Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, november 22, 2023, by devadmin
Ballot Measure 113 – would amend the Oregon Constitution to disqualify state legislators from re-election following the end of their term if they are absent from 10 legislative floor sessions without permission or excuse. The 10 absences would be deemed disorderly behavior. This would apply to both legislative attendance during regular and special legislative sessions.
Measure 113 must be defeated.
This is a deceptively worded constitutional change which is a direct attack against minority legislative rights. The minority party has long held constitutional power to help negotiate the order of business within the legislative agenda. Denying this right is a highly destructive intrusion into the dignity and constitutional safeguards for minority members of the legislature.
Legislators are responsible for representing their District’s constituents, not the bureaucratic state’s interests, which may be at odds. To force or coerce any individual or minority member to act against their conscience would be a violation of the deepest trust of elected officeholders.
Oregonians are already keenly aware that trouble is brewing in the super-majority’s marbled hallways. Crime, violence and murder rates are soaring, inflation is strangling the economic well-being of workers and their businesses across the state, and the war on fossil fuels is hammering transportation costs and the overall cost of living.
These dire issues plague Oregonians because of policy decisions made by a negligent, single-minded and disrespectful majority party. The destruction coming from Oregon’s single-party rulers and would be worse if the minority party were denied the ability to negotiate policy issues by slowing the legislative process.
The Oregon Constitution requires two-thirds of all members of the Senate or of the House of Representatives to be present in order to conduct legislative business, this is known as a “quorum.” When one-third of a chamber’s members are not present the chamber cannot conduct legislative business because this would violate the deliberative nature of our representative government. This process has been utilized by Democrats, other minority parties, and Republicans to bring the majority party to the negotiating table.
The Oregon Constitution currently does not establish automatic consequences for a legislator who engages in this activity. It authorizes members of the Senate or the House to compel the attendance of absent members. Ballot Measure 113 would amend the Oregon Constitution by adding a new restriction on the rights of citizens to stand for legislative office by disqualifying any legislator from holding office following the legislator’s current term for engaging in quorum denial for 10 days.
In 1897, when the major parties were in disarray, the Peoples’ Party used quorum denial to push through a constitutional amendment providing for the initiative and referendum process. The denial of quorum was the key to bringing both major political parties to the negotiating table and a compromise was reached.
Today, only Oregon voters have the power to disqualify a candidate for state legislative office who meets the current four qualifications. Measure 113 would pre-empt this power by allowing a single individual, namely the Senate President or House Speaker, to disqualify a candidate from standing for office in the next election term.
This extraordinary power is not about keeping the government’s budgets balanced, legislators on the job, or bureaucracies in check. It is about granting more power to the majority party’s political officers in the form of control over chamber politics, attendance, and excused or disapproved absences.
Oregon legislative rules do not provide any definition for determining what constitutes an “unexcused” absence, which is why it has gone through a number of cultural interpretations. Additionally, there is no requirement for the Senate President or House Speaker to explain their decision to declare a legislator’s absence as unexcused, nor is there any right of appeal against the discretionary judgement of these presiding political officers.
Like all of Oregon’s minorities, legislators in the minority party should have the freedom to speak and act according to the dictates of their conscience. This includes civil disobedience in an effort to get their voices elevated into the public square.
I recommend a “NO Vote” on Measure 113
After thoughts…
I liken this to deepening state power without concern for where that power and/or corruption might lead. Lord Acton is famous for his quip, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Meaning this sort of unequivocal power given to Democrats, Republicans, or any other party will lead to an authoritarian mindset.
The authoritarian mindset needs censorship against any and all opposition. This is why would be authoritarians wouldn’t like any minority member denying quorum and mucking with their agenda. Authoritarians have a keen dislike for the deliberative process, where views are discussed, bad ideas are trounced, and innovative and unique policy initiatives get recognized for their benefits.
A modern version of this is playing out in the news with Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. The media moguls aren’t afraid of power, rather they enjoy it. Neither are they afraid that hate speech will spill out of your laptop and stain your carpets.
Those in power like their own ideas; they think they are right; they like their filtered and purely partisan facts. They dislike alternative ideas. They can’t stomach any thought that is longer than the 280-character limit imposed among the Twitteratti.
This is as a good thing for those in power. This keeps conversations shallow, squelches debate, and limits any personal introspective analysis. It also lends itself to sloganeering instead of the far deeper discussions that Oregonians deserve.
Unfortunately, this type of power grab will promote an instinctive sort of tribalism where you get news from your camp, and I get news from mine. Destructive mainstream media moguls and their bots can hysterically throw any undefinable, contradictory or incontinent statement into the bit-bucket and it will spread around the world at the speed of light.
“Vote NO” on Measure 113
Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28