Oregon, My Oregon

At PJM, Vicky Taft, It's Primary Election Day in the People's Republic of Oregon, and the 'People' Want Revenge

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.
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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.

My fingers are crossed, but my breath remains unbated.