Senate President Peter Courtney has no current plans for the Senate to vote to censure Sen. Jeff Kruse, Courtney’s spokesman said Wednesday. At least three women have accused Kruse of inappropriately touching them while at the Capitol.
Courtney’s spokesman, however, stressed that the Senate president has not made a final decision and is waiting on the outcome of an investigation into Kruse’s conduct.
Courtney was not available to comment Wednesday, said spokesman Robin Maxey. Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, did not respond to a request for comment.
Maxey said Courtney, a Salem Democrat and the Senate’s presiding officer, has already exercised his power to punish Kruse. Courtney stripped Kruse of his committee assignments for continuing to upset women with his touching and to smoke in his Capitol office after being warned to cease doing both. Courtney also had the door of Kruse’s office removed.
Kruse, a Roseburg Republican and 20-year veteran of the Legislature, has publicly denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign.
The Senate typically considers a censure motion only if it has been handed down from a special conduct committee, Maxey said. That committee can be assembled if legislative lawyers receive a formal harassment complaint. The women who have accused Kruse of harassment — Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, an unnamed female senator and another woman at the Capitol — have lodged informal complaints.
However, the Oregon Constitution allows the state House and Senate to “punish its members for disorderly behavior” by a two-thirds vote. Senate records show the last time a member faced censure was 1971, when Sen. Hector Macpherson Jr. was reprimanded for making misleading campaign statements.
The Senate is scheduled to meet next in mid-November to approve the latest batch of appointees nominated by Gov. Kate Brown.
