Personally, I'd like to see Martha stay on the Clackamas county commission. I'm on the Clackamas county Urban and Rural Reserves Policy Advisory Committee, and Martha is Clackamas county's representative on the Core4. As such, she will have a pivotal role, in my opinion, on the designation of rural reserves in Clackamas county. I believe that this is an important enough job, that I'd like to see her stay for the rest of the reserves process which will run untill near the end of 2009.

This, of course, would keep her from becoming a state senator. While I believe that the position of state senator is very important also, because of the time Martha has already put in on the reserves process as a Core4 member, and the importance of the reserves process to property owners in Clackamas county, I believe that her work as a county commissioner and on the Core4 is more important than her serving as a state senator, although I think she would do a good job in that position too.

Anyhoo, just my 2 bits....

Does Blagojevich get to appoint a successor?

I think the State Senate could benefit from a hard working, enthusiastic new woman state senator like Martha Schrader. It is up to the pct. people in the district to choose the 3 nominees and the county comm. to choose the appointee.

I wonder whether they liked Dave Hunt appearing to make that decision for them

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2008/11/a_nugget_on_kurt_schraders_rep.html

by claiming that if not elected to the Oregon House he would be the new state senator.

LT, could we give this up already?

It's sad how much Kurt Schrader has tried to manipulate this appointment process (to advantage his wife) by delaying his resignation. I hope his manipulation is not rewarded.

I know and have respected the Schraders as well. That's why I've been so appalled by their manipulation of this appointment process for their own personal gain.

The Schraders' actions are trashing a lot of the good will and support they have built up over the years.

Kari--"personal gain" does not always mean "direct financial gain". I'd say that if Martha Schrader wants the seat, she must figure it will be a personal gain. Otherwise, she's knowingly acting against her own best interests. Which, I guess, is possible.

Just saying.

Posted by: Logan Gilles | Dec 18, 2008 10:04:12 PM

Should I give up on the right of pct. people to make the final decision as was said here?

Posted by: Deborah Barnes | Dec 19, 2008 6:42:03 AM

I know Martha and Kurt and have great respect for both of them. As one of the precinct committee people, I look forward to hearing from the folks chosen who are interested in taking Kurt's Senate seat.

I love Martha Schrader! She would make an incredible state senator. Smart, hard working, experienced and politically savvy. Hard to do better than this.

Jenni, if Martha Schrader truly wanted to "make a difference" in the state legislature, then she should have run for the state legislature. There was an open House seat in her district this year, which was just narrowly won by Republican Bill Kennemer.

But no, Martha Schrader ran this year for re-election to her county commish seat. Her new four-year term hasn't even begun yet, but now she's manipulating this process in order to "win" a state legislative seat.

Kari: Agreed.

Further, I don't think there is any manipulation of the process going on here.

I also agree with OC Dan than if Martha wanted to serve in the lege, she should have run for the open seat in her district (39th), rather than running for a new four-year term on the board of commissioners.

After the campaign that Toby ran for the 39th this year, there's no doubt how much he wants to serve his community in the legislature.

Kari, I think the primary "manipulation" here is that Kurt Schrader intentionally delayed his resignation announcement to require the PCPs to meet during the holidays and to advantage his wife by having the final decision made by the newly-expanded Board of Commissioners rather than the current Board. He wouldn't even tell county party leaders WHEN he was going to resign so they could plan appropriately for this important process.

He was quoted in local papers as saying he delayed his resignation in order to pay his mortgage (not likely that a millionaire needs $1700/month to pay his mortgage) and to continue his legislative duties in Salem (even though he missed the one-and-only set of Emergency Board hearings since the election -- much to the consternation of Peter Courtney -- even though Jeff Merkley showed up).

Sounds like manipulation to me.

Canby guy, the legislative session starts next month. If you feel that strongly, lobby legislators on behalf of a bill which says "Upon being elected to higher office, a legislator must resign from the legislature within ___ days".

To my knowledge, there is no law of that sort now.

Having been involved in the process when my legislator won higher office, I agree with Kari,

"This is a decision that will be made by the PCPs in the Clackamas County Democratic Party and then by the county commissioners."

As we saw in the primary, angry blogging is not guaranteed to bring the result the angry bloggers want.

LT, you are about the angriest blogger around Blue Oregon, so I'll take your word for it! :)

Issue--I don't see this a manipulation on thier part. I would support Maratha over Toby. She would make a better Senator than Toby. Maratha is well-known, versed in issues and has understanding our politics work. Toby is green and really does not understand issues and he is puppet to Dave Hunt. Why would we want someone like Toby in office when he can not make judgement calls and decide what is best for Oregon City. Maratha can stand on her own and not have someone like Dave Hunt in the background pulling the strings. If anyone has tried to manipulate the choices has been Dave Hunt, he has been very vocal about supporting Toby and I think we as a PCP's should take a stand and vote who we fill will do the best job and I my vote goes to Maratha and I hope have followers to support her.

Insider, I was just standing up for those like PCP given my experience back in my party activist days as a pct. person and a member of state central comm. being involved in the replacement process (both replacement on the ballot due to vacancy and replacement when a legislator is elected to higher office).

Now, if someone doesn't like my standing up for what I believe in based on my personal experience with the process, and calls that angry, not my problem.

I just want the elected precinct people in the district to make the decision on nominees and then let the county comm. make the final decision. I hope the process is as open as it was when we replaced our state senator--large public meeting place, candidates making speeches not only to the comm. but to an audience as well, and then a public vote on the choice for replacement.

A hero of mine lost such a replacement to the Senate more than a decade ago because the commissioners liked the person they chose better than the person running--and, as I recall, my choice was one of their current or former comm.members. That's the way the ball bounces.

My big thing is a fair and open process, along the lines PCP describes. If his fellow pct. people believe that the Speaker-elect is controlling the process, they have a right to choose a Senate candidate other than who the Speaker-elect wants. If they think Toby should have won his House race and this is a consolation prize, they have the right to vote that way. They also have the right to support Martha if they so choose.

Why is that an angry attitude, Insider?

I also think it's perfectly reasonable for someone to decide that they'd like to serve in the Senate, but not the House.

Thats gotta be the understatement of the month. But Martha has more than paid her dues in Salem as Kurt's staff -- and she actually seems to LIKE being there.

<h2>Besides, the state senate couldn't lose by having someone with her local government background. Looks like a win-win-win, with the last win going to Oregonians.</h2>