Hot Air Society Archive

Salem Moves On

But turkeys lurk in proposed legislation

Viewpoint

The mood was still somber in Salem this past week. John Kitzhaber’s gone, Kate Brown’s sworn in and the political landscape of Oregon settles in after the tsunami. Last Tuesday I took a bottle of Wild Turkey, a copy of my Feb. 12 EW column and my retirement announcement over to the Capitol. I knew I wouldn’t see John so I searched out one of his closest companions over the years, a state trooper from the Dignitary Protection Unit. Continue reading →

Holy War on Kitzhaber

What’s behind the manufactured outrage?

Viewpoint

A lobbyist popped this question last week at Magoo’s, my local watering hole in Salem: What are the three most hated and feared words these days to an Oregon Republican? I guessed maybe “taxes/gay marriage” or “equitable income distribution.” Turns out they are: “Governor Kate Brown.” Now you know why the current Republican minority leaders in Salem are being relatively quiet in their attacks on Gov. John Kitzhaber and fiancé Cylvia Hayes. Something about the devil you know. Continue reading →

Joint Smoke & Mirrors?

Having fun eyeballing Oregon politics

Viewpoint

As Oregon Democrats sadly watch federal politics in our country slide to the right in most states with little to say — Oregon being only 1 percent of the country’s population — it will at least be fun to watch President Obama wield the veto pen as he enters his last term facing a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. In just three weeks John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have already stumbled on abortion and immigration. Who knows what’s next, another government shutdown? Continue reading →

Of Bankruptcies and Turkeys

How to keep local governments afloat

Viewpoint

Looking back in my legislative rearview mirror, it’s amazing to think about issues facing the 2013 legislative session that weren’t even imagined in 2003. Facebook and social media protection for workers, for example, or protecting human placentas from overzealous right wingnut hospital administrators, or drones. Ah, did I mention a collapse of the housing market? This 77th edition of Salem’s Hot Air Society will have to consider another daunting problem: local government bankruptcies in Oregon. Continue reading →

Here’s to Bad People

Hacking up my current hairballs of the week

Viewpoint

Oregon daily newspapers are hardly worth reading anymore. The bias against public employees, the woeful reporting/analysis of the current legislative session by both The Oregonian and The Register-Guard is bloodthirsty and pathetic. Reporting last Wednesday, the most significant votes of this session — PERS reform and a $275 million tax plan — in their zeal to blast Democrats and Speaker Kotek, both papers lost sight of the pyrrhic nature of the victory the Republicans won in the opening skirmish.  Continue reading →

As Above, So Below

Fiascos abound at the federal and local level

Viewpoint

During the deafening mayhem of the Boston Marathon, there was a vote in D.C. that stunned people: 45 members of the U.S. Senate caved to the NRA demand that they defeat a bipartisan background check expansion amendment. Put another way, 90 percent of the Republicans voted against it, 90 percent of the Democrats voted for it. This is a measure that polled at 82 to 90 percent support among U.S. voters. Continue reading →

A Bold Move

Dems charging ahead with ‘PERS lite’ bill

Viewpoint

As much as I dislike people who talk about themselves in the third person, I am beginning to seriously distrust the author of this column. Last week I bamboozled you into thinking that damn PERS bill, SB 822, went down the Ways and Means rabbit hole, never to be seen again until the back room budget deal at the end of Hot Air Society session in July. For any of my three loyal readers who actually thought I knew what I was talking about — think again. I was totally wrong. Continue reading →