Posted on 10/25/2005 12:30:04 PM PDT by SmithL
TROUTDALE, Ore. - Gay rights activists are going to be looking for payback when Oregon House Speaker Karen Minnis comes up for re-election next year.
Over the summer, the Republican enraged gay rights supporters when she refused to let the House vote on a civil unions bill that had been passed by the state Senate with the blessing of the Democratic governor.
Now state and national gay rights groups are targeting Minnis for defeat in 2006 as part of an effort to elect more gay-friendly legislators. The effort could turn this tourism-oriented town east of Portland into a battleground.
A spokesman for a national gay rights group in Washington, D.C., said Oregon is one of several states where bills to provide more rights to gays have faltered and where activists will be working to defeat lawmakers who stood in the way.
"There are a handful of states where a change in a couple of seats could make a big difference," David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign said recently. "And you could choose no finer example of that than House Speaker Karen Minnis."
The civil unions controversy is the latest chapter in Oregon's gay marriage debate that began in 2004, when Multnomah County issued marriage licenses to 3,000 same-sex couples before a judge ordered the county to stop. Last fall Oregon voters approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage. It was one of 11 states to pass similar ballot measures.
Minnis knows she is in for a tough re-election fight in her Multnomah County district because of her stand against the civil unions bill, which would have allowed same-sex couples to gain most of the benefits of marriage.
"They're coming after me," she said in an interview in Troutdale. "I think they are going to attack me personally at every given turn."
Democrats hold an 8 percentage-point voter registration edge in Minnis' district. And Democrat Rob Brading, who lost to Minnis by 6 points in 2004, plans to run against her again next year. But Minnis has a big name advantage - she is in her fourth term and succeeded her husband, who served six House terms.
Troutdale Mayor Paul Thalhofer, a registered Democrat who supported Minnis' opponent in 2004, said he plans to back the Republican speaker next year, even though he favors civil unions. Thalhofer said Minnis has done a good job of representing the district's interests in the Legislature on most other issues.
"She is quite popular in the district," the mayor said. "It will be difficult for those groups to turn enough voters against her to make a difference."
A similar view comes from Terry Smoke, who owns the Troutdale General Store, a combination restaurant and gift shop in the city's historic district.
"Karen is very keyed in to what's going on in the community," Smoke said. "That will pull her through."
In refusing to let the civil unions bill come up for a House vote, Minnis argued that it would violate the spirit of the ban on gay marriage passed by Oregon voters last November.
The state's leading gay rights group, Basic Rights Oregon, argues that public opinion polls indicate growing support among Oregonians for civil unions and that Minnis thwarted the democratic process by not allowing the House to vote on the bill.
Basic Rights spokeswoman Rebekah Kassell said her group will become involved in various legislative races next year. She noted that in neighboring Washington state, a bill banning discrimination against gays in housing, employment and insurance failed by just one vote in the state Senate earlier this year.
In other gay-rights setbacks in state capitals this year: A House-approved measure prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation was left in limbo when the Delaware Legislature adjourned. And bills to ban discrimination against gays in Colorado and to legalize same-sex marriage in California were vetoed by the governors of those states.
The voters overwhelmingly voted not to allow gay marriage, and yet now they target the people who enforce the ban. Go figure.
Solution for Dems?
Voter FRAUD.
We need to support this woman strongly and repulse this assault by the agents of evil.
"an effort to elect more gay-friendly legislators..."
Would not work where I live.
What surprised me was thet OR has a Republican house speaker. I guess I need to learn more about some states. I always assume OR as a liberal state.
sure makes it easy when the enemy identifies their selfs
Massachusetts, Maryland and California are all liberal states, and yet all 3 have Republican governors.
Hawaii is a liberal state also, and has a Republican governor
Oregon has a large population of liberals and welfare statists along the I-5 corridor from Salem to Portland.
The rest of the state is rural and mostly conservative. Our district elected a Democrat rep mostly because he was a local boy, he served one term and switched to the Republican party because the democratic party was "insanely liberal at the state level" and he couldn't work with them on agricultural issues important to the district because the Sierra Club owns the dem party at the state level.
Troutdale is just east of Portland where urban sprawl smacks up against agriculture. They'll have a hard time unseating her as she did exactly what her constituency wanted her to do.
It's a lot easier to elect one GOP governor than 30 or 40 or 60 seats for a majority in the state legislature.
But Oregon is a swing state, though it may tilt left of center on some social issues and the environment.
The B.R.O.'s public opinion poll argument is very weak. The ban by tax paying voters holds alot more weight as far as I'm concerned. I personally am not for or against the ban, but I think the majority has spoken here and gays in the area need to learn to be content. Being gay in America means accepting the fact that the lifestyle is not the norm. Asking for tolerance and acceptance requires giving it as well. If you don't want the government to define your marriage, then don't. Commitment happens in the heart not in a courthouse anyways.
"Troutdale is just east of Portland where urban sprawl smacks up against agriculture. They'll have a hard time unseating her as she did exactly what her constituency wanted her to do."
If you want on/off the ping list let me and little jeremiah know.
TEXANS - VOTE NOV 8TH FOR PROPOSITION 2 - THE MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT
I've seen a map of OR. Most counties went for Bush. Only around Portland, Eugene, Astoria and along the coast are liberal. But they're more populated. As someone said, it's bipolar. It's been socialist for a long time.
Around 83% of the land in OR is state or fed owned. Looks pretty but you can't touch it.
It probably has bits of Sandy, which is even more agricultural than Troutdale.
I'm more worried about Dem voter fraud than them actually and honestly being able to vote her out.
They should be watching for spates of registrations to indentical addresses. Vote by mail is vote by fraud, IMO.
The only way they can win is to cheat.
"It probably has bits of Sandy, which is even more agricultural than Troutdale."
Official Oregon Election stats here http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/nov22004/g04stats.pdf
The dems are talking big, but the article mentions a mere 8% registration advantage in Minnis' district.
In 2004, registered Dems outnumbered Repubs 2 to 1 in Multnomah County (Portland), so you can see the difference between the urbs and the suburbs.
Point of fact Oregon is a swing state. In 1974 Dem to Repub registration was 57% to 38.5%. Now it is 38.7% to 35.6%. It's true that the Repubs haven't picked up much of that, most choosing non-affilated and it doesn't make up for the Repub losses to the Libertarian or Constitution party, but the dems and liberals are losing this state because they are held hostage by eco-freaks and the the gay-lesbian-NAMBLA nanny state triad that makes them more and more unwelcome in the rural counties.
We are tired of the Californication of Oregon.
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