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In June of 2019, a crazy thing happened in Oregon. The short story is that in order to prevent having to vote on a Climate Bill that they knew they would lose, twelve Republican senators ran away.

The bill, “HB2020”, was introduced to the Oregon House of Representatives in January of 2019 with the goal of introducing a cap and trade system in Oregon to reduce carbon emissions. If you don’t know how cap and trade works, I recommend you read this explanation by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions https://www.c2es.org/content/cap-and-trade-basics/. The bill, which was contentious from the start, had gone through months of changes in committee before finally being ready to face a vote in June of 2019. That is when our story really gets started.

As part of my research for this piece, I had the unusual privilege of being able to sit down with a staffer who worked in the Capitol while all of this was happening. While he was very careful to tell me “only things you can find in the news”, it was still such a different experience hearing a story all at once rather than piecing things together like I usually do. In the spirit of our interview, I’m going to tell you the story more or less as he told me, referring to him as “my source” (because it makes me feel official). I will link other articles about the events described at the bottom of the of the post, along with the links for any extra research I do, which I will of course cite as I go.

Image of the Oregon State Capitol building, viewing the front doors — Oregon State Capitol building. Photo Credit Q13 Fox News.

The Oregon legislature ends their lawmaking season June 30th. That means that anything that is not voted on by midnight on the 30th cannot be dealt with until the next legislative season, when it will need to be reintroduced. HB2020 was one of the bills slated to be voted on late in June. The Republican senators in congress knew that the Democrats had a super-majority, and that they would not be able to stop the bill from passing simply by voting. So on June 20th, after much debate, twelve Republican senators walked out.

Walkouts are not uncommon in politics, the Oregon Republicans had already staged one this year back in May. It’s a technique that has been utilized by both Republicans and Democrats throughout history. Without the twelve senators, the Oregon Senate was left without a quorum (the number of people you need to stage a vote at all). So late in the legislative season, this put into question not only the future of HB2020 but also every other bill left to be voted on (see link 1). But even with all twelve senator leaving and the jeopardy of all those bills, this walkout would have been pretty small news nationally, if it weren’t for one thing: all the words.

Senator Brian Boquist of Oregon’s 12th district was one of the leaders of the walkout, and the most controversial figure. My source described him as an outspoken veteran who does not shy away from talking about his years in the service, including the people he’s killed. This assertion is closely echoed by the various articles written about him before and during the walkout. As the discussions about potential walkouts escalated, Governor Kate Brown suggested to the Republican senators that she would send the Oregon State Police to collect anyone who refused to show up for work and do their civic duty. It was during this conversation that the walkout became news. This is an excerpt from Boquist’s response to the Superintendent of the Oregon State Police, which he repeated in response to Governor Brown’s statement:

Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.
Brian Boquist

But that’s not all he said, in response to Senate President Peter Courtney, he is quoted by the Statesman’s Journal as threatening,

We’re at the 11th hour. If you don’t think these boots are for walking, you’re flat wrong, Mr. President . . . And if you send the state police to get me, hell is coming to visit you personally.
Brian Boquist

Within the Oregon legislature this threat was taken very seriously (See link 2 and 3). As my source rather pointedly stated, the Oregon Capitol Building is public property, meaning you do not have to report or check any weapons and could concealed carry on the senate floor with no one the wiser. While we have no proof that Boquist was carrying at the time these statements were uttered, there’s also no proof that he wasn’t (Sidenote, Oregon is one of very few states where private citizens -aka me trying to research this article- cannot access the concealed carry permit database)

Photo of senator Brian Boquist shows the senator seated as his desk on the senate floor — Senator Brian Boquist, Photo Credit to Oregon Live

The situation escalated dramatically, truly becoming national news, when a variety of militias in Oregon and Idaho pledged their support for the runaway senators. The militias started their involvement early, staging a protest called “Rally to Take the Capitol” on June 22nd, two days after the senators walked out. Due to security concerns surrounding the rally, Oregon State Police recommended the Capitol be closed that day (See Link 4). But while they ended up protesting an empty building, there were a variety of militias there, including Proud Boys (see link 5) and the Oregon Three Percenters (See link 6).

The Republican party denies working with these militia groups, but that did not stop them from wanting to be involved. While the spokesperson for the Senate Republicans, Kate Gillem, stated that the Senators were not affiliated with the militias and would not be accepting their help, they were forever linked in the eyes of the media. A GoFundMe page was created to raise money to cover the $500 a day fines the senators were being charged while not at work. I commented to my source that this seems illegal, but he said there’s no proof that any of them accepted the money, so they should be in the clear.

The national hype surrounding the militia involvement is helped along by the memories of the militia that took over the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon in 2016, led by Ammon Bundy and his family. (Important sidenote: Ammon Bundy has actually split with the “Patriot Movement” because he disagrees with President Trump’s attitude towards refugees. He, as a conservative member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints takes issue with Trump’s depiction of them as criminals because he says his faith commands him to welcome those in need. He has also since compared the Right’s support of Trump to the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany.)

The militia involvement continued in Idaho, where some of the senators had supposedly fled. The Idaho Three Percenters publicly offered them “security” and “refuge” (fun fact, the Idaho 3 Percenters were also involved in the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge takeover). They also had some big picture thoughts on the issue, posting on their Facebook page, “This is what the start of a civil war looks like. . . Elected officials seeking asylum in a friendly jurisdiction.” (See link 7)

Image shows a man with a gun slung across his back addressing a crowd of protesters with the capitol building in the background. — Demonstrators outside the Capitol during the walkout. Photo Credit to Oregon Live

I think it’s important to point out the depth and breadth of militia involvement in this saga for a few reasons. The first is, this is Oregon. Because Portland is the face of the state, often the rest of the country fails to realize how big, and how politically diverse, the rest of the state is. Southern and Eastern Oregon can barely be considered the Pacific Northwest, and many Southern Oregonians identify more strongly with “the mythical state of Jefferson” than with Portland and Salem. The second reason I want to harp on the militia involvement is because, frankly, it’s crazy. Lawmakers being offered protection by armed groups of people who are usually anti-government is crazy. Lawkmakers issuing threats to the State Police Superintendent in the same state they were elected to serve is crazy. The Republican minority leader refusing to condemn these threats, true story, is also crazy (See link 8). I mean, this has always been the Wild West but I can’t help but feel that we’re… backsliding?

While the militias are exciting in a loaded gun kind of way, I want to make sure the effects of this walkout, which were much less publicized, are also discussed here. All but two of the senators did come back (the two that didn’t were Senator Alan Olsen and Senator Dennis Linthicum). Eight of them came back on Saturday, June 29th, and Boquist came back on Sunday, June 30th. Boquist’s return was not taken well by everyone. According to my source some people felt unsafe with him in the building, and a private attorney advised that he did present a credible threat and they could reasonably refuse him admittance if they so wished.

Democratic Senator Sarah Gelser actually left the senate floor when he came back, and refused to return to the floor while he was there. Her leaving caused the Democrats to lose the vote on a bill about paid family leave, which prompted a bunch of negotiations, at the end of which Boquist did leave the senate floor. Rather surprisingly, when Boquist left the floor he was accompanied by Herman Baertschiger, the Republican minority leader. When Gelser returned, the paid family leave bill was re-voted on and did pass, but only after major disruption. The final result of the walkout was a win for the Republicans in terms of HB2020. The bill was declared dead, and will have to be reintroduced. However, even with the disruption of the walkout, a lot got done in those final hours. 105 bills were voted on, and among those passed were paid family leave, a tax increase on tobacco products, and an affordable housing bill.

Image shows the senate floor in the Oregon Capitol building with rows of desks facing the front. — View of the Senate floor. Photo Credit to The Register-Guard

As an Oregonian I’m tempted to be like “Sometimes the militias act up, nothing new” and just dismiss this as a wacky incident. But realistically, that would be ignoring the broader context. While militia activity is not new in Oregon, militias and government officials don’t usually mix. What does it say about the Republican party here in Oregon that they’re being offered the “security” of the Three Percenters, who the Southern Poverty Law Center classify as an “anti-government” group? (See Link 6) It’s no secret that our national government has become increasingly “anti-government” under this administration and the leadership of the Republican Party. But that shouldn’t make it any less shocking to see this playing out at the state level in the idealistic alignment of Oregon lawmakers and anti-government militias.

So what is the takeaway from all of this? Republicans in Oregon feel emboldened enough by the National Situation to threaten Police officers and threaten their fellow legislators. What better describes the breakdown of the Republican party, the party of law and order and the “thin blue line”, than threats of deadly force being leveled at State Police Officers by a Republican Senator to stop a climate change bill? The results of the walkout are still being decided with regards to consequences for the Senators involved, particularly Mr. Boquist, but the consequences for the American people are clear. Especially you, Republicans, take a good look at your party and ask yourself what you stand for now– Is it shooting police officers and gathering militia support? Because this is where Trump is taking you, and if you want your party back then he has to go.

Tag: senators

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