The spirit of bipartisanship, in three-part whine

T.A. Barnhart

In the Congress, we are witnessing the on-going spectacle of the GOP refusing to acknowledge that the American people did not vote for their party, their policies, or their candidates. Politically, of course, they have no business giving up on their beliefs and goals. In terms of governance, however, their refusal to admit that November 6, 2012, actually happened is making a mockery of the democratic process.

And a sham of government.

The 2012 election went just as badly for Republicans in Oregon as it did nationally. The Democrats held all three statewide offices on the ballot, kept control of the Senate and placed Tina Kotek in the Speakership. Oregon voters could not have made clearer their overall preference for Democrats, especially as they dumped several one-term Republicans on their way to giving the Dems control of the Legislature.

These facts are not sitting well with House Republicans who are waging a whine campaign about the unfairness of a legislature controlled by the political party that is not them. Former House Republican Leader Kevin Cameron, who left his leadership role after it was revealed that in his eyes, leadership included being the first in the door at strip clubs, led off his recent enewsletter in this manner:

2012 was a historic legislative session with the House split 30-30 which led to a session of 60 members working together on reform efforts and important issues. That spirit of bipartisanship seems to be hard to find this session.

“That spirit of bipartisanship.” Sounds nice, doesn’t it? In some cases, particularly the budget, it was true. Ds & Rs found a way to not only get to a budget agreement, they got the education budget out the door in April, an almost unheard-of accomplishment. But on other issues, Co-speaker Bruce Hanna and his fellow leaders in the House GOP, including Rep Cameron, Rep Andy Olson and former Rep Matt Wingard, were perfectly happy to use their power in the split chamber to block bills that probably had majority support for passage. Primary among these was SB 742, Tuition Equity, which passed the Senate 18-11 in 2011 and probably had at least one Republican vote in the House to make it law.

Spirit of bipartisanship? Only when it served GOP interests.

Also whining about how unfair the Democrats in the House are is Rep Gail Whitsett:

[House GOP Leader] Rep. [Mike] McLane shared statistics today in caucus related to the bills that have passed the House Floor.

Through Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Bills Passing House = 119
Only Democrat Chief Sponsor(s) = 37
At Request of Governor = 33
By Interim Committees = 27
Democrat & Republican Chief Sponsors = 10
By Committee = 6
Only Republican Chief Sponsor(s) = 4

Of course, this is 6 whole weeks into the session, and the numbers take no note of how many Republicans were co-sponsors of the bills. Nor does it indicate how many “Republican Chief Sponsor(s)” bills are in the pipeline. This is the equivalent of marveling at a pitcher’s no-hitter — in the middle of the 3rd inning. Whitsett grouses that Speaker Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney have sent the 36 PERS-related bills the Republicans have dumped on the Leg (compared to 2 from the Dems) to Rules:

The significance of that referral is that the bills can remain in those committees until the Legislature adjourns without action or can be scheduled for a hearing up until the last day. To date the Democrat leadership in each chamber has failed to schedule a single PERS bill for a hearing.

In 2011, this was fine when Bruce Hanna did it. In 2013, with over three-and-a-half months left in the session, it’s proof positive that the Democrats hate the bipartisanships.

What the House Republicans are complaining about is that they lost the election, the Democrats won, and now the Democrats are governing based on that victory. In DC, the House GOP is demanding that President Obama, who won a resounding re-election, should agree to repeal Obamacare, cut taxes on the wealthy, and forbid his administration from upholding any regulations whatsoever. Instead of showing a modicum of humility in light of losing ground to the Democrats in both the House and Senate, the GOP is demanding that, as the defeated party, they have the authority to set the President’s agenda.

McLane, Cameron, Whitsett and the Oregon GOP also insist on government run as if it’s Perpetual Opposite Day. Because you know that, if they were in control of the Leg, they’d be ever so bipartisan. Trust them; they would be.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Ted Ferrioli, endorsed the GOP’s self-serving definition of bipartisan even before the session began:

“The definition of bipartisanship is not how many members are seated on a committee. It's how much of the minority's agenda gets passed.”

He told Senate President Peter Courtney to not even bother talking to him about PERS unless Courtney had all 16 Senate Dems on-board because, after all, bipartisan means that the entirety of the opposition party has to agree with something you agree with.

In other words, before Clayton Kershaw throws his next pitch, he has to agree to throw the pitch Buster Posey wants him to throw.

Expect to hear this complaint about the lack of bipartisanship from the Republicans as the session moves forward and the Democrats govern based on what the voters chose in November. As McLane pre-complained in February,

"The success of the Legislature is going to be defined not by what Republicans do, but what the Democrats do or choose not to do…. It's their responsibility to govern, it's their responsibility to lead, and I expect them to do both."

In 2011, in the spirit of bipartisanship, House Republicans blocked tuition equity, a BPA ban on baby bottles, and other bills that passed the Senate with votes from both parties and likely had majority support in the House. Bipartisan sounds nice until you realize you don’t actually like the outcome. That’s when, not surprisingly, you discover: Elections matter.

By T.A. Barnhart March 22, 2013