Mad Max
Holy moly. State Rep. Max Williams, R-Tigard, one of the up-and-coming members of the Oregon Legislature (and a former student of mine), is chucking his lawmaker gig and becoming the head of the Oregon Corrections Department.
Williams, who until now has been listed as "counsel" at the Miller Nash law firm in Portland, was expected to be one of the leaders of the big state Capitol tax debate in a special session in 2004. I guess that's out the window. Just the other day his op-ed piece on the need for civics education in Oregon schools ran in the electronic version of The Oregonian. That must have been the swan song for his days in the House.
In the Bogdanski Influence Index, in which 0 out of 18 indicates a high degree of sway over colleagues in the last legislative session, Williams scored a 2, meaning he was very much in the mainstream. I wonder who will take his seat.
Governor Ted seems to like to pick off some of the more influential members of the legislative branch -- including members of the oppositiion party -- and plop them down into bureaucratic state jobs. Why does that make me a little uneasy?
And Max, I know you've got mouths to feed at home, but is this really what you want to do?
| Posted at 4:12 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (2)
It's what he wants to do b/c it gives him a place to sit down, wait for Hardy Myers to retire, then run for AG and then make his play for governor. That would be in 5-8 years.
Posted by Jyah13 | December 13, 2003 1:56 PM
I think we should expect more of this to come in the future.
After all of the special sessions and the length of the last regular session, I am sure there are many legislators whose bank accounts have run dry and would like to have a little more consistency. If the Bowling Guv finds the right angle and the right positions, he might be able to pick up the split in the legislature during this election cycle in his favor.
Posted by Jyah13 | December 13, 2003 2:05 PM