In his opinion piece of Feb. 20 to The Oregonian (Slant, 2/24), state Rep. Marty Wilde slammed what goes on, especially among Democrats, in the back rooms and behind closed doors at the state capitol. With 20-plus years of experience working on legislation, I can vouch for his accuracy.
However, Wilde — who recently declared, “I will never put the interests of any politician or party above those of my constituents” — has participated in flagrant abuses of the very Democrat power he condemns. Accordingly, his comments are disingenuous at best.
Wilde cosponsored House Bill 2015 in 2019 to revoke the two-to-one voter mandate of Measure 88 (driver cards for illegal immigrants). He supported HB 3427 in 2019 that effectively revoked the voters’ Measure 97 (opposing a gross receipts tax) mandate. Voter decisions clearly mean nothing to Rep. Wilde.
He sponsored HB 2238 in 2021 to grant the governor power to seize private property in an “emergency.” He co-sponsored Rep. Tina Kotek’s HB 3164 to prohibit police from arresting a person for interfering with a police officer — after Kotek’s legislative director was arrested during one of the Portland riots for interfering with police.
Public testimony also has little meaning for Rep. Wilde as evidenced by his co-sponsoring of bills such as Senate Bill 554 (trigger locks) that garnered overwhelming opposing testimony. Wilde has also supported the use of bogus “emergency” clauses to prevent referenda.
I commend and respect Rep. Wilde for his military service, but he doesn’t walk his talk.
Jerry Ritter
Springfield
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
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Publisher
Eugene Weekly
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