Signs of tension among Oregon Senate Republicans have been building for months, with members of the 11-person caucus disagreeing over strategies for fighting controversial bills and how best to object to a closed Capitol.
Such intraparty differences are a feature of politics, but they rarely get their own legislation. That changed Wednesday, as a pair of Republican Senators, Sens. Lynn Findley and Bill Hansell, introduced a bill explicitly targeting two of their colleagues.
Senate Bill 865 would make it illegal for a person to simultaneously hold office as a state elected official and be an officer with the central committee of an Oregon political party. It’s aimed squarely at two people: state Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Myrtle Creek, the current chair of the Oregon Republican Party, and state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, the party’s treasurer.
Heard and Linthicum swept into party leadership in February, in an organized campaign among current and former senators to grab the reins of the state GOP. Former Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., R-Grants Pass, is now the party’s vice-chair. Sitting Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River, failed in a bid to become the party’s secretary.
At the same time as they are attempting to steer their party toward increased relevance, Heard and Linthicum have rankled some of their fellow senators. Both men are stridently opposed to the ongoing closure of the state Capitol to the general public, and have channeled that sentiment into voting against every bill that comes before them in committee — even those they profess to support.