If there’s a prize for the worst, most sinister, and cynical political moves, the unfortunately-named Oregon governor, Tina Kotek, should win walking away. A damaging gas and transportation tax, the one she cheated, lied, and schmoozed to ram through, is on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary. On primary day, Oregon voters will affix some C-4 and light the fuse to the one deliverable Kotek could lay claim to in her entire first term of office.
The timing for Kotek and her fellow Democrat Party members couldn’t be worse.
Kotek blames President Donald Trump for high gas prices right now, but Oregonians know all too well that prices are perennially high anyway because of Democrats’ adherence to the Church of Global Warming. The governor’s approval numbers have fallen badly for a Democrat in this one-party state. Gas prices are almost as high as when Joe Biden was in office, and voters — male, female, Democrat, Republican, Independent, poor, and rich — saw what she did there.
The people who continually bleat that they’re trying to Save Democracy!™ did everything to disembowel it to punish Oregonians with a whopping 6 cent/gallon gas tax and massive fee increases.
Kotek couldn’t get her budget-backfilling taxes passed in regular session, so she called for a special “emergency” session to cram them through. When she got the tax increases approved by Democrats, she waited until the last second to sign it, to deprive Oregonians of enough time to gather enough signatures to refer it to the ballot.
But Kotek’s gambit didn’t work.
Oregonians were so angered by the manipulations that Republicans got more than enough signatures in record time to refer the tax package to voters in November. The Save Democracy!™ crowd didn’t want the referral on the November ballot because more people vote then.
In March, Kotek had her This is what democracy looks like! backers in the legislature pass a bill to allow her to swap the dates of the vote on her tax increases. Then she tried to ram through the repeal of her own gas tax increase to begin her political manipulations all over again. Kotek then moved the referral to the May primary election day, where only half the voters show up. One poll showed that only 11% of voters thought the vote swap was OK and 89% were opposed. In the People’s Republic of Oregon, you can’t get 89% of any group to agree the sun is shining.
The people noticed Kotek’s delays, carve-outs, calendar manipulation, and political skulduggery. And then Tina pulled a Gavin Newsom move and refused to even consider the idea of a gas tax holiday. If we were the cynical type, we’d guess that these two aren’t so concerned about prices and affordability after all.
Kotek’s approval numbers have dropped from the mid-50’s to the 40% range. Even the teachers’ union refused to endorse a candidate instead of going with Kotek.
Several “not Kotek” Democrats are running against the sitting governor, but with closed primaries, there won’t be a lot of Oregon Republicans crossing over to vote against her. Indeed, Oregon Republicans have their own big contest on the ballot.
Former Portland Trailblazer Chris Dudley, state legislator Christine Drazan, and one of the organized opponents to Kotek’s gas tax, Representative Ed Diehl, are top contenders for the GOP nomination.
Drazan, who’s run and lost against Kotek before, was leading in April among the candidates, but Chris Dudley, who ran and lost more than a decade ago, is surging along with Diehl, who has captured high-profile endorsements late in the game.
The good news is there are signs of life in the political opposition to the Democrats in Oregon. Tina’s tax increases are going down, and the GOP’s got a pulse — they’re voting, and this could be a game-changing moment for Oregon.
Fingers crossed.
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