News For a five-term state representative who we expect most Oregonians couldn't have picked out of a lineup before this month, Democrat Mitch Greenlick has certainly vaulted into prominence with the 2011 Legislature barely one week old. Last week, Greenlick got blasted by bicyclists for his bill that proposed to outlaw carrying children in bicycle trailers if the child is younger than 6 years old This ...   More

News The right hasn't had much to party about recently in Oregon or nationally as of late. But to the dismay of many on the left, this Wednesday, April 15, FreedomWorks will host 500 Tea Party events nationwide, including at 19 locations in Oregon, to protest how the feds have handled corporate and mortgage bailouts, the debt caused by the stimulus package, and the potential deficit caused by President ...   More

News The Oregon Legislature adjourned its session last night with lawmakers making their usual rounds of self-congratulatory remarks about everything they accomplished. But if you want to read a scorecard of how Portland-area lawmakers are really perceived in Salem by staffers, other lawmakers, reporters and lobbyists representing unions and business as well as the left and the right, pick up tomorrow's ...   More

News State Rep. Tina Kotek (D-North/Northeast Portland) said this afternoon she's not interested in making a bid to replace Sen. Margaret Carter, who's leaving the Legislature after 25 years for a job at the state Department of Human Services. "I feel like I can do more good for my constituents if I stay where I am in the House instead of starting over in the Senate," Kotek says, noting her role ...   More

News One more ex-pol has surfaced as a candidate to replace state Sen. Margaret Carter (D-Portland) in Senate District 22. The newest contender is former state Rep. Gary Hansen, whose political history includes stints on the Metro Council and the Multnomah County Board of Commisssioners. "If appointed, I could step in without a learning curve," said Hansen, a 65-year-old Democrat who ran unsuccessfully ...   More

News Another candidate has jumped into the political scrum after state Sen. Margaret Carter (D-North/Northeast Portland) announced she was taking a job at the state Department of Human Services. Seth Prickett, a staffer at the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association, has announced he wants to take the House seat of state Rep. Chip Shields (D-North/Northeast Portland) if Shields is appointed to ...   More

News A small group of prominent African-American leaders has endorsed a relative political unknown as their choice among the Democrats seeking to replace state Sen. Margaret Carter (D-North/Northeast Portland). The endorsement from this group is especially intriguing since a large part of the conversation about Carter's replacement has turned on the question of race. Carter was the only African-American ...   More

News House District 24, which covers parts of Polk and Yamhill Counties, is shaping up as a key battleground in this fall's general election. Republicans, who hope to erode or eliminate Democrats' 36-24 majority in the House, are rallying behind one-term incumbent Jim Weidner (R-McMinnville), who had a rocky first term. A couple of weeks ago, the Oregon Beverage PAC donated $10,000 to Weidner. That ...   More

News Longtime Republican money-man Loren Parks has kept a lower-than-normal profile in 2010. Parks, a reclusive medical-products tycoon, is reportedly at odds with Kevin Mannix, the former lawmaker whose public safety ballot measures Parks has supported in the past. For weeks, political insiders have speculated that Parks was considering investing in Oregon Senate races and finally today that speculation ...   More