Steve Duin: Democrats "allergic" to leadership

The Oregonian's resident curmudgeon, Steve Duin, is taking Oregon's Democratic leadershp to task for their unwillingness to...well, lead.

With Oregon's GOP in shambles, and the Democrats controlling both houses of the legislature it would seem that the Democratic Party would be poised to make historic policy gains in the legislature, but have instead has chosen to settle for politics as usual.

Duin:

On their listless watch, the state's environmental watchdog, the Department of Environmental Quality, has rolled over and played dead. There's been no meaningful initiative reform to derail Kevin Mannix, no Hope scholarship program, no retooling of the tort cap, no special sessions of any substance, and nothing one would file under "bold" or "creative."

I would add that they have caved in to some of Oregon's worst elements by passing a mean-spirited anti-immigrant bill that will put more uninsured drivers on Oregon roads. During the special session, Senate leadership refused to refer to Oregon voters Mitch Greenlick's bill to make health care a fundamental right. House leadership caved in to natural resource lobbyists and refused to allow the Department of Energy to collect data on CO2 emissions in the state, even though there was no fiscal cost for doing so.

Duin continues:

"There's a fear of taking risks, of speaking up. It's the leadership issue," said Chuck Sheketoff of the Oregon Center for Public Policy.

I'm afraid it's worse than that. In the absence of any challenge to their power, the Democrats have signed long-term back-scratching contracts with the usual lobbyists -- the unions, the trial lawyers, the Oregon Education Association -- who serve as the real power players in Salem.

It's a problem that is likely to get worse not better, as Democrats are now receiving a much larger share of money from lobbyists than in year's past because they control the levers of government.