It will be an incredible loss for the Senate and all of Oregon to have Sen. Carter resign her seat. However, I am certain that she will be equally effective in her next position. I wish her all the best of luck.

Thanks, Darrell. Argh. I've fixed that.

Chip Shields just released a statement expressing his interest in the seat: SALEM, Ore. - Rep. Chip Shields (D-N/NE Portland) congratulated Sen. Margaret Carter on her long list of accomplishments on behalf of the residents N/NE Portland after she announced her retirement from the Oregon Senate today.

"For over 25 years, Senator Carter has been fighting and delivering for the people of N/NE Portland. Whether it was delivering skill training or funding for mental health and drug treatment, Margaret has a lifetime of accomplishing real results for the people of this district and indeed for all of Oregon, " said Rep. Shields. "She will be sorely missed in the legislature, but I am excited for what she will do for the state in her new position as Deputy Director of the Oregon Department of Human Services."

Shields first met Sen. Carter when he worked for the Youth Employment Institute in Northeast Portland and Carter worked at the Portland Community College Skill Center, now the Margaret Carter Skill Center. She was an ally to Better People, the Northeast Portland nonprofit living-wage employment and counseling center that Shields founded in 1998. Most recently, she was a mentor to Shields on the legislature's Joint Ways and Means Committee.

Shields said that Sen. Carter has left immense shoes to fill, but said he is ready to take on the challenge by pursuing appointment to Sen. Carter's vacated seat.

Shields said he is well qualified to represent all of Senate District 22, which includes his N/NE district, plus additional parts of North Portland, St. Johns and the Cully neighborhood in Northeast. He and his spouse Shelda Holmes - a certified family nurse practitioner -- were foster parents of a foster child who attended Sitton Elementary in St. Johns. Both Shields and Holmes got to know the community through their ties to the school, the foster child's soccer team and through their membership in the Sitton PTA. The couple also has an eighteen-month-old daughter.

Additionally, Shields works as business manager of Shelda's North Portland primary care clinic, Hands on Medicine, where he has come to know the front-line health care challenges of their many patients from North Portland, St. Johns and Cully.

Shields lives in the Piedmont neighborhood, which overlaps into the other areas of District 22 he does not represent in the House.

Better People -- the organization Shields founded -- has helped hundreds of people from North Portland, St. Johns and Cully find living-wage employment, become clean and sober and turn their lives around.

"Beyond my ties to the whole senate district, the main reason to pursue the post is that the issues I've been delivering on in three terms in the Oregon House-- living-wage jobs, health care, schools and equality -- are exactly the issues that are also critically important to all of Senate District 22," said Shields. "It would be honor to continue working on those concerns for all of District 22 in the Oregon Senate."

Shields said he would vigorously pursue the Senate appointment with the senate district's precinct committee persons and the Multnomah County Commissioners.

I hope Carter can make a difference in her new role. Given DHS's terrible record in protecting Oregon's most vulnerable citizens, they can use all the help they can get. But of course, this is a track record DHS acquired partially due to the lack of accountability demanded from the state legislature.

From the 2007 Oregonian investigation of DHS; few of the shortcomings have since been corrected, and of course Goldberg is still there leading the charge back down the hill:

"The Oregonian found that in the seven years since Fairview closed, more than 2,000 developmentally disabled adults were victims of abuses ranging from neglect of medical needs to rape, beatings, thefts, verbal harassment and improper restraints.

At least 14 residents died after workers failed to provide necessary care.

The newspaper found that many workers in the system receive little training, are reluctant to call 9-1-1 in a medical emergency and get little oversight from overburdened caseworkers, who must manage clients and police the system at the same time.

In the vast majority of abuse and neglect cases, state-paid care providers were responsible."