Oregon House President Tina Kotek withdraws redistribution agreement

House Speaker Tina Kotek withdrew on Monday from a deal giving minority Republicans an equal voice in the state’s redistribution process, signaling that she would seek to forge new political maps that will benefit her. party over vigorous GOP objections.

In an announcement that threatens to upend a special legislative session, Kotek announced that she is creating two committees to consider new political maps, rather than a single House redistribution committee that has been working on the issue for months.

One of the new committees will consider a proposal to pass new congressional maps that will likely give Democrats five of the state’s six congressional seats. The Democrats will have a 2-1 advantage on this committee.

The other committee will consider a proposal to reorganize the state’s 90 legislative districts. It will be made up of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and will contain all of the original House Redistribution Committee members. But Kotek also added two new lawmakers to the committee, including State Representative Greg Smith, R-Heppner, a frequent ally of the speaker on tight votes.

The decision led to swift action.

Late Monday afternoon, the two new committees considered their respective bills. At a congressional redistribution committee meeting, Republican Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, the only member of her party on the boof them, refused to attend. Democratic representatives Andrea Salinas and Wlnsvey Campos adopted the proposal in his absence.

On the legislative projects committee, Smith joined Democrats in passing their proposal 5-3. Both proposals are now heading to the floor of the House.

Kotek’s move came as a shock to many on Capitol Hill, who expected the speaker to honor a deal she made with Republicans earlier this year – that she would give the GOP a say in say on the redistribution if it ended delay tactics threatening the Democrats’ agenda. . Some on Twitter immediately applauded the move, as proof that Democrats were prepared to play the same tough politics used in Republican-led states, even though conservative users have touted it as an example of liberal duplicity.

But on Monday afternoon, it wasn’t clear that the tactic would actually have the impact Kotek wanted. State Representative Daniel Bonham, Deputy Leader of the Republicans, told the OPB that members of his party were considering moving away from Capitol Hill, denying Democrats the two-thirds quorum necessary to conduct business. It’s a strategy the House Democrats used in 2001, when they were in a redistribution fight with majority Republicans.

“Absolutely, we’re talking about it,” Bonham said. “We were suspicious of our agreement with the speaker. The proof is in the pudding today. Now you are looking at the outcome of this agreement.

Meanwhile, Kotek and other House Democrats defended their decision by suggesting that Republicans had not genuinely engaged in negotiations and were obstructing the process. Kotek told members of her caucus in an afternoon call that she hoped an equally divided committee would lead to consensus, but GOP members were unwilling to give the “vote. courtesy “which would allow Congress cards to pass on the floor of the House.

“No card is perfect, and it’s a very complex task,” Kotek said in a statement. “At the end of the day, we are required to do our constitutional duty and the job that Oregonians elected us to do. Separate committees are the only way the House now has to fulfill its responsibilities. “

In a separate statement, House Majority Leader Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, and Salinas, D-Lake Oswego and a co-chair of the House Redistricting Committee, said the Democratic cards are “fair, legally sound, reflect population growth and the census. data and take into account the nearly 2,000 testimonials we have received from the public.

PlanScore, a non-partisan online tool that analyzes redistribution proposals for partisan bias, suggests that the congressional map Democrats hope to adopt is heavily favored in the best interests of their party. Republicans point out that a 5: 1 split in Congress in favor of Democrats is a far cry from how Oregonians typically vote in statewide races.

Shortly after Kotek announced his decision on the floor of the House, Republican lawmakers expressed their anger in a series of speeches on the floor.

“What just happened is shameful and lacks integrity, does not have the ability to keep his word,” said State Representative David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford. “If we don’t have that in this building, what do we have?” “

Parliamentary Minority Leader Christine Drazan R-Canby has said she sees her deal with Kotek on the redistribution as a way to help her party gain more influence in a process with extremely high political stakes. “I realize now that throughout the plan it was, in fact, about getting cards gerrymandered through this body no matter what,” Drazan said. “Oregonians don’t deserve this.”

House’s drama came after an otherwise relatively quiet day.

In the Senate, which first took up the redistribution proposals, the Democrats had not reached any agreement granting Republicans an equal right of scrutiny. The majority party quickly passed two bills containing their plans – Senate Bills 881 and 882 – pushing them out of committee and onto the Senate floor in straight-line votes.

Like their House counterparts, Senate Republicans have been extremely critical of SB 881, the Congressional Redistribution Plan. They pointed out that Democrats had refused to change their original proposal, even after thousands of testimonies gathered during 12 public hearings. And they complained that Democrats rooted four of their six congressional districts in the Portland area, exporting the city’s liberal electoral firepower to rural areas with vastly different political leanings.

“We go to all these pains to balance the population of this state, and yet we allow a particular city or county to have what I call outsized influence,” State Senator Tim Knopp said. , R-Bend, who served in the Senate. Committee. “It really speaks to one of the biggest issues we have in the state, which is the urban-rural divide. It’s poisonous. “

Knopp and others were more complimentary of the Democrats’ proposal to change the state’s 90 legislative districts, which they said incorporated more Republican commentary.

“I would be lying if I said, ‘Boy, they just gave us everything we wanted,'” Knopp said. “But it’s a different card. Do we have the impression that it is partisan like the previous one? No.”

Despite this, Senate Republicans voted unanimously against SB 882. The chamber then voted – again along party lines – to adjourn the session.

An analysis of the Democrats’ legislative proposal suggests that the party would easily maintain its majorities in the Legislature under SB 882, although it cannot guarantee three-fifths of the qualified majorities it currently holds. Unlike the Democratic congressional plan, the non-partisan tool PlanScore suggests that the new legislative maps are relatively balanced and may slightly favor Republicans in some ways.

Lawmakers must pass redistribution plans by September 27, within a deadline set by the state’s Supreme Court. If unsuccessful, the responsibility for drawing a new map of Congress would rest with a panel of five justices appointed by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters. Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, would be tasked with drawing legislative maps.

The House is scheduled to meet again Tuesday at 10 a.m.