Welcome to Wayne's World

Kari Chisholm

On Saturday, the Oregonian covered the "fact finding" mission taken to the South Coast by GOP leaders Wayne Scott and Karen Minnis on Friday. Evidently, this is step one in their attempt to save face for their decision to kill funding for the Coos Bay/North Bend airport expansion in order to punish Rep. Arnie Roblan for refusing to vote with them on an inadequate school budget.

But the real juicy stuff is in the Coos Bay World newspaper. It is a must read due to some absolutely preposterous quotes from Wayne Scott, the House Republican Majority Leader.

Wayne Scott makes an utterly hilarious attempt to completely change the story as to why the badly needed and broadly supported airport funding bill is dead. Lets compare what his previous statements with the new Wayne's World version.

On July 1, the Eugene Register Guard reported:

But not this time, thanks to a vow by House Majority Leader Wayne Scott, R-Canby, to kill such legislation as a way of punishing a coastal lawmaker who crossed House GOP leaders.

Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, was told that if he didn't abandon his fellow Democrats in their efforts to force a floor vote on an education budget that exceeded what Republicans supported, the airport bill would be killed. Roblan refused to side with the Republicans, and Scott said in a press statement last month that, "The funding for the North Bend airport will not be included in our budget," that Roblan knew what was at stake when he defied GOP leaders, and "that decision was made two months ago and will not change."

Now, try not to fall out of your seat when you read Rep. Scott's new version:

On Friday, Scott said he wanted to set the record straight concerning reports about why his House Budget Committee did not initially include the airport funding in the budget.

Scott contends that various media outlets have attacked him in recent weeks contending he kept the airport bill hostage in a political vendetta aimed at Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay. Roblan refused to kowtow to demands from House leadership to back a Republican education funding proposal.

Ever since, Republican leaders have appeared to make good on that promise by opposing the airport bill - keeping it tied up in a committee, a sign that usually signals its death.

"None of it is true," Scott said about the reports.

Instead, he said, Roblan did a poor job of conveying to House leadership how important a rejuvenated airport was to the South Coast. Scott said he never killed SB152, saying the bill was merely delayed due to technical issues and spelling changes. "I never threatened Roblan about his decision. It's never been about the vote," Scott said, referring to the tussle the two had over appropriate funding levels for K-12 education.

Never threatened Roblan? What planet is Wayne Scott living on? It's gotta be Wayne's World.

(The first go-round of this issue was discussed on BlueOregon here.)

By Kari Chisholm July 25, 2005