Democrat Suzanne Bonamici won the race for 1st Congressional Seat over Republican Rob Cornilles last week. The victory comes after a long campaign season after the resignation of Democrat David Wu in August. Bonamici said she was “humbled” to be elected and was excited for the upcoming legislative session.
The Eugene City Council is looking to take on a big issue when it discusses campaign finance this week. Councilors will debate a resolution that would ask Congress to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Such an amendment would reverse the effects of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission” decision, which removed restrictions on campaign spending for corporations, labor unions and other special interest groups. This issue was brought up by We the People-Eugene,@@http://www.wethepeopleeugene.org/@@ a group associated with the national group Move to Amend, and is pushing for the amendment in response to the Supreme Court ruling.
Democratic Rep. Jefferson Smith’s project of “economic gardening” was accepted through the legislature despite other programs getting cut. The economic gardening project is supposed to help companies with fewer than 100 employees add jobs by getting them marketing and business strategy help. The project has raised other legislators’ eyebrows about possible political favoritism for Smith, who is a mayoral candidate in the 2012 elections.
Oregon legislators are considering expanding the child abuse reporting law in the wake of the Penn State scandal. The new bill, House Bill 4016, proposes to expand the law to include volunteers. These volunteers would include summer camps, church groups, scout troops and many other private and public organizations that deal with children. Critics say this proposed bill goes too far and could deter well-meaning volunteers from helping with these organizations.@@come on, people, work together@@
Rep. Peter DeFazio lost his battle for increased funding for bike and pedestrian programs across the state. DeFazio was upset with the outcome and delivered scathing attacks on Republicans who wanted to cut the program.