Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello, Oregonians, and welcome to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've ever wanted to get to know your politicians personally or understand what it is they are actually doing, then you're in the right place. I'm your podcast host, Jessica Campbell.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I'm your state representative for House District 24, Lucetta Elmer.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This podcast is a place for you to get to know Representative Elmer both personally and professionally.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: We want Oregonians to feel connected with and educated politics. So we're so glad you've joined us on a fresh new podcast adventure as we cover all things about life and legislation.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Hi, Oregonians, and welcome back to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've been following us for a while, you know we've taken a little break from our conversations with Representative Elmer and we have met some of our local mayors, which was so fun to get to connect with them, meet them personally and hear about their towns and what they're doing. Well, they're for this episode, we have Lucetta back with us. It's so good to see you again. I feel like it's been a long time.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Yes, yes, it's good to be back.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: And listeners, for you to know, this episode's going to be pretty short, but we're going to come back with our next episode, a greater length with a lot more detail. So this is just going to be sort of the flyover episode, if you will. We're going to just touch on a few topics and a very big update.
So, Lucetta, what happened in your life this week?
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yes, Jessica, this has been a crazy week, and it is insane to think that it has only been a week. But if we back up to last Monday, which was last month, that would have been September 29th. The legislation was back in Salem. We were there for ledge days. We have ledge days every other month for three days where we do meet in our committees. And obviously we're not in session, so we're not passing bills, but we're talking about topics that maybe are going to be, you know, developed more in the upcoming short session or maybe we're hearing about a work group that was assigned during our last long session. And so we want an update, all of those things. And we were doing that also.
We actually were in a special session still because of the transportation bill. So that was Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.
And then those three days ended. The transportation package did pass out of the Senate. So we are seeing that increase in our, in our gas tax and increase in the DMV fees and the payroll tax for transient so all of those things are in the works. The governor hasn't signed the bill yet. When she does, we will have. We, meaning there is a group, Republicans, that are looking to do a referendum, which we have always. We have a chance to do with any bill. You have 90 days to collect a certain amount of signatures. We need 78,000 signatures in 90 days to ensure that that choice of raising the taxes would go on the ballot next year. And then all of Oregon would get to weigh in, not just the legislature. So we will be working extremely hard as soon as the governor signs the bill to get those signatures collected. Because I think that Oregonians would like to weigh in on this one.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: No, just a real quick question on that. Certainly some people listening will have different opinions on whether or not they agree with this bill or not. But for those who would like to vote on it, they want to see it go to the ballot. How do they get their signature somewhere?
[00:03:45] Speaker B: There will be a big movement that will go forth throughout all of Oregon. And I don't have the exact locations or things like that right now, but you. You will know about it. It will be blasted everywhere on all of our social media platforms. All of us representatives in my caucus will be talking about it in our newsletters. And, you know, we'll definitely be getting the word out so people know where to go if they want to sign the petition so that we can get that on the ballot.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: And so you've covered the first couple of days of your week?
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Yes. And then Wednesday in my, in my caucus, we had a change of leadership. So Christine Drazen, who ran for governor in 2022, has of our caucus for the last year. And she decided, she announced that she was stepping down and she is vying for a Senate seat. The Senate leader in the Republican Party was Daniel Bonham, and he announced that he was stepping down to do something else. And so there's just been this. This movement, you know, all of the dominoes. Yes, exactly. So I've been serving the last year as deputy leader. And so when Christine made that announcement, that meant that our caucus had to go ahead and hold a leadership election. And that was last Wednesday night, October 1st.
So we had the leadership election and I threw my name in the hat and I ended up winning that election.
So I am now the House Republican minority leader, which is great and a lot of work. All, all in one.
But that was Wednesday night. And since then, life has just been a big whirlwind. Obviously, a lot of people want to know what that means, what Are the changes? What are my priorities? Our priorities, leading the caucus. What does it look like? We are going into an election year, so we already are recruiting candidates, and that's a big part of my new role. So we're looking at, you know, recruiting candidates and training candidates and making sure that we're giving them the tools and the support they need for this next year because their election will happen next November. Governor Coach Tech will be up for her re election in 26. And so there's obviously the ability to change parties in a governor. So there's just. It's a big year. 26 is a big year. We're always looking to bring more balance to the legislature, so we need to pick up some seats. I've said this a million times, but Oregonians will be served best when there's more balance. We don't need to have a super majority or the super minority, which is where I land. We need to be more balanced so that the voices can all be represented.
Since Wednesday night, I have done several interviews with media, and the biggest topic probably has been around ICE and President Trump wanting to, you know, activate the Oregon National Guard to make sure that the violence is curbed and that we have some peace and restoration in the streets of Portland. And our governor is very much against that. She says that there's no need for it, that. That, you know, everything is fine and things are peaceful. And I want to believe that. I absolutely would love to believe that. But this week, definitely some things developed that I can't unsee.
So it's all out there on social media. There was a reporter that was arrested. I don't know what he did. That wasn't anything that was on a video. He wasn't sure what he did. There was an hour he was able to get out of the police, why he was being arrested. And basically it was disorderly conduct. But I'm not exactly sure what happened. There was another reporter that was hit in the face by a protester with a pole. I think the person was waving a flag or a sign or something and hit her with the end of the pole. Horrible black eye that was all caught on camera. Like, you hear the hit, you see it. And the reporter that got punched in the face is telling an officer right there, like, this person just hit me. This person just hit me. And there was no arrest made. So it was pretty disturbing to see the mayhem that was happening. And I was in conversation with Chief Day, who's the Portland Police Bureau chief, and, you know, just asking him, you know, what what is going on? And generally speaking, I support law enforcement. So how can I help or what can I say to people who are really wondering about what's going on? They're concerned. They're worried. And, you know, he also seemed to think that they were taking care of it. So I guess at this point I understand the fear that people feel when they hear, oh, my gosh, we're having federal troops come and take over our city. But I think if we can just rise up a little higher, we probably all have the same goal, that we want peace. Right. No one wants violence in the streets, so we want that peace.
But there's great division about how we go about it right now. So it's been a whirlwind.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: What a time to jump into a new leadership role for you.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Well, you just touched on, I know, so many topics that people have strong opinions about. Heated topics, important topics. And so sorry, listeners, that we're just going to leave you with this very short sort of teaser episode, but we will come back and we're going to dive into all those topics maybe a little bit deeper, mostly because the point of this podcast is for us to get to know our leaders. So we want to know who you are through this, how you came to be in this position and what does it mean. We're also hoping that this podcast is very just informational and educational, like, what is this role and how does that role operate and, and then for the domino effect. So what does that mean for if so and so goes to a Senate and what does that mean and so forth. Just answering all those questions, but then of explaining a little bit about these really big critical topics that are all over the news and all over social media right now.
So thank you for taking a moment to give us a little update here. And Oregonians, we hope that you are learning some new things and again, getting more connected with Representative Elmer, just knowing her as, as a person and as also a politician. We will come back next time for Life and Legislation with Lucetta Sam.
