Republicans behaving badly

Kari Chisholm

Republicans in Oregon behave so badly, so consistently that I'm starting to lose my sense of outrage. It's like, "Oh there they go again..."

To recap:

• Senator Gordon Smith accepts paid travel to Ireland from a lobbyist, against Senate ethics rules.
• House Majority Leader Wayne Scott threatens Rep. Arnie Roblan over a budget vote.
• Congressional candidate Jim Feldkamp doesn't give up Tom Delay's dirty money.
• Rep. Billy Dalto pockets campaign cash.
• Rep. Dan Doyle gets busted embezzling campaign money.
• House Majority Leader Wayne Scott lies about cutting funding for state troopers.
• Clackamas county commissioners Larry Sowa and Bill Kennemer violate Oregon's open meetings law.
• Senator Gordon Smith lets an aide work on a bill regulating Viacom after accepting a job offer from Viacom.
• House Majority Leader Wayne Scott helps out his buddies
• Rep. Billy Dalto drains his office account to pay his mom $3500/month for a part-time job.
• Sen. John Lim buys personal air travel on a government rate.
• Speaker Karen Minnis pretends she doesn't know about the swiftboating of Rob Brading.
• Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli threatens lobbyists who support Democrats.
• House Majority Leader Wayne Scott threatens lobbyists and a State Senator supporting a Democrat.
• Congressional candidate Jim Feldkamp can't explain his $77,500 economic miracle.
• Rep. Billy Dalto and friends go digging for dirt in state personnel files.
• Rep. John Lim gets a government rate for personal travel.

(Did I forget any other recent ones?)

And we're not even talking about policy disagreements or the usual political shenanigans! These are all issues of ethics, misuse of power, or flat-out criminal behaviour.

Unbelievable.