SALEM, Ore. — A Republican lawmaker who threatened the Senate president and Oregon State Police on the eve of a revolt by GOP senators over a climate-change bill must give notice before coming to the Capitol, where state troopers will beef up their presence, a Senate committee decided Monday.
The committee of two Democrats and two Republicans unanimously passed the motion near the close of a hearing into Sen. Brian Boquist’s conduct. The hearing room in the Oregon Capitol was jammed with onlookers.
Boquist, a Republican from Dallas, warned on June 19 that if the Oregon State Police were sent to force him to return during a walkout by GOP senators that they should “send bachelors and come heavily armed.” He also told Senate President Peter Courtney that “hell is coming to visit you personally” if he sent the state police after him. He apologized minutes later for his comments.
“This is a very, very serious thing,” said Sen. James Manning, a Democratic committee member and one of only two African American members of the Senate. “If I had made those comments, I would have been drug out of the Capitol, at minimum.”
Boquist said in an interview last week the troopers lacked legal authority to apprehend senators. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat acting on Courtney’s request, ordered the state police to bring the boycotting senators to the Senate so a quorum could be established and a vote conducted on the climate-change bill.
At the hearing, Boquist read from a prepared statement, announcing he is suing Courtney and others. He refused to be questioned by committee members.
“Whether Kate Brown and/or Peter Courtney issued troopers and illegal order will now be determined in a court of law,” Boquist said.
Brenda Baumgart, an outside attorney for the Senate, testified that while her investigation continues, the Senate should take steps to ensure it maintains an intimidation-free and safe work environment. She had said in a memo to legislative officials that the customary practice in such cases is to prevent the person who made threats from returning to the workplace.
The Senate committee members decided that Boquist must give at least 12 hours’ written notice that he planned to come to the Capitol, and that Oregon troopers, who provide security in the building, beef up their force by a couple of troopers while Boquist is present. That, the committee said, should show that the Senate is taking the security concerns of others seriously.
