Vicki goes on the serious payroll
Another Oregon legislator moves over to the executive branch, where one actually gets paid decent money to drive to Salem and do the public's business. This time, however, it's my favorite Oregon politician, Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene), one-time scourge of the good old boys. She's going to chair the state parole board.
We saw this coming when she ran for Secretary of State two years ago. We thought she was giving up her Senate seat for that run, but we were mistaken. She came back to the Senate after her bid failed. But she set off a lot fewer fireworks in this most recent legislative session, and now she gets a bureaucrat position.
The move reminds me of Max Williams, the Portland lawyer who left the House in 2003 to head the state's corrections department. The whole prison and parole setup in Salem scares the heck out of us. Michael Francke, Fred Monem, and who knows what other skeletons there are in those closets. We wish Walker well her in her new job, but hope to heck she stays out of trouble.
| Posted at 3:56 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
Vick is bought off? Say it ain't so.
Posted by Gil Johnson | July 9, 2009 10:08 PM
Maybe she's been picked to get into the jail system and shake it up. But as I say, that seems like horse's-head-in-your-bed territory.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 9, 2009 10:20 PM
Too bad. A few years back she was a real pistol. I communicated with her regularly during the Goldschmidt/SAIF revelations. Like a rotweiller with her teeth in the leg of the good ol'boy network. I was hoping she would chew some of them up good. Seems to have lost her way...
Posted by RANZ | July 10, 2009 9:12 AM
Hi, Jack. I'm not sure where your posters got the idea I've lost my way, but I'm still the firecracker I've always been, ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse in state government. Maybe you just didn't notice because I spent all my time in Ways & Means this session, but I rocked quite a few boats and saved the taxpayers oodles of money. Am looking forward to my new post...it will be challenging and lots of hard work, but that's never stopped me from getting things done. There's much to be done on offender re-entry issues, something I've been working on for several years. We need these folks to be successful so they don't come back into the system. And, most importantly, we need to ensure the victims are heard. Bureaucrat is not such a bad word...it just depends on how you use it. Have a great weekend!
Posted by vicki walker | July 10, 2009 2:17 PM