, but we'll support each other much.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: So I guess that was my question was like,
40:54
SPEAKER_00: how much of the,
40:55
SPEAKER_00: of the no vote maybe played in your political rationale for running?
41:00
SPEAKER_02: None at all.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: I was pretty fed up by that point.
41:04
So I,
41:05
and I think that there's,
41:06
so there's like,
41:06
there's like personal things,
41:08
right?
41:09
My kids are going to be going into high school and like middle
41:12
school and I'm a single parent.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: Like, so there's like personal stuff.
41:16
I'd been considering not running again,
41:18
just in general,
41:19
just like I,
41:19
this is,
41:21
SPEAKER_02: This is really like,
41:22
SPEAKER_02: just like,
41:22
SPEAKER_02: you know,
41:23
can I handle this last long session I have shared with people
41:26
really broke me in
41:27
SPEAKER_02: many different ways around the way that we make decisions,
41:31
SPEAKER_02: the way that things are negotiated.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: I just felt really icky being a part of a system that prioritized,
41:38
SPEAKER_02: am I going to win the next election over,
41:40
SPEAKER_02: uh,
41:42
SPEAKER_02: You know, making good choices.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: Right.
41:44
SPEAKER_02: And like to a certain extent,
41:45
I can get it until we all agree not to like hate on each other
41:49
and campaign time or
41:52
SPEAKER_02: or we agree to work together and publicly say,
41:55
SPEAKER_02: you know,
41:55
that we we are more moderate or more like sort of together on
41:59
things than than the
42:01
SPEAKER_02: news likes to pick up.
42:02
SPEAKER_02: then it's just never going to change.
42:04
SPEAKER_02: Um,
42:05
SPEAKER_02: and I think there are some of us who were trying,
42:07
SPEAKER_02: you know,
42:07
SPEAKER_02: I think there's like a good handful,
42:08
both Republicans that were trying to create somewhat of like a
42:10
mod caucus,
42:11
SPEAKER_02: if you will,
42:11
SPEAKER_02: or just like,
42:12
SPEAKER_02: how can we work together?
42:13
SPEAKER_02: Um, where it was like, I'm not going to say anything on the floor.
42:16
SPEAKER_02: I would support you, but I'm going to have to vote.
42:17
SPEAKER_02: No, like, but that to me, that feels, yeah.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: So with all that being said,
42:21
SPEAKER_02: like I,
42:22
SPEAKER_02: you know,
42:22
SPEAKER_02: ended the long session really like,
42:24
SPEAKER_02: okay,
42:24
SPEAKER_02: what am I going to do?
42:25
SPEAKER_02: Like, what is, what is, what, what are we going to do?
42:27
SPEAKER_02: And so I had good conversations with my family.
42:30
SPEAKER_02: And I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to run again and take a break,
42:35
SPEAKER_02: not run for anything else.
42:38
And then when the special session was announced,
42:40
you know,
42:40
we had all given our availability.
42:42
SPEAKER_02: I was supposed to be gone that weekend.
42:44
SPEAKER_02: I had plans for my kids.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: We had a lot of personal stuff going on.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, we're leaving.
42:47
SPEAKER_02: We're going to the water park and right before school.
42:51
SPEAKER_02: And I was pretty much like,
42:53
SPEAKER_02: it would be really nuclear if you didn't show up and,
42:56
SPEAKER_02: you know,
42:56
SPEAKER_02: made to feel,
42:57
SPEAKER_02: pretty awful if I wasn't gonna be there.
43:00
SPEAKER_02: Even though I communicated I wasn't gonna be there ahead of time.
43:04
SPEAKER_02: And so I had to cancel my plans to be there.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: And I told him, I said, that's fine, but I'm still voting no.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: Like I've been no from the very beginning.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: Do you really want that?
43:14
And I hadn't at this point,
43:16
cause I had kind of gone zero dark 30 to be like off social
43:19
media.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: I hadn't realized that Cyrus was really out there hitting the pavement.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm going to vote.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
43:24
And I very much respect him for like actually responding to
43:27
people on like Facebook
43:28
SPEAKER_02: and Instagram.
43:28
Like a lot of us don't do that,
43:30
but he engaged to the most of his,
43:32
to the best of his ability.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really didn't know how strong that was.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: Um,
43:37
SPEAKER_02: you know,
43:37
obviously there's assumptions that it was like Mannix or Javity
43:41
or people that we
43:42
SPEAKER_02: could maybe that have expressed support before.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: Um,
43:45
SPEAKER_02: but I went into that weekend knowing that I had to,
43:48
SPEAKER_02: to be there during a time,
43:49
SPEAKER_02: a rough time during my,
43:51
SPEAKER_02: like my personal life.
43:53
And it was like,
43:54
well,
43:54
I'm going to be me then you're going to have to deal with this.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: And so they all knew that, uh, going in.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: Um,
44:03
SPEAKER_02: and there were discussions around,
44:04
SPEAKER_02: okay,
44:05
SPEAKER_02: if let's say our,
44:06
SPEAKER_02: like my good friend representative fall win wasn't able to come in,
44:09
SPEAKER_02: uh,
44:10
SPEAKER_02: I would have had to probably been a strong talking to like,
44:14
SPEAKER_02: what do you want?
44:16
you know uh and so uh but she did and um i you know maintained
44:23
my position and i
44:25
have said like that was that was really intimidating i've taken
44:27
a lot of like tough
44:28
votes before but to feel it was like palpable it was like to
44:31
feel the look and like
44:35
but honestly like from the conversations i had like i said like
44:38
top to bottom like
44:39
electives down to like my neighbors it's just that everyone
44:43
wanted like they just i
44:44
SPEAKER_02: didn't
44:45
It just didn't feel right for me in my district to vote yes,
44:50
even,
44:51
you know.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: It's got to be a 90-10 vote in the district, if not better.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: The conversations I've had,
44:58
SPEAKER_02: too,
44:59
SPEAKER_02: with people who were like,
44:59
SPEAKER_02: oh,
45:00
SPEAKER_02: why don't you want to fund transportation?
45:01
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe some union members that have spoken to me privately.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they've admitted that there's mismanagement in spending.
45:08
And I have told them,
45:09
it's not that I don't want to invest in transportation.
45:10
SPEAKER_02: I just want to do it the right way.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: I saw a really good piece of testimony,
45:15
and it happened to be from one of Representative Breeze
45:19
Everson's commissioners.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: But he basically said he has like his submitted testimony.
45:23
He's a commissioner,
45:23
so he benefits his county benefits from the 50-30-20 split,
45:27
obviously.
45:28
But he said he said the measures that are in there that are
45:31
under the section
45:31
called accountability is stuff I would have assumed we're
45:34
already doing and already
45:36
SPEAKER_01: should be doing.
45:37
That doesn't like increased for increased accountability,
45:40
which is what we really need.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: None of that is cutting it.
45:44
I think for most average people,
45:45
people are like,
45:46
wait,
45:46
they don't submit to a regular audit.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: They don't have a major projects team.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: When we spend a certain amount of money,
45:53
SPEAKER_01: we don't have the ability for the governor to hire and fire,
45:56
SPEAKER_01: which by the way,
45:57
That one is the silliest one of all because that flip-flops
45:59
back and forth all the
46:00
SPEAKER_01: time based on who the governor is and who the legislature is.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: It used to be the governor hired and fired,
46:05
SPEAKER_01: and then for accountability,
46:07
SPEAKER_01: we took it away from her.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: Not from Governor Kotick,
46:10
but we took it away from previous governors under the guise of
46:13
accountability,
46:13
SPEAKER_01: and now we're bringing the power back under the guise of accountability.
46:16
SPEAKER_01: That one is just –
46:18
SPEAKER_01: the most interesting one of all.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: So I think that that is also a point that,
46:22
SPEAKER_01: that you made,
46:23
SPEAKER_01: which is basically like the accountability needs to be so much beefier.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: And,
46:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you listened to our previous episode,
46:30
SPEAKER_01: but I did have a long diatribe about some people who stood up and said,
46:34
SPEAKER_01: if you've got ideas for accountability,
46:36
SPEAKER_01: let's hear them.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, people had ideas for accountability.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: They didn't let it in the bill.
46:42
SPEAKER_01: That's the bottom line.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: So I understand where that's coming from,
46:46
SPEAKER_01: but it's a very frustrating thing to hear when I'm sure you had ideas for
46:49
SPEAKER_01: accountability and I know others had ideas for accountability.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: For political reasons,
46:54
SPEAKER_01: usually those things,
46:55
SPEAKER_01: or sometimes logistics or cost,
46:57
SPEAKER_01: those things don't appear in the bill.
46:59
But it's not like there wasn't a list of ideas that people were
47:02
bringing forward.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: It's not like there was no engagement on that front.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: It's not like we showed up the day of special session.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: We're like, oh, how are we going to hold ODOT accountable?
47:09
SPEAKER_02: Right.
47:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, that was my other issue.
47:13
SPEAKER_02: In my head, it was like we had one public hearing, which was for the LC.
47:17
SPEAKER_02: We weren't even in session.
47:19
SPEAKER_02: And then we had the other one.
47:20
SPEAKER_02: Right.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: But it's like, why did it, it's like 4,002.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: I thought that like,
47:24
SPEAKER_02: we had meetings for 4,002 back in the short session,
47:27
SPEAKER_02: like leading up like every single week.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Like it was really robust public engagement, right?
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Like it just felt like the time to do that.
47:34
SPEAKER_02: And we just didn't, we didn't do that.
47:36
SPEAKER_02: And I think through,
47:38
SPEAKER_02: through those conversations was like,
47:39
SPEAKER_02: you know,
47:39
SPEAKER_02: we had,
47:40
we had an accountability committee or an oversight committee on
47:43
mega projects.
47:45
SPEAKER_02: We had that from 2017.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Look where that got us.
47:48
SPEAKER_02: So I was like, oh, yeah, another committee.
47:50
SPEAKER_02: Is that really going to do what we want it to do?
47:52
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: But back here,
47:55
SPEAKER_02: just to close up the idea of the Cognizant Commission thing,
47:58
SPEAKER_02: it had always been a thought of mine to do that at some point in my life.
48:02
SPEAKER_02: I like local politics.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: I like being home and like seeing, like working with the people.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: But I think from that no vote and like people being like,
48:11
SPEAKER_02: oh,
48:11
SPEAKER_02: it's just because she's from Clackamas.
48:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's just, you know, you know.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: I was, in my head, it was just sort of an aha moment.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: Honestly,
48:18
SPEAKER_02: I was driving home and I was like,
48:20
I could be exactly who I want to be and not feel bad about it
48:25
and represent the
48:26
county that I love and like be home and do the same thing to a
48:30
certain extent,
48:31
SPEAKER_02: right?
48:31
SPEAKER_02: Like obviously, you know, different, but
48:33
SPEAKER_02: And, and, and be able to, to, I know how the building works.
48:37
I know the people and,
48:39
and,
48:40
um,
48:40
you know,
48:41
Clark and Mrs.
48:42
Always left out of these conversations.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: So that it was really a, I don't want to say it was a rash decision.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: Um,
48:49
SPEAKER_02: it was always in my head to do that in a future years,
48:52
SPEAKER_02: but it definitely was like,
48:54
SPEAKER_02: you know what?
48:55
SPEAKER_02: I can just be the rebel rouser that I have been.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but at home.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: And not have to deal with party politics.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
49:05
SPEAKER_00: I think,
49:06
SPEAKER_00: you know,
49:06
SPEAKER_00: county commissioner is the best job on the,
49:08
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
49:09
SPEAKER_00: it's the best job in politics.
49:12
It really is because you do,
49:14
you're dealing with,
49:15
you know,
49:15
potholes,
49:16
right?
49:16
SPEAKER_00: You're dealing with local,
49:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
49:19
SPEAKER_00: you know,
49:19
SPEAKER_00: on the state level,
49:20
SPEAKER_00: you're dealing with these macro budgets and macro agencies,
49:24
SPEAKER_00: right?
49:24
And it's all kind of macro driven down to the ground level
49:27
where the commissioner,
49:28
SPEAKER_00: you're literally implementing,
49:30
SPEAKER_00: right?
49:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:31
SPEAKER_00: Stuff you're making things happen.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: Like every day you get up and you're trying to make your county better.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think County commissioner,
49:38
SPEAKER_00: and also you get paid three times as much,
49:40
SPEAKER_00: which is nice too,
49:41
SPEAKER_00: but because it's a real,
49:42
SPEAKER_00: it's a full-time job,
49:43
SPEAKER_00: right?
49:43
If it's like every day you get up and go to the office and you
49:46
go be a commissioner,
49:47
right?
49:47
So you have real responsibility and real things that you got to
49:52
do on an everyday basis.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: And it's, it is a way better.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: My good friend,
49:56
Larry George always told me that the best job in politics is
49:59
County commissioner.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: Like you get to run the County, like you are in charge.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
50:06
SPEAKER_00: so much money and services flow through the county.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: So you're dealing with all of the,
50:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
50:12
SPEAKER_00: the fight that Ben has had and Paul too,
50:16
SPEAKER_00: and the rest of them on the homeless issue,
50:18
SPEAKER_00: the spillover from Portland,
50:20
SPEAKER_00: you guys trying to deal with keeping that stuff out of Clackamas County,
50:23
SPEAKER_00: because that's not what you guys want.
50:25
You don't want to have that spillover effect,
50:27
but also trying to get the services to people.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: And like, those are real problems and that you get to deal with.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: And I think
50:35
We've had a decent number of county commissioners on the
50:37
episodes here over the
50:39
SPEAKER_00: years and including Ben.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: But those issues are,
50:43
SPEAKER_00: you know,
50:43
they're going to create different problems for you than like
50:47
the level of stuff you
50:48
SPEAKER_00: have to deal with the legislature.
50:49
But at least you feel like I think a little stronger impact to
50:52
people because you
50:52
SPEAKER_00: feel like you get to touch them more.
50:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:55
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think, too, it's like there's so much of.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: like the talking points that we get,
51:00
I think it's probably the case for both caucuses is that a lot
51:03
of like what's
51:04
SPEAKER_02: happening nationally,
51:05
SPEAKER_02: like it's the expectation to respond.
51:07
SPEAKER_02: And then it distracts from real,
51:09
real life kitchen table problems that being either in a city
51:14
council or county is
51:15
SPEAKER_02: like,
51:16
we get to create programs to help with that spillover or get to
51:21
help people get
51:21
SPEAKER_02: into permanent supportive housing or,
51:24
SPEAKER_02: you know,
51:24
SPEAKER_02: those things we get to do right now,
51:26
SPEAKER_02: not,
51:26
SPEAKER_02: not just use it as a talking point,
51:28
SPEAKER_02: you know?
51:28
SPEAKER_02: And so I mean,
51:29
SPEAKER_02: that was the other,
51:30
SPEAKER_02: that was,
51:30
SPEAKER_02: that was the,
51:32
SPEAKER_02: that was the other thing that excites me about that.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: You don't get, we don't get talking points on Trump.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: We're actually okay on our side that he won.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:41
I think one thing that's interesting and that is a trend right
51:45
now is you see in
51:46
SPEAKER_01: Congress,
51:47
SPEAKER_01: too,
51:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
51:48
SPEAKER_01: people who were considered,
51:50
SPEAKER_01: and I'm not necessarily calling you a rising star,
51:52
SPEAKER_01: but I think that that label may have been attributed to you occasionally,
51:55
SPEAKER_01: at least on your side.
51:58
SPEAKER_01: Those people that as they get higher up the political food chain,
52:02
SPEAKER_01: so to speak,
52:02
SPEAKER_01: go,
52:03
SPEAKER_01: oh,
52:03
SPEAKER_01: this sucks.
52:04
SPEAKER_01: And they get out because they're just like, I don't want this.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: And you saw,
52:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
52:09
SPEAKER_01: the most recent example was a congressman,
52:12
SPEAKER_01: Marcus Luttrell from Texas,
52:13
SPEAKER_01: who was considered somebody who was really talented and –
52:17
made the leap from the private sector into politics and did a
52:19
really good job.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: He's just like, dude, I'm out.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: It's ugly out there.
52:23
SPEAKER_01: And they don't want to do it.
52:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's because politics is really rough.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: And the higher you go up, I mean, the legislature is pretty brutal.
52:29
SPEAKER_01: It's gotten brutaler as of late.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a lot what you were talking about,
52:34
SPEAKER_01: about like how things come together,
52:36
SPEAKER_01: how packages get negotiated,
52:38
SPEAKER_01: how much...
52:40
uh control is exercised either externally or by leadership all
52:43
that stuff has
52:44
gotten a lot worse in the last 10 15 years and so congress is
52:49
like the worst
52:51
version of that i think the u.s senate is still like somewhat
52:54
functional but it is
52:55
getting worse and and like u.s house is like disaster zone and
52:59
i think same in
53:00
oregon the senate is somewhat functional and there's the
53:02
opportunity for discussing
53:03
but the senate's as bad as it's ever been and i mean i think
53:07
there's a lot of good
53:07
SPEAKER_01: people
53:08
in the house of representatives that are trying to make things
53:12
work but they are
53:14
alone are not enough to overcome a lot of the other pressures
53:16
on the outside right
53:17
now i think a lot of those pressures are actually getting close
53:20
to being weaker
53:21
than they've ever been a lot of these the outside groups both
53:24
on the republican
53:24
democratic side are not as strong as they have been in the past
53:28
too so i think that
53:29
SPEAKER_01: there's a potential for that to break but i don't think it's happened yet
53:32
SPEAKER_01: And then local politics is,
53:34
SPEAKER_01: is,
53:34
SPEAKER_01: is getting uglier,
53:35
SPEAKER_01: but it's still kind of the most functional version of politics,
53:38
SPEAKER_01: probably for most people,
53:40
SPEAKER_01: the most bearable in a lot of ways.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: So I think that that is,
53:44
SPEAKER_01: I think you're,
53:44
SPEAKER_01: you're,
53:45
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:45
SPEAKER_01: for better or for worse,
53:46
SPEAKER_01: you're following a bit of a trend that I'm seeing at least out there.
53:50
They're not going to get rid of me that fast,
53:52
you know,
53:52
I'm still going to be around.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: I think to your point, like,
53:59
SPEAKER_02: The idea that there's like,
54:01
SPEAKER_02: you know,
54:01
both parties are sort of like clinging on to this whole like
54:06
big tent thing,
54:07
SPEAKER_02: right?
54:07
SPEAKER_02: Like there's like, okay, Democrats have a big tent.
54:09
SPEAKER_02: I can,
54:10
I'm assuming that Republicans maybe say something similar in
54:14
the fact that we're
54:14
SPEAKER_02: not all the same.
54:16
But I think for the Democrats,
54:17
like,
54:17
like I've shared,
54:18
like,
54:19
I don't have to be here.
54:20
SPEAKER_02: I didn't have dreams of being a representative.
54:22
SPEAKER_02: I have dreams of being in politics.
54:24
Like I've told Ben this,
54:26
I was like six years ago,
54:27
I had no idea who any of you were.
54:29
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea who Representative Neek was.
54:32
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea.
54:32
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea.
54:35
And so I'm often,
54:36
like,
54:37
that's who I'm thinking about and trying to engage in this
54:39
work.
54:39
SPEAKER_02: And that is not the same for people who had dreams of being,
54:43
SPEAKER_02: you know,
54:45
they are the ones who want to follow in the footsteps of
54:47
previous governors and
54:48
SPEAKER_02: previous representatives.
54:49
SPEAKER_02: And that's great.
54:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, right?
54:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, those are their goals in life.
54:52
But I'm still worried about,
54:53
you know,
54:54
my downstairs neighbor who can't get access to
54:56
you know,
54:57
uh,
54:57
uh,
54:58
an electric wheelchair because their insurance doesn't cover it
55:00
anymore.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: Like those are the,
55:01
SPEAKER_02: those are those like home things that I can't,
55:03
SPEAKER_02: like I,
55:04
SPEAKER_02: I want to work on and it's not,
55:06
SPEAKER_02: um,
55:06
SPEAKER_02: that's not always like reciprocated up there.
55:08
SPEAKER_02: And so I often was like,
55:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh,
55:11
SPEAKER_02: why didn't you,
55:12
SPEAKER_02: you know,
55:12
SPEAKER_02: like I've had certain very important people call and like,
55:16
SPEAKER_02: I didn't call back and I like,
55:21
SPEAKER_02: you know,
55:21
SPEAKER_02: like what you did it.
55:22
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I don't have anything to say.
55:24
SPEAKER_02: Like I don't,
55:25
SPEAKER_02: I'm just going to get yelled at because I'm voting is certainly,
55:27
SPEAKER_02: or I'm pushing up against,
55:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't have anything to say to you.
55:30
SPEAKER_02: And so that's the thing.
55:32
SPEAKER_02: It's like,
55:32
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if I don't like,
55:34
like if I piss off someone because it was the right thing to do
55:36
for my community,
55:37
SPEAKER_02: that it's the right thing to do,
55:38
SPEAKER_02: but that it,
55:40
SPEAKER_02: there are some,
55:40
SPEAKER_02: I feel my,
55:41
SPEAKER_02: my opinion is like,
55:42
SPEAKER_02: it's for me,
55:43
I'm always like constituents then caucus and others are
55:46
probably some caucus and
55:47
SPEAKER_02: then constituents,
55:48
SPEAKER_02: which is weird.
55:50
SPEAKER_00: I was with a state representative and I won't say who it was,
55:53
SPEAKER_00: but I was with him this week and he showed me his cell phone.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't there for the vote, but he showed me his cell phone.
56:00
SPEAKER_00: It was like,
56:01
SPEAKER_00: Kotech,
56:02
SPEAKER_00: Kotech,
56:03
SPEAKER_00: Fahey,
56:06
SPEAKER_00: Drazen,
56:07
SPEAKER_00: like all these,
56:08
SPEAKER_00: and they were not listened to messages.
56:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:11
Yeah.
56:14
He made up his mind and that's where it was like you weren't
56:18
going to change it.
56:18
SPEAKER_00: And I think you were the same.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: You made up your mind.
56:21
And having a principled stand is tough in today's politics,
56:27
especially when you're the one vote.
56:30
SPEAKER_00: Like,
56:31
SPEAKER_00: it's amazing how important your vote,
56:34
SPEAKER_00: usually most of the time,
56:35
SPEAKER_00: right,
56:35
SPEAKER_00: is throwaway in the legislature,
56:38
SPEAKER_00: except for times like these when you're the one vote.
56:42
SPEAKER_00: And Vicki told the story.
56:44
I did not anticipate that this would be like this either,
56:46
to be honest with you.
56:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, and Vicky, she said the story on that Friday.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: We have to have her come on and talk about it a little bit.
56:53
SPEAKER_00: But on Friday,
56:55
she was coming in because there wasn't a desire to deny quorum
56:59
on this thing or
57:00
SPEAKER_00: anything from Republicans.
57:02
SPEAKER_00: But Vicky was like, well, I'm not going to be the 40th to show up.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: It's okay to be the 43rd to show up or the 48th to show up,
57:11
but you don't want to be Cyrus Jabbity because he's taken a lot
57:15
of heat for being
57:16
SPEAKER_00: the yes vote that passed the bill,
57:18
SPEAKER_00: right?
57:19
So just like I think Mark Meek's going to take a lot of heat no
57:22
matter what,
57:23
SPEAKER_00: he's going to take a lot of heat in his district for being a yes vote.
57:26
SPEAKER_00: And that's just the reality.
57:29
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't – I mean, Mark's got broad shoulders.
57:32
SPEAKER_00: He can take it.
57:33
SPEAKER_00: And I think there were some things that he wanted, but he was –
57:37
SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's still got, you know, what, five days to change his vote.
57:41
SPEAKER_00: But we'll see after Saturday.
57:44
But I think,
57:44
you know,
57:45
sometimes you have to realize those political things.
57:48
And I remember the governor calling or Vicky said the governor
57:50
called her and was
57:51
SPEAKER_00: like,
57:51
SPEAKER_00: you know,
57:51
SPEAKER_00: you need to get in there and we need to get this going.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, I'm not going in.
57:56
SPEAKER_00: I didn't sign up.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of funny.
57:59
But I think it was it's it's hilarious in these very awkward,
58:03
tight spaces.
58:06
SPEAKER_00: when there's no room for failure.
58:08
And it's kind of funny to see how people are kind of freaking
58:11
out and what they got
58:12
SPEAKER_00: to do to make it happen.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: So I applaud you for being a no and staying true to your principles.
58:18
SPEAKER_00: I'll be honest with you.
58:19
When you ran in 22,
58:20
of course,
58:21
I was running races for,
58:23
you know,
58:23
the representative.
58:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we had you beat the whole time.
58:28
SPEAKER_00: You ended up pulling out against Adam Baker by 165 votes.
58:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm still pretty pissed about it. 181.
58:36
SPEAKER_00: 180.
58:36
SPEAKER_00: All right.
58:36
SPEAKER_00: 181.
58:37
SPEAKER_02: I'll never forget that number.
58:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you won't.
58:41
But I will say that I've been pleasantly surprised by your
58:44
ability to vote your
58:46
conscience in your district and to be more of a moderate than I
58:50
even thought you
58:51
SPEAKER_00: were coming from my level of,
58:54
SPEAKER_00: you know,
58:54
SPEAKER_00: of your history and stuff that I was aware of.
58:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're even from California and that makes it worse.
58:58
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
59:01
just kidding but i can't help where my parents took me i know
59:07
you didn't have a
59:07
choice but i i just i just applaud you for sticking to your
59:10
guns because you really
59:11
have moderated a lot of bills that never even made it to the
59:15
floor a lot of times
59:16
you were you know the work that you do in that legislature it's
59:18
not the up down on
59:19
SPEAKER_00: the floor it's all the work before a bill ever gets there
59:24
SPEAKER_00: And, and that's really what we have to take hard.
59:27
SPEAKER_00: And I wish you luck on the commission race.
59:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not,
59:29
SPEAKER_00: I only do Deschutes County commission races and stuff,
59:32
SPEAKER_00: so I won't be in Clackamas County.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: So I won't do anything against you.
59:37
SPEAKER_00: I'll help Ben.
59:39
SPEAKER_00: I got to go to his fight.
59:40
SPEAKER_00: Tuesday night is his kickoff.
59:42
SPEAKER_01: So I have to go and give him money.
59:44
SPEAKER_01: I make no promises.
59:45
SPEAKER_01: If somebody shows up with a giant bag of money, I'm going to consider it.
59:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm kidding.
59:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm kidding.
59:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for your time.
59:53
I think appreciate you hopping on and kind of talking
59:57
transportation and your run
59:59
SPEAKER_00: for commissioner.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: And we'd love to have you back on.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_00: And especially as things heat up and stuff,
1:00:03
SPEAKER_00: it'd be fun to have some more conversations about Clackamas County.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we'll see what happens.
1:00:09
SPEAKER_02: I was very pleased to see that my gal didn't get taken away.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_02: So we're so far so good.
1:00:15
Which means they're still going to try to talk you into
1:00:17
switching back to running.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: There's still time.
1:00:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_02: I have not heard from pretty much anyone.
1:00:22
Ben wants to see how recruiting goes first and then he'll talk
1:00:25
to you again,
1:00:26
SPEAKER_01: which by the way,
1:00:26
SPEAKER_01: that's a,
1:00:27
SPEAKER_01: that's a thing that's new this year.
1:00:29
The incumbents,
1:00:30
if you're an incumbent running for reelection,
1:00:31
you have to file a week before.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_01: So no more last minute switcheroos.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_01: Um,
1:00:37
SPEAKER_01: So we'll see how that plays out this year.
1:00:38
But that's supposedly filings opened and then it closes like
1:00:42
March 3rd for
1:00:43
SPEAKER_01: incumbents and then March 10th for everybody else.
1:00:45
SPEAKER_01: So we'll that'll be interesting to watch that piece of it.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_02: We will be in session.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_02: So no plans on changing.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_01: Terrible, terrible timing.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_01: Voters pamphlets should not be due a week after short session.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_01: That is wrong.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_01: And that is an injustice.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_01: And it needs to be fixed.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_01: And we should fix it this short session.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Tobias Reed.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Tobias.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_00: I know you're listening.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_03: We need to split our primary date.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_01: I hate our primary date.
1:01:10
Oh,
1:01:10
it's horrible,
1:01:10
but that's going to be a lot harder to do,
1:01:12
but I agree.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
1:01:16
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate your time.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_02: Have a good weekend.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_00: You too.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: She's gone.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: I think now we can talk bad about her.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: Look, I don't want people to misunderstand.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we disagree on all kinds of issues,
1:01:35
but I think that it's very clear that she's one of a few that
1:01:39
made a concerted
1:01:40
SPEAKER_01: effort to listen and to accept
1:01:44
SPEAKER_01: ideas and feedback from Republicans.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_01: And that is not the norm anymore.
1:01:50
So I think that that,
1:01:51
that,
1:01:51
that has to be called out as a positive thing.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, and, and I get, and then voting no on a, on a tax.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the, what, when's the last time a Democrat did that?
1:02:01
SPEAKER_00: So no, no, he's going to run for commissioner.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:02:03
on the Republican side for that seat or if the lady that's
1:02:05
going to run and runs
1:02:06
SPEAKER_00: again,
1:02:06
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
1:02:07
SPEAKER_00: I don't really get involved in that.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_00: I usually land, uh,
1:02:11
I just let Ben West tell me what we need to do in Clackamas
1:02:14
County,
1:02:14
right?
1:02:14
SPEAKER_00: Because he's just got a pulse on it.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: But she seems like she's going to make a good commissioner.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:02:20
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:02:20
SPEAKER_00: like you just said,
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: that idea that she's there to listen and she kind of comes to it.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_00: And she obviously has the medal to stick her guns because –
1:02:28
I can't imagine the amount of intensity push that she was
1:02:32
getting to be a yes on
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: that bill because it must have just been pretty intense for her.
1:02:40
Standing up to your own party is harder than standing up to the
1:02:42
other party.
1:02:45
It's really hard to stand up to your own party and also still
1:02:50
remain friends.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think she's it sounds like she's fine with everybody there.
1:02:55
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:02:55
I would imagine that they're all because she had a real reason
1:02:59
why she wanted to vote.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: No.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: And she stuck to it.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_00: And,
1:03:02
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:03:03
SPEAKER_00: we have to commend people when they do that sort of stuff,
1:03:05
even in the face of such horrible because I think think about
1:03:10
if we were in the
1:03:10
SPEAKER_00: majority.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_00: Would Republicans act in kind?
1:03:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
1:03:17
It goes to that whole thing that we talked about as far as
1:03:21
having debate over ideas.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't have so much visceralness to it.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: It should be debate of ideas.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_00: She's on board with us, Reagan.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: We all love transportation.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_00: Republicans want a robust transportation grid.
1:03:38
You know,
1:03:38
there's better ways to do it,
1:03:40
and this was not the good way to do it.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_00: That's what I would say on it, and I think she agreed.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_01: Yep, I think that's a great summary.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_01: Well, look at this.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_01: We got both sides of the debate on transportation.
1:03:55
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully we continue to be...
1:03:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be like...
1:04:00
SPEAKER_01: I was telling some people,
1:04:01
SPEAKER_01: it's like,
1:04:02
SPEAKER_01: I think we're turning in to meet the press for the legislature.
1:04:04
Let's not be meet the press,
1:04:05
though,
1:04:05
because meet the press is old and lame.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_01: We're like the legislative water cooler.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want to be.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_01: People come and go, holy cow, did you see that vote?
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, that was rough.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I thought and all that stuff.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_01: I think if we can be the...
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: the water cooler for some of this stuff.
1:04:17
SPEAKER_01: I think that'll be in the behind the scenes.
1:04:19
It was good to kind of hear her behind the scenes on their side
1:04:23
of things like,
1:04:23
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:04:24
SPEAKER_00: getting their Donald Trump talking points,
1:04:25
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:04:26
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:04:26
SPEAKER_00: which I think is,
1:04:27
we're going to see a lot of that in the short session because
1:04:30
they're just going to
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: blast the big,
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: beautiful bill,
1:04:32
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:04:33
and just say trump trump trump trump trump trump right it's all
1:04:36
trump's fault
1:04:37
instead of it being illegal aliens and us just overspending
1:04:40
like drunken sailors
1:04:42
you know out for one night from being in sea for six months so
1:04:46
i mean that's been
1:04:46
the oregon way is just spend spend and then tax more and spend
1:04:50
spend and tax more
1:04:51
and at some point we're gonna have to tighten our belts and
1:04:53
that day is the
1:04:54
SPEAKER_00: reckoning is coming
1:04:57
SPEAKER_01: This is the prediction game now.
1:05:00
Are the Democrats going to call a special session to disconnect
1:05:03
from the federal
1:05:04
SPEAKER_01: tax code to save $400 million in the biennium?
1:05:08
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
1:05:08
SPEAKER_01: Are they going to do it?
1:05:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they'll try.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_00: I think they're going to play around, but I don't know.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately,
1:05:21
SPEAKER_01: it's another vote that if Democrats take,
1:05:24
SPEAKER_01: they have to vote to raise taxes,
1:05:27
SPEAKER_01: essentially.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure.
1:05:29
Now,
1:05:29
I'm not sure if it's a 36,
1:05:31
if it's a three-fifths vote or not to do the disconnect.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_01: I kind of think it's probably not.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_01: But maybe it is because it raises revenue.
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: But LC is not super consistent on that.
1:05:42
SPEAKER_01: So we'd have to see that.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_01: If it's a three-fifths,
1:05:45
I don't think they got the votes because they got a bunch of
1:05:46
people that's got to
1:05:47
SPEAKER_01: run on that.
1:05:48
And they're going to have to run on raising taxes,
1:05:50
basically,
1:05:51
on businesses and ETFs.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: Even if they keep the no tax on tips and overtime, right?
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: It's still a devastating hit to the budget.
1:05:58
So ultimately,
1:05:59
I think they're going to find they can't do it for this tax
1:06:02
year.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_01: I think they will do it in short for the following tax year,
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: and they might be able to put together the votes for that,
1:06:07
SPEAKER_01: but it'll have to be part of a bigger package.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, I think no special session.
1:06:11
SPEAKER_01: Because this one has been such a disaster.
1:06:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing people are going to say.
1:06:14
So how is this going to be any less disastrous than the last
1:06:18
special session you
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: just called,
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: which has now been going on for almost three weeks?
1:06:21
SPEAKER_01: And they still haven't voted.
1:06:22
SPEAKER_01: They still won't vote until next week, supposedly.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_01: We have not heard any update on Senator Gorsuch's how he's doing.
1:06:31
no i i've heard that he's doing better so i'm assuming i'm
1:06:36
assuming he shows up i
1:06:37
mean they're you know he doesn't have to come on the floor
1:06:40
until right at time of
1:06:42
voting right so they'll do a call of the house and and then or
1:06:45
the call of the
1:06:46
senate and then have them right then he can you know come down
1:06:49
from his office or
1:06:50
whatever and you know do the roll call vote in the senate and
1:06:53
leave right so um i'm
1:06:56
SPEAKER_00: sure they'll probably try to do something like that and i
1:06:59
It is wild to me that you just sit around for two weeks and pay
1:07:05
everybody $10,000 a
1:07:06
SPEAKER_00: day is going out the door and you're not doing this vote.
1:07:12
And it just goes to show you that this is not a bill anybody
1:07:17
really wants.
1:07:19
SPEAKER_00: And I think the governor, she's going to have to own this one.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's been her from the get go on this special session.
1:07:25
I think even the leadership's like this is all the governor and
1:07:30
and and Kotech and
1:07:32
SPEAKER_00: the unions are going to just push,
1:07:33
SPEAKER_00: push,
1:07:34
SPEAKER_00: push,
1:07:34
SPEAKER_00: push,
1:07:34
SPEAKER_00: push.
1:07:35
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see what happens.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the reckoning is really going to come in.
1:07:40
SPEAKER_00: 26 when we do elections a year from now.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see where all this stuff plays out.
1:07:45
SPEAKER_00: Do people forget about it?
1:07:47
SPEAKER_00: Is there something else going on in the world that matters most more?
1:07:51
SPEAKER_00: Is it cost of living?
1:07:53
SPEAKER_00: Has it gone down?
1:07:55
SPEAKER_00: Do interest rates take a dump?
1:07:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so many unknown factors.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to say,
1:08:01
SPEAKER_00: but the snapshot in time would tell me that,
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:08:06
SPEAKER_00: Democrats,
1:08:07
SPEAKER_00: I think,
1:08:07
SPEAKER_00: got this one wrong on this bill.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if it will cost them.
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: Because that's always a calculated risk, right?
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything is like, will it cost them?
1:08:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're not doing a special session right before the vote.
1:08:23
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully we did one Labor Day next year would be great.
1:08:26
SPEAKER_00: If they could line that one up, that would be wonderful.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what happens.
1:08:31
SPEAKER_00: Lots of stuff coming.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_00: Candidate trackers filling up, you know, dramatically, Reagan.
1:08:36
SPEAKER_00: We had filing opening and John Lively retiring.
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: We got lots of stuff to talk about.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_00: So I think we'll we'll hit that next week.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:08:47
SPEAKER_01: More coming soon.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully more people will file.
1:08:50
And I'll probably send a bunch of text messages out to
1:08:52
Republican incumbents I know
1:08:53
and see if they're going to tell me what their plans are so I
1:08:56
can add them to the
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: tracker.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_01: Make sure.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: and then the rumor mill out there right now is that,
1:09:02
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:09:02
SPEAKER_00: we got leadership stuff next week.
1:09:04
We got Senator Bonham stepping down on Monday and new leaders
1:09:07
going to emerge out of the Senate.
1:09:09
SPEAKER_00: We have special session Wednesday.
1:09:12
And then I'm hearing that Senator Bonham got a job in the Trump
1:09:15
administration.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the rumor mill is telling me that he's out of here.
1:09:20
He's going to go work for Laurie Chavez Dreamer or one of them
1:09:26
agencies over there.
1:09:27
And he's going to step down as out of a state sentencing
1:09:30
because you can't you can't do that.
1:09:32
SPEAKER_00: So that means we got an appointment process.
1:09:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is Helfrich do?
1:09:36
SPEAKER_00: What is Drazen do?
1:09:37
SPEAKER_00: Like that's.
1:09:39
SPEAKER_00: Are there other people that get appointed?
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: Who throws their hat in there?
1:09:43
Former governor candidate Stan Pulliam,
1:09:45
I hear,
1:09:46
could potentially be interested in that.
1:09:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's a good idea for him or not, but it might happen.
1:09:51
SPEAKER_00: Didn't work out last time he went for Helfrich's seat on an appointment.
1:09:56
So and there's and he's run a whole governor's race and reports
1:10:01
and all that.
1:10:01
SPEAKER_01: So we'll see.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_01: There's a ton of interesting stuff on the Republican side of the aisle.
1:10:06
I think there's probably more retirements looming on the
1:10:08
Democratic side of the
1:10:09
SPEAKER_01: aisle after a pretty rough session.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_01: I think that causes more people to want to retire.
1:10:14
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, lots coming.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: This period between now and when we close,
1:10:20
SPEAKER_00: like closing filing day close,
1:10:23
SPEAKER_00: that's probably my favorite time because everybody's jockeying for stuff.
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: You know,
1:10:27
it's even better than the last because the last two months of
1:10:29
campaign season,
1:10:30
SPEAKER_00: it's I don't sleep.
1:10:32
SPEAKER_00: Life sucks.
1:10:33
SPEAKER_00: It's horrible.
1:10:33
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_00: And you're just you're slogging through it.
1:10:36
And you're just like,
1:10:37
can we just get to when ballots get out and get this thing
1:10:40
going?
1:10:40
SPEAKER_00: And then when ballots come out, you're like, oh, shit, I'm so far behind.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:10:44
So I like this period the best because it's when all kind of
1:10:47
the fun conversation
1:10:48
SPEAKER_00: happens and surprises happen.
1:10:50
SPEAKER_00: So more to come.
1:10:52
SPEAKER_00: More to come.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_00: Great episode, Brian.