Capital Chatter: All sides waiting for Brown to lead

A veil of secrecy has been lifted at the Oregon Capitol, thanks to baiting by a Republican staffer and courage from a Democratic senator.

As a result, women in Oregon politics are speaking up about pervasive sexual harassment on the job.

And Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, has been stripped of his legislative committee assignments. That discipline reduces his political influence, because committees are where the Oregon Legislature gets its work done.

• How the events unfolded: Kruse repeatedly has been in Senate President Peter Courtney‘s doghouse for smoking in his office. The Capitol, like all public buildings in Oregon, is a smoke-free zone. Courtney had personally admonished Kruse about smoking in his office, Kruse had promised to stop and the smoking had recurred. Marion County fined the Legislature for Kruse’s smoking, and the Oregon Health Authority also went after him.

For the 2017 Legislature, Courtney did not reappoint Kruse to Senate Judiciary Committee, where he was a longtime member. That was seen as an indication that Kruse again was in Courtney’s doghouse.

Fellow Republicans as well as Democrats complained about Kruse’s smoking fouling the air. In a 2016 interview with the Statesman Journal, Kruse said he had smoked in his office for nearly 20 years, closing his door and opening a window.

It’s true that for generations, smoking was common in the Capitol and other workplaces. Starting in the early 1980s, the Legislature began banning smoking in most indoor workplaces, as well as public buildings.

Meanwhile, in March 2016, the Legislature’s top lawyer and the human resources manager warned Kruse about sexual harassment, instructing him not to touch women at the Capitol.

After this year’s legislative session ended, Courtney had reappointed Kruse to the interim Senate Judiciary Committee. But during last month’s Legislative Days, there again were reports of Kruse’s smoking in his office.

• More than smoking: Then two weeks ago, allegations of sexual harassment against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein unleashed a national uproar. Jonathan Lockwood, until recently the spokesman for the Oregon Senate Republican caucus, tweeted that Democrats Gov. Kate Brown, former Rep. Val Hoyle of Eugene and Sen. Sara Gelser of Corvallis had received campaign contributes from Weinstein

Gelser tweeted back that she had received no Weinstein donations, adding, “Will u ensure no member of ur caucus inappropriately touches or gropes female members and staff in Cap?”

Kruse has publicly denied the allegations of sexual harassment.

Two female senators reportedly have told Courtney about harassment. After talking with the Legislature’s legal and human resources personnel, the senators involved and the Senate Democratic and Republican leadership, Courtney stripped Kruse of all committee memberships last week.

That apparently was the only major discipline that Courtney could take, although I assume he could have booted Kruse from his legislative office and parking space or relegated him to lesser accommodations at the Capitol. Only the full Senate can censure or otherwise sanction a senator, and generally that would happen after a recommendation from the bipartisan Senate conduct committee.

This was not easy for Courtney, who does not like having to discipline people, and he has not disclosed how long Kruse’s committee exile will last. Courtney is a tenacious protector of the Legislature as an honorable institution, but he also believes in redemption and second chances.

On Friday, Courtney called Kruse to inform him he had been removed from his committee assignments. He also sent Kruse a letter admonishing him for his smoking, again, and warned him against sexual harassment.

Touching another person does not necessarily amount to harassment. But in Kruse’s case, Courtney wrote: “Let me be clear. Women in the Capitol do NOT want you to touch them.”

He also said Kruse’s office door would be removed Oct. 27: “It is my hope that this lack of privacy will stop you from smoking in your office.”

(As of this writing, the door removal remains on schedule.)

Following their phone conversation, Courtney personally took the letter to the post office and sent it to Kruse by registered mail.

It says something that the Senate Republican leadership has not denounced Courtney’s action.

• Good-bye to legislative brains: Two of Oregon’s most experienced senators might be on their way out – for high-paying state jobs of dubious worth. Gov. Brown wants to appoint Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli of John Day and Senate Ways & Means Co-Chair Richard Devlin of Tualatin to the Pacific Northwest Power & Conservation Council. The job pays $120,000.

The council has two members each from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, and staffs an office in each state.

Back when the pay was about $90,000, one Oregon member was Salem Republican Gene Derfler, a former president of the state Senate. I once asked him whether he was overpaid for the work involved. As I recall, he responded, “Oh, probably.”

Derfler is one of the most thoughtful, insightful politicians I’ve covered. He was among the first lawmakers to raise the alarm about PERS’ uncontrollable costs, and he pushed — often unsuccessfully — to get his fellow Republicans to rein in state government spending.

Devlin, meanwhile, knows more about the state budget than any other legislator. He’s a spreadsheet guy, and his life was thrown upside-down this year when his spreadsheet-laden iPad temporarily disappeared. It was recovered through the detective work of legislative staff.

His departure would leave a huge gap in legislative knowledge. President Courtney leans on him heavily.

As for Ferrioli, the Republican Senate caucus can be a rancorous group, although it was more settled this year with less public evidence of other senators gunning for his job, so it’s not surprising that Ferrioli would be ready to move on. Depending on one’s perspective, Ferrioli is seen as working well with Democrat Courtney or being neutered by Courtney. Ferrioli’s departure from the Senate would certainly alter its dynamics.

The Senate will consider Gov. Brown’s appointments, which include Patrick Allen to head the Oregon Health Authority, on Nov. 13.

• More government bureaucracy? The Northwest council meets regularly and issues reports, but I’ve never been clear on whether it accomplishes anything meaningful.

Its website says: “Our mission is to ensure, with public participation, an affordable and reliable energy system while enhancing fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.”

As listed, its core values are: “We take the long view. We work for the wellbeing of future generations, not just our own.

“We have a regional perspective. We address the interests of the region as a whole.

“We serve the public. We listen to their concerns and we strive to bring insight to the issues affecting them.

“We are independent. We tell people what they need to know because trust is the basis of partnership and the key to progress.

“We embrace learning. We’re open to change and diverse views because it sparks opportunity.”

• More on PERS: Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock responded to last week’s Capital Chatter, in which I talked about Brown’s PERS task force, with this note:

“Is there some reason why Tim Nesbitt‘s brilliant plan to bond $15 billion of the PERS debt for 40 years isn’t getting traction? While at first blush it sounds like kicking the can down the road, it is not. Forty years from now, the PERS problem will most likely cease to be an issue since those who are currently a part of the liability will no longer be drawing benefits.

“We really don’t need to spend any more time identifying the problem. It’s time to suck it up and look at solutions that will keep PERS employers solvent. In the end, finding ways to honor the commitment to those who earned the benefit appears to be more productive than finding ways to cut benefits since we haven’t had much luck in the courts.”

I told Murdock that I didn’t have an answer for him, other than to say Brown and many Democratic legislators are reluctant to do anything unless it has the blessings of public-employee unions.

An expert on Oregon issues, Nesbitt is fascinating to me because he is a former Oregon AFL-CIO president and former gubernatorial chief of staff, yet he is more moderate than many legislative Democrats. And he realizes the seriousness of the PERS problem.

• Unimpressed by Trump: Opioid abuse is a national crisis, including in Oregon. Sen. Ron Wyden does not sound impressed by the Trump administration’s response.

Wyden, the senior Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, issued this statement on Thursday: “Now that the Trump administration has finally declared the opioid epidemic the public health emergency that it is, it is critical that its actions follow its words by offering actual solutions that help those struggling with addiction and their loved ones get relief. If the administration is serious about stemming the tide of opioid deaths, it should pledge not to support massive cuts to health programs like Medicaid.”

Dick Hughes has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976. Contact him at TheHughesisms@Gmail.com, Facebook.com/Hughesisms or on Twitter @DickHughes. View his state government videos at YouTube.com/c/Hughesisms.