Oregon: Senate

Back in the primaries for the US Senate race, I was an early supporter of Steve Novick, but after Jeff Merkley won the primary, I swallowed my pride, wrote the check, and trundled down to the Merkley office to volunteer as much as I could. Today, Jeff Merkley more than earned the support that I gave him. He was one of four Senators, including Susan Collins, Olympia Snow and Ted Kennedy, who introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) into the United States Senate. He is continuing his commitment to workplace protections, as he pushed successfully for a state version of...

By Taxpayer Association of Oregon,

Senate Bill 767 is another attempt to add more constraints on charter schools and virtual charter schools in particular. Senate Bill 767 was introduced at the request of Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers-Oregon, Oregon School Employees Association, Oregon Education Association. The bill requires virtual charter schools to hire only licensed teachers. It also prevents increased enrolment unless 50% or more of the students are from the district in which the virtual charter school is located. The bill also requires the President of the Senate to set up a work group to evaluate virtual charter schools and produce a report that may include recommendations for legislation in the 2010 session.

Oregon could become the fifth state to implement a plan to circumvent the electoral college. Today the House voted overwhelmingly to send the legislation to the Senate. Four states have endorsed legislation to ban the current system, which awards all the electoral college votes in a state to one candidate. The states pushing for direct election are Hawaii (4 votes), Illinois (21), Maryland (10) and New Jersey (15). Oregon has 7 votes. The National Popular Vote would take effect when and if enough states equaling 270 electoral votes -- a majority --approve the legislation to join the multi-state compact. Discuss.

WASHINGTON-My colleague Charles Pope and I sat down for breakfast with Sen. Jeff Merkley Wednesday morning to get at least a glimpse of how the Oregon Democrat is settling into life in the Senate. A glimpse is sort of what...