Portland Lawyer Rob Milesnick Files to Challenge Incumbent State Sen. Michael Dembrow

Milesnick will attempt to capitalize labor union anger about Dembrow's vote to trim public employee retirement benefits.

The after-effects of the passage of Senate Bill 1049 last year continue.

Portland lawyer Rob Milesnick announced Friday he will challenge three-term incumbent Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland), who last year was among those who voted for that bill, which trimmed public employee retirement benefits.

Among other things, the bill requires some of the money previously set aside in a 401k-type plan to be put instead toward employer contributions to their state pensions. It's a complicated change but the net effect was a reduction in total retirement benefits for current public employees.

After the bill passed, labor groups—including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Oregon Education Association and the AFL-CIO of Oregon—said they would neither interview nor support any lawmakers who voted for the legislation.

That's already helped fuel one contested primary: Paige Kreisman is challenging incumbent state Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland). Although Nosse is a former organizer for the Oregon Nurses Association and one of the Capitol's strongest labor supporters, he voted for the bill, creating an opening for Kreisman's challenge.

Dembrow (D-Portland), a three-term incumbent whose inner eastside district is one of the state's bluest, has also historically been a strong labor supporter. He was a longtime leader of the faculty union as a professor at Portland Community College and he is also the Senate's point person on its ambitious efforts to pass a cap-and-trade carbon reduction bill. Yet his vote on SB 1049 has created an opportunity for a challenge.

Milesnick, a Portland civil rights and employment lawyer, is seeking to exploit labor's unhappiness.

Milesnick, 43, ran for Multnomah County Commission in 2008. He got AFSCME's endorsement, a big deal in a county race, but finished third in a crowded primary. In 2011, he was one of three finalists for an appointment to a House vacancy that went to state Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer (D-Portland). Keny-Guyer is retiring this year, so Milesnick, who still lives in her district, is making the choice to challenge an incumbent senator rather than pursue an open House seat.

He says that's a reflection on where he sees the greatest need for new blood.

"[State Rep.] Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) said it best," Milesnick tells WW. "The Oregon Senate is a hospice for progressive legislation."

Milesnick says labor interests have encouraged him to run, although he does not yet have the formal endorsement of any group.

"Labor unions have been discouraged with what the Legislature has been passing and with some of Michael's votes," Milesnick says. "SB1049 is obviously a part of it. That was a direct loss of money for some workers and it showed a lack of solidarity with others. I consider myself a progressive labor Democrat—and that's what the district needs."

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