House Dems Strip Schaufler of Key Committee Post: Updated

Rep. Mike Schaufler
By NIGEL JAQUISS

Oregon House Democratic leadership responded today to allegations that Rep. Mike Schaufler (D-Happy Valley) groped a female employee of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries last week at the AFL-CIO statewide convention. 

Co-House Speakers Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) and Bruce Hanna (R-Roseberg) this afternoon stripped Schaufler, 51, of his co-chairmanship of the powerful House Business and Labor Committee but the move is clearly the Democrats' call.

Schaufler shared the committee chair's gavel in 2011 with Rep. Bill Kennemer (R-Oregon City) but Schaufler, who led the committee himself in 2009, ran the show. The former contractor's strong ties to trade unions have made him a big player on labor issues and so Dems' decision not only to remove his gavel today but toss him off the Business and Labor Committee altogether is a blow to the five-term representative's standing. 

following statement
The Oregonian
Angela Wilhelms,

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