Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) is the heavy-handed, take-no-prisoners, hard-right Speaker of the Oregon House, as we all know.
Instead of doing the people's business, Karen Minnis has instead focused on using her Speakership as a weapon in an avowedly partisan crusade against Democrats. Under Minnis' leadership, open hostility has taken the place of camaraderie and respect.
I want to produce a good list here of specifically why Karen Minnis does not deserve another term.
Part I - Women's Health; Plan BKaren Minnis has a record of putting partisan politics, and big contributors, ahead of Oregon women when it comes to health and wellness issues. The more I started researching this, the angrier I became.
Minnis Leads House in Defeat of Bill Requested by Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force; Bill Would Have Improved Rape Victims' Access to Emergency Contraception At the request of the attorney general's Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF), Oregon legislators introduced Senate Bill 849, which would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription to women who requested it. "This will greatly benefit rape and incest survivors," said SATF Executive Director Phyllis Barkhurst, as quoted in The Oregonian. The bill was supported by a broad coalition from both the Republican and Democratic parties, including the Oregon State Board of Pharmacy and the Oregon Women's Health and Wellness Alliance.
But in May, the bill was defeated in the Oregon House.One of the factually incorrect arguments made by anti-choice activists who argued against the bill is that emergency contraception is an abortifacient like RU-486. According to numerous studies, including those conducted by the FDA, emergency contraception can help prevent pregnancy but has absolutely no effect on an established pregnancy.
Providing emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors is a particularly sensitive issue. In some of the cases in which pharmacists have refused to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, the women had been raped or sexually assaulted. In one case, by the time the pharmacy owner stepped in and filled the prescription, it was too late.
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/02/02/coverstory.html Minnis Refers Emergency Contraception Bill to Anti-Choice Legislator's Committee Willamette Week Editorial, May 5, 2005:
Emergency contraception, a.k.a. "morning-after pills," works by preventing ovulation or fertilization, not by ending pregnancy. They contain the same hormones as common birth-control pills, only in a higher dosage. And when taken within 24 hours of unprotected intercourse, morning-after pills reduce the risk of pregnancy by 95 percent.
Current law says you need your doctor's prescription to get those morning-after pills. But a bill (SB 849) that has passed the Oregon Senate would make it possible for a woman to get the pill directly from a pharmacist without a doctor's appointment.
...
Devlin's bill breezed through the Dem-controlled Senate.
But the House, run by Minnis, will prove tougher.Minnis has referred the measure to the State and Federal Affairs Committee, chaired by House Majority Leader Wayne Scott.
The Speaker's selection of a committee headed by Scott, who co-sponsored the anti-choice parental notification bill that passed the House this month, discourages SB 849's supporters.
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3129/6336Text
The AG's office reports that 40% of rape victims are afraid or ashamed to seek medical treatment. This bill would have given these women the option to obtain emergency contraception from a pharmacist. Playing partisan political games at the expense of rape victims - shameful.
Plan B is not an abortifacient. I will say it again. Plan B is not an abortifacient. We
cannot make decisions on women's health issues based on ignorance of, or willful rejection of, medical facts. To do so is deeply irresponsible and harmful to the women of this State.
(Republican) Political Machinations Stop Bipartisan Breast Exam Bill (Afraid to vote against it, Republicans sideline bill that would require insurance companies to cover breast exams - Republicans protect big insurance)
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
A bipartisan bill, HB 2498, that would have required insurance coverage of clinical breast exams for women between the ages of 18 and 44 was maneuvered off the floor of the House under suspicious circumstances. The bill, which was intended to help younger women detect breast cancer, may not receive a final vote by the time the legislature adjourns. (from Rep Avakian)
The bill was originally drafted with a minor printing error—instead of providing the coverage for women between 18 and 44, the bill read as covering women over the age of 44. Luckily, Representative Rosenbaum, one of the Bill’s sponsors and advocates, noticed the problem and brought it to the attention of her committee chair, Salem Representative Billy Dalto. Rather than immediately amend the bill as Rep. Rosenbaum requested, Chair Dalto suggested that the Senate could fix the problem and that then the House would concur with the amendment. With that assurance, the bill was unanimously passed out of committee and off the House floor in February.
The Senate did fix the error, and it seemed that it would pass back through the House without a problem because that was the original understanding. However, when the bill came back to the House for concurrence, it was held back for almost a month. This was odd because the Speaker herself had championed the bill, as had Chair Dalto, when it was passed out of the House originally.
When the bill did come up, we were up for an even greater surprise. Rather than call for an up-or-down vote on the question of concurrence, Chair Dalto called for the bill to be sent to a conference committee. Chair Dalto claimed to be surprised by the amendment the Senate had made to the bill even though he knew the amendment corrected the printing error that nullified the purpose of the bill.
What is now clear is that the Republican caucus had planned this in advance to bottle up a bill that they could not vote against but did not want to pass. Jeopardizing women’s lives to protect the insurance industry is irresponsible and callous, but doing it after feigning such wholehearted support for the bill is simply unethical. This is partisan politics at its worst, and I am sad to see those across the aisle give into big business instead of stand up for the health of Oregonians.http://washcodems.blogspot.com/2005/06/political-machinations-stop-bipartisan.htmlHouse Majority leader Rep. Karen Minnis, (R-Wood Village) introduced the Oregon Women's Initiative (OWI) in February 2001. OWI is a group of Republican women legislators who have joined to create bill packages that are "women friendly." When asked how OWI distinguishes itself from OWHWA, Minnis says she did not know what the alliance was. She pointed out that OWI is a group of legislators that does not include any other organizations.
Recently Minnis sponsored a bill seeking a tax break for married parents if one of them was earning $40,000 a year and wanted to quit work to stay home with the children.
Minnis also sponsored a bill giving unemployment benefits to victims of domestic violence who have to leave their job if their life is in danger. While this is a benefit for domestic violence victims,
this bill is very similar to a bill OWHWA introduced, and failed to pass four years ago in the Republican controlled Legislature.Alliance members believe that OWI was formed in response to the success and attention OWHWA has been getting over the past 10 years. The Republican women did not invite Democrats to their press conference, which disappointed OWHWA members who have stressed bipartisanship in their legislative efforts. "It's too bad," says Lowe. "It defeats the purpose of the alliance."
http://www2.eugeneweekly.com/2002/04_04_02/coverstory.htmlWhy on earth would you go out of your way to make women's health a partisan issue? Is women's health in this state some kind of game?
What do you have to add?
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