Senate walkout

State Senate Republicans have walked out in Salem in opposition to several bills.

The Oregon Senate boycott isn’t all that it seems.

State Senate President Rob Wagner and fellow Democrats say the absent Republican and Independent senators are thwarting the will of voters, who overwhelmingly passed Measure 113 last year to forestall walkouts. Under that constitutional amendment, at least 10 of those senators now are disqualified from serving another term.

Dick Hughes has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976.