Democrats demand action on Republican who threatened police
By SARAH ZIMMERMAN today
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Just one day after Republicans ended a walkout that shut down the Legislature for over a week, the Senate was once again delayed Sunday -- this time by Democrats demanding a Republican senator who threatened state police be barred from the floor.
The Senate was delayed more than three hours as Democrats met in closed-door meetings to press for action against Sen. Brian Boquist, who drew criticism after saying state police should “send bachelors and come heavily armed” if they try to return him to the Capitol amid a GOP walkout over climate legislation.
“We have a situation where someone threatened to kill a police officer,” said Democratic Sen. Shemia Fagan. “Where are we going to draw the line and say we’re not going to just look the other way in order to get our paperwork done?”
Lawmakers have until midnight to move through some of the biggest priorities of the session, including an increased tobacco tax and a generous paid family and medical leave program.
https://apnews.com/564277856fe24538838a640256a04b6f
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Democrats were pressing for Boquist to immediately appear in front of a special conduct hearing, according to Fagan. She said that a memo from the legislature’s retained lawyer found Boquist explicitly broke personnel rules and put public safety at risk.
Boquist said via email Saturday he was unaware of the formal complaint until seeing news reports of the situation.
Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger refused to characterize Boquist’s comments as inappropriate at a press conference earlier this week, saying his words were simply “unhelpful.”
“This member threatened to kill an Oregon state trooper,” Fagan said. “If that’s not unacceptable then what is unacceptable?”
Yep if anyone were to threaten anyone in law enforcement..............................their ass's would be in jail even on terrorism charges...............what makes him so special..........................
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