Oregon: Dave Hunt

Most Oregon politicians are preoccupied with who will run in Oregon’s open gubernatorial seat in 2010, but Speaker of the House-elect Dave Hunt (D-Clackamas) offered a prediction for a much later Oregon Governor’s race when he addressed the Oregon Leadership summit on Thursday.

Hunt briefly mentioned his daughter Emily’s concerns about education, and made note of the fact that his daughter seemed rather politically adept despite being eight years old.

State Rep. Tina Kotek (D-Portland) was named the new House Majority Whip on Monday, according to the House Democratic Caucus.

Kotek was elected assistant majority whip a few weeks ago during the caucus elections, but former Majority Whip Peter Buckley (D-Ashland), stepped down from the position in order to focus on his responsibilities as co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

State House Democratic leaders blamed Oregon’s worsening economy on a bleaker national picture Wednesday and began prioritizing the state’s diminishing state budget to get through the economic crisis.

“This nation has been battered by the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration and Oregon is now feeling that pain,” newly elected House Majority Leader Mary Nolan (D-Portland) said. “The cuts requested by the Governor will affect every Oregonian and every Oregon business.

State Senate Republicans have come up with a plan to fund education by selling what they believe to be one of the Beaver State’s most renewable resources: water.