Governor, party seize 'opportunity'.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

2 0 0 7 O r e g o n L e g i s l a t u r e

SALEM - Gov. Ted Kulongoski kicked off his second term Monday by welcoming the Legislature back to Salem and encouraging them to join him in seizing what he called "a great moment of opportunity for Oregon."

The governor's inauguration for a second term was welcomed by a military brass band, bagpipes, the thunder of a flyover of four Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets and the boom of an 11-gun salute.

Back inside the statehouse, the Legislature convened its 74th session with some fireworks of its own. After the traditional symbolic gestures and oratory about cross-aisle cooperation and desire to put the needs of Oregonians ahead of partisanship, the House and Senate spent the afternoon debating self-governance issues that led to moments of party-line divisions.

Most of the day was marked by the ceremonial pomp and let's-all-get-along speeches that typify the opening day of the Legislature and the inauguration of a governor.

Kulongoski, who was elected in November to a second four-year term, enters the session with generous state revenue and a voter mood that he judges as being fairly tolerant of the type of corporate and tobacco tax increases he has proposed to pay for improvements in the educational and health care systems.

With one party - his Democrats - in control of the government for the first time in 17 years, Kulongoski dwelled throughout his inaugural address on the notion that a tremendous opportunity awaits - using the word "opportunity" no fewer than 32 times in an inaugural address titled, "Opportunity is the Oregon Way."

After slogging through a first term marked by partisan bickering in a divided Legislature and budget woes triggered by the 2001-03 revenue shortfalls, Kulongoski acknowledged that Oregon government's current partisan and fiscal circumstances by no means guarantee success.

But just as in his own life, in which his upbringing in a Missouri orphanage and his service in the Marines gave Kulongoski a chance at bettering himself, the governor said he was in a position to advance his agenda for reducing school crowding, extending health coverage to uninsured children, beefing up highway patrols and socking money away for the state's next economic downturn.

"Opportunity did not carry me across the finish line," Kulongoski told a joint session of the House and Senate. "But it did put me on the starting line. And that's all I ever wanted."

The grand speeches gave way to partisan divisions when the House and Senate got down to work in the afternoon.

In the House, the dispute centered on whether to go with the previously discussed $10 limit on the value of gifts members could accept from lobbyists or to replace that with an all-out ban on such freebies.

Democrats, who took the House majority in last fall's election, had discussed for several weeks a new set of rules, including setting in place several ethics reforms meant to limit the role of lobbyist spending to influence legislators.

The gift limit was part of a slate of reforms meant to give the public confidence that House members are not swayed by lobbyist-furnished treats. The rules adopted by the House also ban private restaurant meals, out-of-state travel and entertainment for members if paid for by lobbyists. The Senate will take up its own ethics reform legislation on Thursday, when its proposals to limit lobbyist freebies goes before its Rules Committee.

After key Republicans signed off on the House's package, GOP leaders Monday morning angered Democrats by rolling out a version of the rules that made one change: It set a total ban on lobbyist gifts, rather than limiting them to $10 in value.

Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem, said she would have had much more difficulty explaining to her constituents the distinctions between gifts worth $10, $15, $5 or $50 than simply saying it made sense to ban gifts altogether if they come from people trying to influence the Legislature's decisions.

` `No gifts' is easy," she said. "No gifts is no gifts."

But Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, brought a paper sack full of examples of the type of gifts lawmakers wanted to allow. He pulled out an apple pie similar to one a home-schooled student had given him last session while visiting the Legislature. Roblan showed fellow representative the artwork students had presented him and the framed picture of a Head Start preschooler given to him during a lobbying visit from advocates for increased funding.

Roblan said the $10 limit would allow lawmakers to accept such "small tokens from constituents without opening the floodgates of undue influence."

The vote on a motion to go with the Republicans' gift-ban version of the rules broke on party lines, with the 31 Democrats and a single Republican turning down the move. After that, members of both parties lined up behind the original version, 56-4.

Across the Capitol in the Senate, Republicans parted company over a proposal to set a first-ever adjournment date, June 29, along with a monthlong special session next year. The idea behind the resolution: Give annual sessions a trial run, as recommended by a citizens' commission that spent 18 months studying and debating reforms of the legislative process.

Senate Republican leader Ted Ferrioli said it was irresponsible to move on such a far-reaching change without allowing one day for a public hearing to air out the idea.

As in the House, the procedural vote to advance the Republicans' plan to allow time for public comment failed, with all the Democrats voting in bloc to defeat the motion. It was voted down, 19-11. But when the question of pursuing the only version left - the majority party's - remained, it passed with support from a few Republicans and all the Democrats, 23-7.

ON THE WEB Capitol Notebook: For additional notes and observations from the 2007 Legislature, read reporter David Steves' blog at www.registerguard .com/capnote