Willamette Week | Politics

The final days of the last legislative session of the millennium were a chaotic mix of valor and dishonor as lawmakers, plainly fed up with doing the people's business, often resorted to settling personal scores. This session, more than any in recent memory, was marked by a lack of bipartisanship. In its waning hours, Republicans called most of the shots. As always, some people walked out the golden doors smelling like roses, while others just plain stank. Here's our quick list of winners and losers:

WINNERS

Rep. Kevin Mannix
After being beaten by Hardy Myers in the 1996 Democratic primary for attorney general, Mannix switched parties and returned to the House this session as a Republican. The fact that his high-profile gun bill was shot down in the session's final days makes him an unlikely winner, but in the long run, this session was good for him. The consensus-building skills he developed working on the gun bill put him in a good spot to make another run for AG next year--from the other side of the aisle. His social agenda scares the bejeezus out of liberals, and the hard-core GOP faithful might not like his willingness to compromise on gun issues, but he'd be the first serious GOP candidate for the AG post since Dave Frohnmayer gave up the job in 1993.

Rep. Lynn Lundquist
The former speaker should send Lynn Snodgrass a basket of chanterelle mushrooms. The best thing that ever happened Lundquist was getting ousted by Snodgrass at the beginning of the session then being unceremoniously dumped from the Education Committee. He's been able to stay above the fray while pushing for more money for schools. When local districts start laying off teachers and battling leaking roofs, his GOP colleagues will have some serious spinning to do to explain their low-ball education budget. Lundquist, though, emerged from the session with his hands clean, a moderate reputation and a clear shot at the state treasurer job.

Rep. Steve Harper
The speculation is over. Former Speaker of the House Larry Campbell told WW on Monday he will not run for his old House seat. He and his boys had a successful session lobbying on behalf of some of the biggest players in Salem. He brokered a sweet deal for US West, got more troopers for the Oregon State Patrol and got more money for the tourism board. (No one blames him for the failure of the gun bill, which he supported, or the passage of the gas tax, which he didn't).

The real winner here is Harper, the majority leader from Klamath Falls. With Snodgrass ousted by term limits and Campbell out of the picture, Harper--a man known for his bickering, massive ego and love of partisanship--is first in line for speaker if the GOP can hold on to the majority.

LOSERS

Speaker Lynn Snodgrass
In the heady days after her ascension, the speaker talked of running for Congress or even governor. After one of the most contentious sessions in recent memory, she's reportedly lowered her sights to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners.

Sen. John Lim
The Gresham Republican angered nearly everyone in the building with his last-minute opposition to the gun-show bill. He was tagged as a flagrant vote trader, willing to go against principles and common sense to try to get support for his own legislative agenda. In one of the few bipartisan efforts of the session's final days, the House paid him back in spades. On Thursday night, members voted 0-59, axing a bill to which he'd added a retroactive tax break for an Astoria doctor. Then, on Saturday, they killed a bill that would have established foreign ambassadorships--something for which the lawmaker felt he was eminently qualified. Addressing the bill, Rep. Kevin Mannix, the chief sponsor of the gun-show bill, said, "Maybe now Sen. Lim will get the message."

Rep. Bill Witt
After taking a brave stand against the Republican leadership--he voted against tying up tobacco-settlement money that he wanted for schools in a trust fund--the Cedar Mill Republican backed down the next day. Rumors were flying. Some speculated that Witt traded his vote for support of a limit on cigar taxes that he was trying to get through for populist activist Don McIntyre and wealthy hotelier Mark Hemstreet. Witt was also accused of trading his vote on school funding for movement on social issues such as partial-birth abortion and a defense-of-marriage bill.
He, too, got a spanking from his colleagues. In spite of his support of the tobacco trust-fund referral, the cigar tax break went up in smoke. Lobbyist Tom Novick says, "With this vote, Democrats got to vote against Don McIntyre, Mark Hemstreet and Bill Witt. You couldn't ask for more than that."

Senate President Brady Adams
The last couple of days of the session were tough on the Senate President. Sen. Randy Miller of Lake Oswego was angry about votes to finally settle the Wilsonville prison-siting issue and the defeat of the defense of hetero-marriage bill. Miller, the hotheaded former state chairman of the Republican Party, took it out on Adams. At one point, Miller angrily challenged Adams from the floor, demanding a party caucus. Adams paused, looked like he wanted to throw the gavel at Miller, and then gave in. It was not how the Grants Pass banker hoped to end his tenure as Senate president.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Willamette Week | originally published July 28, 1999