<h2>"It actually was not a decision of the leadership. That decision was made by the committee chairs and their interests.'"</h2>

Hmmm, it sounds like he told the truth, and nothing but the truth, just not the WHOLE truth.

Is Scott Leadership? Yep.

Is Scott a Committee Chair? Yep.

Did he answer the question? Yep.

Did he say that he did NOT block it in Committee? Nope.

Too bad there wasn't any detailed follow up question.

I guess it depends on the definition of "is" is, eh?

This is why some people are going to vote yes on 44 and no on everything else - to tell the lazy denizens of the legislature to get off their butts and actually do the work we elected them to do and not schedule tee-times and expensive diners instead.

um..that should say dinners...not diners

Wayne Scott is a disaster for the Republican party in Oregon. It seems to me his primary concern is lining his own pockets though influence. Unfortunately, he is also a bad influence on the other Republican legislators.

He needs to go!

And from the Oregonian...

After all, Scott is smack in the middle of the scandal involving the unreported Hawaiian junkets funded by the powerful beer and wine lobby. He also was a leading player in the theater of the absurd that was the Legislature's budget process last session.[...]

Yet Scott, 59, has not consistently put his formidable personal and political skills to constructive use in Salem. Instead, he's done things such as blocking a bill to pay for a badly needed expansion of the North Bend Airport because that town's Democratic representative, Arnie Roblan, had dared to oppose the House Republicans' school budget.

Scott needs to decide whether he wants to be the House's partisan enforcer or its top budget negotiator on the Joint Committee of Ways and Means. Last session he tried to play both roles, and the result was predictable: a badly politicized budget process. Scott and Minnis abandoned the joint committee and went their own way on the budget. Their decision added weeks to the near-record-long legislative session.

And this is in an editorial endorsing Scott. Think what they would be saying if they were NOT endorsing him.

While we are selectively citing excerpts from the Oregonian's endorsement of Scott, there is this as well:

"...Scott faces two opponents in House District 39 with little or no public service experience. One is Libertarian Party nominee Wes Wagner. The other, Mike Caudle, 30, of Canby, is an eager and enthusiastic candidate. But outside of his service as student body president at Oregon State University, Caudle doesn't have a deep resume for a major political office."

Mike Caudle, of course, is the author of this thread, and I'm sure Mike doesn't like reading that.

Wayne Scott will easily win House 39. Whether he becomes the next House speaker if Brading wins in HD49 is the only real question left.

When the dust settles on November 7, we will likely have just what we have now: Kulo in the Gov's seat, Dem's ruling the Senate, and the R's still in control of the House, though perhaps with Wayne Scott at the helm replacing Minnis.

The wild cards for the 2007 legislature are the ballot measures that pass. Imagine a session in which term limits, the spending limit, and political contribution limits all pass...

• Wes

Wes - do you know how easy it is to turn "deep resume for political office" into an asset? Well, don't take my word for it, just ask the term limits guys... In fact, if Mike should do anything, it should be to remind voters in his district how entrenced Scott is in the political establishment, remind them about his junkets to Maui, and not so subtly suggest that Wayne Scott enjoys being wooed by wealthy special interest and furthering his own, voters be damned. Just zap away Scott's support.

should have read: into a liability.

The O's endorsement can be summarized like this "Wayne Scott abuses the system and everyone knows Wayne Scott abuses the system, but he's bright and nobody else has enough experience. Oh and maybe for some unfathomable reason he'll stop abusing the system from now on."

Scott will win, but it's more due to a terrible system than his achievements or qualifications. Scott is awful for Canby and he's awful for Oregon.

Wes, you miss the point. This is just one of many articles in the Oregonian where they point out that the republican incumbent is corrupt and/or inneffective and/or puts partisan politics over the needs of Oregon and/or involved in the Maui/Israel/Las Vegas trip scandal, etc. They spend more time bashing them than praising them. And then they tell readers to vote for them?

Here's another great example of Wayne Scott's hypocrisy and lies:

Let me try the link again: http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/10/19/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letters02101906.txt