Kotek’s press release talks about the Trump Administration, but the House committee is part of Congress, not the Trump Administation. She also notes that one out of four Oregonians relies on a federal program of health insurance for poor people, perhaps not the “win” she seems to think it is.

Link to special committee created for the purpose of changing election date.

My article on SB 1599 from earlier this week.

Here’s a link, which may be paywalled.

Here’s a screenshot from the online print version:

My apologies for the poor audio quality of the video. I forgot to use earbuds/mic and don’t have time to re-do it.

Also, I wrote and submitted the piece before Ed Diehl and Chris Dudley got in the governor’s race. That’s why it mentions only Christine Drazan as a likely opponent for Kotek.

I hope to dig into Democrats’ bill to change the referendum election date from November to May and publish something soon.

Stay tuned!

This after the same attorney in that office told State Rep. Ed Diehl earlier this month Democrats could repeal the tax and have it removed from the ballot. I wrote about that and my analysis of the legal question, with which legislative counsel now largely agrees, here.

Here’s Congresswoman Janelle Bynum’s statement about the shooting, posted hours after the shooting. It’s still up. She represents the most competitive U.S. House district in Oregon and is my representative.

Hope you enjoy!

Jeff

If you’re not one already, become a paid subscriber.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Oregon Roundup Foundation, the 501(c)(3) that lends additional support to Oregon Roundup’s mission.

Let’s make Oregon’s 167th birthday happier than its 166th!

Thank you, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jeff Eager

Bend, Oregon

Rep. Diehl returns to the podcast to share what he learned, discuss automatic voter registration more broadly, and preview legislation he plans to introduce to safeguard Oregon’s voting system.

I talk to him about all that and more in this episode.

Terdal’s National Review Online article is here.

How’d he do it? Why’d he do it?

(Results as of 10 pm Wednesday) In the primary election, if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters move on to the November general election:

Phillip’s Twitter/X page, which contains lots of on-the-ground updates from PSU, is here.

Jeff

PS - I forgot to record an intro and outro to this episode, so we just dive into the interview without me identifying myself or anything. Rest assured, I’m still me.

I wanted to interview Rep. Diehl because he gets what’s going on in the Capitol and throughout Oregon. He’s going places in Oregon politics, or should be.

I hope you enjoy our interview!

Jeff

Oregon’s Fourth Congressional District (Eugene and most of the coast) wasn’t on the national radar until its current occupant, Val Hoyle, ran headlong into a flurry of scandals (which we’ve assiduously covered here).

Monique DeSpain, Republican, is running to unseat Hoyle, and has made waves with her impressive background and attacks on Hoyle’s ethics. In this interview, Monique and I talk about the border, forest policy, and of course Hoyle’s tumultuous first year in Congress.

Hope you enjoy.

Jeff

In this interview, Billy explains why, as someone who has prosecuted crimes in Oregon for 31 years, he believes Measure 110 has been a disaster for the state. We talk about how drug courts used to, before drug decriminalization, link addicts with treatment, and how Measure 110’s reliance on voluntary treatment has failed and will continue to fail.

Give it a listen. I think you’ll learn something from Billy. I did.

Jeff

Richard shares his views about how the decline of journalism in Oregon helped create the state’s current predicament, and how new, independent voices are helping to fill the void.

We also talk about Portland’s charter reform, which takes the number of Portland City Commissioners from five to 12 (and starts calling them Councilors). Richard shares his concern about the lack of accountability in the new structure, and its cost to taxpayers.

Enjoy!

Jeff

That said, it was good to get Christine Drazan’s take on the big problems like housing prices and drugs facing Oregon and how her new group, A New Direction, is working to give a voice to Oregonians often left out of the Salem decision-making process.

Hope you enjoy!

Jeff

Because I am not above self-promotion, I also brought up this article I wrote for National Review Online back in February 2022 about the failure of Measure 110 to deliver its promises.

Today’s episode digs into a new poll that shows Measure 110 is on (very) shaky ground with the Oregon electorate, and in particular in some segments of the electorate one might not expect. Hope you enjoy it.

Also, I am testing out Substack’s new transcription feature. A few of you have asked about that, so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s automated transcription, and I have not reviewed it for accuracy, let alone edited it. You can view the transcript of the podcast by clicking on the transcript tab above (at least, I think it will be above).

“The fatal farce of Measure 110,” Oregon Roundup 8-22-23

Measure 110 poll conducted by Emerson College Polling for the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

In this interview, Bev provides unique insight into the unique challenges facing Oregon, many of which involve her old Secretary of State office.

Enjoy!

Jeff

If you missed it, my piece on the allegations that Jesse Lee Calhoun may have killed four women in the Portland area after he was released early from prison and allowed to stay out of prison in spite of violating the conditions of his release: “Four women dead, one ideology exposed.”

Willamette Week reports on additional potential lawbreaking by alleged serial killer Jesse Lee Calhoun that could and should have led to revocation of his commutation.

And, finally, Multnomah County bought a pamphlet extolling the virtues of boofing as an alternative to, uh, more conventional drug use.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

Today’s episode is split into two parts: snorting and not snorting.

Snorting:

Multnomah County pauses plan to distribute paraphernalia, including “snorting kits” to fentanyl addicts.

Secret Service closes White House cocaine investigation for lack of physical evidence.

Not snorting:

I am heat wave, call me Cerberus!

“PETA offers rewards for information on stolen chicken truck.”

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

Gavin Newsom visited Bend Saturday, July 1. Then Boise. Then Montana, then Salt Lake City and presumably back to California.

Why?

Politico “Gavin Newsom’s Red State Hustle”

Biden teetering on the brink.

Not great, Mr. Burns:

Oregon public employees get big raise.

We talk about the background on Oregon’s ban on self-service, and how the political stars aligned to allow an end to the ban this year. If you’re curious about how the legislature came to pass a bill that gave more freedom to Oregonians, for a change, take a listen.

Note that the bill awaits Governor Kotek’s signature. It’s been assumed she would sign, but who knows?

https://twitter.com/dirquez/status/1674129163727568896?s=20

Don’t worry, that’s it for self-serve gas content for a while. If you missed it, here’s my, uh, exuberant write-up from the weekend.

Jeff

How long have the feds been on the case? How likely is the investigation to spread to other state officials, including Governor Tina Kotek? How long is this going to take? All questions I pitch to Josh. I think you’ll find his answers illuminating. I did.

Jeff

* A recent poll by DHM Research showing that over 60% of Oregonians support recriminalizing hard drugs while continuing to target most state cannabis tax revenue at addiction treatment programs. I refer to my argument for the same back in February in “Measure 110 is not part of the solution.”

* Democrats calculated Oregon Senate Republicans would not deprive Dems of the quorum they need to pass a host of extreme bills they knew Republicans hated. They were wrong.

* A brief update on the Democratic Party of Oregon donation scandal.

Finally, I didn’t talk about this in the podcast but this is pretty good, complete with Oregon plates and all:

https://babylonbee.com/news/pathetic-excuse-for-a-subaru-owner-only-has-48-stickers-on-back-of-car

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Jeff

More on that soon.

During the interview, I reference the story that Portland continues to hemorrhage population.

I hope you enjoy the interview. Senator Johnson is, as always, opinionated and colorful. We even talk about the “Tent City Tina” moniker she applied to Tina Kotek because of Kotek’s sponsorship of a bill to make it harder for cities in Oregon to clean up homeless camps.

Cheers, and have a great weekend.

Jeff

Despite snow pack 140% of normal, the drought persists and there’s going to be a heat wave and we’re probably all going to burn this summer. But then, you knew that.

And then there’s this glorious, glorious manifesto of rock-ribbed conservative economic theory from . . . Ted Wheeler.

https://twitter.com/tedwheeler/status/1656389476783112196?s=20

In case you missed it, here’s the piece on Oregon’s culture of political corruption from yesterday I touch on toward the end of the podcast.

And, finally, in the very unlikely event you wondered what I look like when I’m recording the podcast, here you go:

Have a great weekend in Oregon or wherever you call home!

Jeff

Will and I talk about his time spent trying to enforce laws against child slavery in Africa, and, closer to home, his goals of restoring order to Oregon and combating the state’s growing crisis of corruption.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

https://twitter.com/horvick/status/1648695465943375878?s=20

Anti natural gas “climate justice” organization Breach Collective lawyer Nick Caleb blocked me on Twitter after I read his tweet about terrifying violence while recording the podcast, so I can’t link to the tweet here.

https://twitter.com/Jeff_Eager/status/1649264413839618050?s=20

Here’s the piece I wrote about Caleb’s opposition to the Oregon domestic terrorism bill that would increase criminal penalties for blowing up natural gas pipelines.

NEVER-ENDING DROUGHT update. KOIN:

“Drought conditions, which covered all of Oregon at the start of 2023, have been slowly clearing up — but that doesn’t mean the whole state is in the clear.”

This week’s guest is former Clatsop County, Oregon district attorney Joshua Marquis. Josh, a lifelong Democrat, spent his career on the front lines prosecuting criminals in Oregon. His view of crime in Oregon - from Measure 110 to Measure 11 to lenient prosecutors - is based on decades of experience. He was around for Oregon’s last go-around with a soft-on-crime approach, which he refers to as “hug a thug” in the ‘70s, and sees parallels today.

Here’s an archive of Josh’s many op-eds in Oregon newspapers

Here’s his Twitter feed, which is a good place to stay up on Oregon criminal justice matters. (And while I’m at it, mine, which is a good place to stay up on, well, what’s going through my head at the moment.)

I hope you enjoy the interview!

Jeff

Prior to the interview I mention my “Wyden received Bankman-Fried family money for over a decade” piece from yesterday. When I took the Oregon Roundup in its quasi-journalistic turn at the beginning of the year, it was this kind of piece I had in mind.

Wyden’s ties to the Bankman-Fried family is newsworthy in Oregon and nationally - he chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which shares oversight of Internet stuff like crypto.

Yet it’s a story that hasn’t been told before now because, quite frankly, Wyden is a Democrat. They’ll never admit it, but the Oregon press simply is not terribly interested in news that casts favored Democrats in a less-than-flattering light. And Wyden, who just won his fifth (!) full six-year term in the U.S. Senate, tops the list of favored Democrats.

Fact is, Oregonians for a long time have been served an unbalanced news diet. Yes, Republicans do stuff that makes them look bad and sometimes is bad. But so do Democrats. Even Ron Wyden.

Jeff

Jim Geraghty of National Review Online was way, way ahead of DOE on this. Here’s his latest, but also just Google “Jim Geraghty lab leak” and get really annoyed that people like Jim were called conspiracy theorists and worse.

I’ve brought my considerable scientific acumen (I took biology as a sophomore in high school) to the subject myself from time to time.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

*That’s a crime under Oregon law too.

* The Biden Administration’s ominous pattern of pretending a national security problem is not a national security problem until it’s so obvious it’s a national security problem and then they react haphazardly to bad effect.

* Multnomah County, Oregon reported homeless people continue to die there in ever-increasing numbers, and decriminalized drugs like meth and fentanyl are playing a big role. Actually, this one isn’t ominous: it’s a mature, full-blown crisis.

* An update on the twin ominous scandals plaguing Oregon’s state government: OLCC booze-swindling and Democratic Party of Oregon donation.

* Finally, a shockingly accurate and hilarious portrayal of a young man (first name “Bear,” middle name “Carabiner”) who has recently moved to Bend, Oregon.

Thanks for listening! Please remember to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast or your podcast app of choice. And become a paid subscriber so we can keep bringing you, at turns, ominous and funny content!

Sorry for the duplicate emails and for my technological ineptitude!

Jeff

Fagan, having forced the resignation of her former Elections Division director Deborah Scoggin after Scoggin refused to violate agency rules to allow the publication of a voter pamphlet statement submitted by a Democratic candidate for Congress after the applicable deadline, appointed Molly Woon as Elections Division Director. As readers will recall, the Elections Division is supposedly investigating a $500,000 donation to the Democratic Party of Oregon from an associate of alleged crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried just prior to the November 2022 election.

New Elections Division Director Molly Woon will now be in charge of that investigation. Guess where Woon worked up until two years ago when she first went to work for Fagan? The Democratic Party of Oregon, as deputy director! You can’t make this up.

The Oregonian, to its credit, has started covering this mess we’ve been on for a while. Reporter Hillary Borrud wrote an article this week describing Woon’s conflict of interest and setting forth Fagan’s position that, actually, Woon will conduct the investigation in a completely impartial way. LOL.

Portland Population Decline: Multnomah County, which contains 99% of Portland, has now lost population for three years in a row. Willamette Week interviewed some of the people who left and discovered that they left because of crime, homelessness and taxes. Imagine that.

Wendy update: A couple weeks ago, we had homeless outreach worker Kevin Dahlgren on the podcast. Kevin gained some fame for posting an interview of a Portland homeless person named Wendy, who said being homeless in Portland is a “piece of cake.”

Well, Wendy’s family in Utah saw Kevin’s clip and they’ve come out to Portland to try to help Wendy. Here’s KATU’s story on the reunion.

If you’re not yet a paid subscriber to the Oregon Roundup, please join today to help us put this stuff out.

Please subscribe to the Roundup Podcast on your podcast app of choice: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.

Thanks! We couldn’t do this without your support!

Jeff

First, Jeff responds to some reader comments about yesterday’s piece on our coming crisis of population decline.

Then there’s Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read pushing back on progressive legislators who want the state to divest its retiree pension program from fossil fuel companies, teeing up a intra-Democratic Party fight.

Finally, Jeff made an artificial intelligence writing program called ChatGPT answer questions like “Is Kamala Harris Smart?” “Why does Joe Biden slur?” and “Who killed Mary Jo Kopechne?” The results were, at least to Jeff, hilarious.

Here’s the viral video of Wendy (WARNING - there is profanity in the clip below but it’s bleeped in the podcast):

And a piece Kevin wrote in the New York Post this week about how Oregon is “loving” the homeless to death.

I hope you enjoy this informative interview with Kevin. I’m really enjoying my recent series of interviews with people, and about issues, having a big impact on Oregon. If I do say so myself, no one other than the Oregon Roundup is telling these stories in this way. Doing that takes resources, and doing more of that will take even more.

If you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you! If not, please consider taking a moment to sign up. Every penny we get goes into telling more stories like the one in today’s podcast: stories more Oregonians, and more Americans, need to hear and read.

That Adan allegedly continued to stabb and beat Abraham even after she had died.

That the children were, apparently, in the house with Adan and Abraham’s corpse for hours until the police arrived.

That the alleged murder occurred after Adan had been previously charged with strangling and other assaults on Abraham and had been let out with no bail for those charges multiple times. And that, just prior to the alleged murder, Adan was sprung from jail on his latest set of charges involving Abraham with a $2,000 bail payment from a Portland nonprofit that described itself as “a volunteer-run abolitionist organization currently dedicated to reducing harms perpetuated against our Black, Brown and Indigenous neighbors[.]” Adan is, and Abraham was, Black.

Nancy Rommelmann, writer for Reason magazine and other outlets (including her own Substack) and former Portland resident, wrote a story for the Washington Examiner titled “A Murder in Portland,” which details Adan and Abraham’s story in tear-jerking detail. In this episode, I talk to Nancy about that story, how it could be allowed to happen, and why the Oregon media has mostly ignored it.

Every person who lives and votes in Oregon should listen to this interview and read Nancy’s article.

Jeff

Also, Josh describes the process of developing economic and revenue forecasts that inform the state’s budget and also our unique income tax kicker law.

I learned a lot from this interview and I think you will too.

Jeff Eager

The holiday season keeps churning out intriguing developments within the ever-changing bounds of the Oregon Roundup beat:

Oregon hemorrhages over 16,000 residents between July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022, wiping out almost all population gains from previous two years.

The important thing is the state’s carbon footprint should decline.

Oregon’s Election Division head was forced out of her job by Democratic Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.

Meanwhile, Fagan’s agency is, no doubt diligently and thoroughly, investigating a suspicious $500,000 donation to the Democratic Party of Oregon by crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s former business associate. The DPO originally misreported the source of the donation, the party’s largest contribution on record.

Please remember to subscribe to the Roundup Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Jeff

Lori and I talked about her background as a small business owner and mom, her campaign against Jamie McLeod-Skinner, the committees she’s angling to serve on, and who she plans to vote for for Speaker. It was a fun chat, and I hope you like the interview format.

Drop me a line by responding to this email, or leave a comment with your thoughts.

And, as always, if you haven’t already please make sure to subscribe to the Oregon Roundup Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify or whatever app you use to listen to podcasts.

If you’re a paid subscriber to the Oregon Roundup, you already have access to our private, unsearchable Facebook group. Just respond to this email to let me know you want access and I’ll give it to you. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, you can become one by pushing on any of the buttons in this email urging you to do that.

Cheers,

Jeff

PS - here’s a map of what Oregon’s 5th Congressional District looks like now:

Turns out one-time federal funding only comes one time while huge pay increases to state employees continue. Oregon is facing yet another self-inflicted budget crisis.

Why are so many working age dudes not working? You know the answer(s) but this article is designed to make you dumber.

Ted Wheeler wants City of Portland employees to return to work in the office at least half-time, in move employees deem, you guessed it, “racist, sexist, ableist and a violation of the city’s climate goals.”

Apparently I cut off the recording before it was done. My superb producer/editor Stacy Hoblitzell patched things up as best he could.

Have a great weekend.

Jeff

And who remembers the regrettable “Send our Bunns to Washington” ad from two Oregon congressional campaigns in 1996? That’s in there too.

Also, in our ongoing review of things that happen in Portland, Jeff talks about a church in Portland that is booting a preschool in order to provide a tiny home village for Indigenous single parents. At least Portland is taking one step away from being an Indigenous single parent tiny home village desert.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the Roundup Podcast on your podcast player of choice, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you like it, please take a moment to leave us a five-star review. It helps others find us.

Thanks to Stacy Hoblitzell for editing and producing the Roundup Podcast.

Then I engage in some art criticism concerning this little gem from Willamette Week:

Lastly, in Headlines from the Apocalypse:

“Sword death of Portland landlord in slasher mask ruled self-defense”

If you like the podcast and want access to past and future podcast episodes and to help this Roundup train continue to gather speed in ‘22, please consider subscribing.

Thanks for reading and listening. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do this without you.

Here are some links related to this episode:

2021 wallows in teenage angst (posted December 23, 2021).

Fauci on hospitalizations with versus because of Covid.

AOC in Florida.

DeSantis works his critics.

Cheers,

Jeff