McHaddad: Business as Usual in Salem Comes to Union County

It was appalling but not unexpected to see some local elected officials de-prioritized and outright excluded from testifying at tonight’s Ways & Means hearing in La Grande. In fact, Co-Chairs Senator Kate Lieber and Representative Tawna Sanchez refused to hear testimony from a single city leader in Union County who signed up to testify, but made sure to give time to a Democratic Party official from Portland. It serves as a painful reminder that the Portland Democrats running our state into the ground just DO NOT CARE about rural Oregon. I’m happy to have Senator Lieber, Rep. Sanchez, or any other Democrat Committee member prove me wrong, but I firmly expect that they have no interest in learning about critical community funding needs in Union County that they chose to ignore this evening.