Oregon legislature betrays voters, part 1

Tina Kotek & Peter Courtney, 2016, from oregonlive.com

1 / GUTTING MEASURE 11

The vile duplicity headed by Speaker Kotek, abetted by catatonic Uncle Peter and until recently orchestrated by Jennifer Williamson, is truly disturbing. All the worse because the Oregonian, OPB and other of the larger news mediums either fail to cover their actions or have adopted such obviously biased and "woke" narratives that it would be funny if it weren't so serious.

First were massive changes to criminal sentencing very late in the session and all pre-cooked.

Measure 11 was first passed by a citizen-based group without either the endorsement or the opposition of the state's DAs. It was under constant assault for six years, culminating in Measure 94, led by many major lights who like to call themselves "progressives" (the usual suspects, including Floyd Prozanski, Joann Hardesty, Bowman, Chip Shields, etc), who put together a slick and well-funded campaign in 2000. This time most DAs, myself among the most outspoken, pushed back hard. We even got different reporters and editors (than now) to do a story about how many of the "real scenarios" supposedly showcasing terrible injustice under M11 were in fact either totally made up, or from other states with different laws.

Measure 94 was defeated by a massive 3 to 1 margin --  73% to 27%, a fact NEVER mentioned in today's stories that seek to tie the measure to as distant a past as possible and assign to Kevin Mannix all credit and blame.

Measure 11  automatically "remanded" juvenile killers and rapists into adult court. If the offender was 17 when convicted, they could serve their entire sentence at the Oregon Youth Authority and never see the inside of the State Prison. There were two exceptions -- one for manslaughter in the first degree, for which the juvenile would be sentenced a minimum of 10 years; and one for murder, with a minimum sentence of 25 years. Either of those two convictions would eventually send the 17-year-old to State Prison.

The law also went a long way toward erasing racial and economic inequities. White, upper-middle-class judges had previously been far more willing to grant probation to someone who looked like their son than to the poor Hispanic convicted of the same serious felony.

Oh, and crime plummeted under M-11 at rates even higher than other parts of America.

Capital punishment, while always controversial, was used exceedingly sparingly by prosecutors and even more so by juries. Oregon's small death row was overwhelmingly white and male (with only one woman on it). I  I prosecuted at least 10 potential capital murders,  sought death in only two cases, and received a jury verdict of death for one defendant, Randy Guzek (at each of three separate trials).

Now, move to the 2019 session. No more Hardy Myers as AG to advocate for victims. The Oregon Police Chiefs (OACP) and Sheriffs (OSSA)  completely sold out in exchange for big salaries and anti-police union legislation. Oregon District Attorneys' (ODAA) "leadership" simply avoided all controversy.

The legislature scheduled "Invited Testimony Only" hearings, packed with the same opponents to Measure 11 as 20 years ago, this time concentrating on the juvenile aspect. There was virtually no real debate. I watched every minute of the hearings, the debate and the vote.

The legislature needed a two-thirds majority to change the constitution. So, in exchange for the exact number of votes needed to overturn M-11, Kotek, Courtney, et.al. promised four GOP legislators from rural Oregon various gifts on the infamous Christmas Tree bill.

In a stunning "Please don't throw me in the briar patch" speech, GOP leader Mike McLane (R-District 55) appeared to deliberately throw the vote.  He gave the vaguest of lip service to "what the ODAA wanted," a phrase calculated to inflame legislators who loathed DAs.

McLane didn't vote for the repeal, but he guided in the missile and delivered the coup de grace. McLane resigned his House seat just days later, in July 2019, after five terms, to accept an appointment by Gov. Brown to Circuit Court Judge for Crook and Jefferson counties. Records show McLane was exempted from the usual application process, so didn't have to compete with those who actually filed and were interviewed. Coincidence?

The whole debate was a farce. Kotek and Williamson had pre-purchased four Republicans, all from districts that had reaffirmed by 4 to 1 or greater their constituents' support for Measure 11, putting a quick end to the 25-year-old reform measure. Yes, Measure 11 was a reform, a leveling of the field, a truth in sentencing measure that gave victims a seat at the table.

With M-11 was toast, because much of the constitutional amendment had been "broken" by a two-thirds vote, most legal scholars, myself, believe that the adult part of Measure 11 -- which requires rapists actually serve 8 years, child molesters serve 5, and murderers serve 25 -- can be killed off by a simple majority vote in the 2021 session. If not sooner, given this legislature's zeal to expand one-day special sessions to settle old political scores.
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PART 2 : GUTTING THE DEATH PENALTY