Opinion
Capital Chatter: How to engage the Legislature — and how the Legislature should engage itself
Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, outraged Republicans last year by publicly stating the obvious after Democrats won supermajorities in ...
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Opinion
Capital Chatter: Oregon celebrates the legacy of Peter Courtney
Peter Courtney was a lifelong prankster. As a new law clerk working in the Oregon Supreme Court Building, ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: Governing begins with inauguration, pledges of accountability
“The devil,” the sages have said, “is in the details.” Or, in a newer version of the idiom, ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: Curtain rises on 2025 Legislature
The 2025 Oregon Legislature got off to a glorious start this week, full of promise for collaboration, productivity ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: A plea for kindness across the divide
This is not the column I planned to write, the one for which I interviewed legislators this week. ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: 2025 is off to a chatty start
To whet your political appetite for 2025, here is a spicy goulash of quotations, anecdotes and other recent ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: A journalism inspiration and Myrtle’s memorial
In a small but very personal way, Elmer C. Fricke changed the course of Oregon journalism. This is ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: In Oregon Senate, new faces from different places
Eastern and Central Oregon are losing much of their influence in the state Senate. Among the senators exiting ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: A fiery day in Salem as special session opens and ends
This year’s wildland fire season was so bad that Gov. Tina Kotek ordered the Oregon Legislature into special ...
Opinion
Capital Chatter: Eight things to know about Gov. Kotek’s $138 billion proposed budget
Good golly! Oregon’s state government is on the path to spend nearly $138 billion during the next two ...