Bentz & DeRemer Accountability Teams

Affectionately known as BAT (Bentz Accountability Team) and DRAT (DeRemer Accountability Team), these groups focus on holding Oregon's two MAGA Members of Congress accountable. Cliff Bentz, OR-2, and Lori Chavez DeRemer, OR-5, vote with the MAGA faction of the Republican Party at least 95% of the time, even though they both claim to be "moderate." They aren't moderate, and their votes and statements, as well as their refusal to speak out against the most extreme members of their party, prove it.  BAT and DRAT are committed to tracking their votes, their donors, their stance on the issues, their committee work, and their public statements, or in many cases, failure to make public statements about issues that matter to Oregonians.  We use social media campaigns and events to publicize what we learn, and we regularly contact Bentz's and DeRemer's offices to urge them to take various actions to promote the well-being of their constituents and our democracy. When they don't, we contact them again and let them know how disappointed we are with their actions or failure to act.  

Breaking News....

LORI AND CLIFF VOTE FOR MAGA EXTREMIST  MIKE JOHNSON FOR SPEAKER!

Both Lori and Cliff voted for Mike Johnson, who worked for an extremist Christian organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They voted for a man who led the “Sedition Caucus'' (which includes Cliff) that tried to overturn the 2020 election. They voted for somebody who inhabits the extremist fringe of the MAGA GOP House, who is an anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ zealot, who is a climate denier, and who wants to destroy Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

We need your help in getting the word out about Mike Johnson’s extremist beliefs and positions and how dangerous it is for our democracy that a man who holds them is second in line to the Presidency. We guarantee that you will be shocked by what you learn about him here.


Frankly, we weren’t too surprised to see Cliff vote for Mike Johnson, whom some have called  “Jim Jordan in a suit jacket.” Cliff had already voted for Jordan three times.  


But Lori, in a district that Biden won, has tried to pretend that she’s a “moderate” to curry favor outside of her MAGA base. She’s made a point of supporting inconsequential bipartisan efforts (like founding the “sneaker caucus” with Rep. Moskowitz) in an effort to appear “moderate” in spite of her votes for the extreme MAGA agenda. 


Now that Lori has voted for extremist “MAGA Mike,” it is clear that she’s #MAGANotModerate. No matter what she says or how she tries to deflect attention away from the truth, she is #MAGANotModerate. Use this messaging from our recent press release whenever you can to drive this point home! Our democracy depends on it! 


UPDATE on Empty Chair Town Halls

After multiple requests for an in-person, unscripted Town Hall with Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, constituents grew frustrated with her refusals and held THREE of their own!  The chair that should have been occupied by Chavez-DeRemer was, instead, occupied by a cardboard cutout of her while constituents asked questions and Indivisible leaders answered them based on public statements of votes that our Unrepresentative has made.  Read more about them, and see some photos and videos HERE.   

Be sure to check out our new Tell The Truth Lori research page.


Both before and after she was elected to represent ORD5, Lori Chavez-DeRemer has tried to trick people into thinking that she is a “moderate, sensible” Republican.


Fact checking Lori is a full-time job!  Here's just a few of the doozies she's told when she thought she could get away with it. Here's a list of her flip flops. And check out this article in the Capital Chronicle about Lori's flip-flops on Reproductive Rights. We can't let her hoodwink Oregonians.

Don’t be fooled!

Instead, compare what she says (or fails to say) with what she does, what she supports, what she votes for.


To find out about Lori's real positions on issues that matter and why she is a "MAGA and not a moderate," check out our new list of Lori's Mega-MAGA Votes.



 Follow BAT & DRAT on Social Media

Rep Bentz  and Rep DeRemer have been making some pretty disappointing choices, and we like to make sure their constituents know about it. Here are some recent examples of bad votes. 

Help us spread the word on Facebook and Twitter by following us, liking, commenting on, and sharing our FB posts, and liking and retweeting our Tweets.  Click below to get started!  

BAT/DRAT Monday Messages



You can also use our Monday Messages to post on social media or write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) of your local newspaper. Check  out some of the LTE's our BAT/DRAT team members have submitted below.....




LTEs - Letters to the Editor

Turn the Monday Messages (or any other topic you want voters to know about) into a Letter to the Editor of your local newspapers.  New to writing LTEs? We're here to help with some tips and links to your local newspapers for submitting LTEs online.  And check out some of the LTE's submitted below, calling out Bentz and DeRemer for their disservices to their constituents. If you write an LTE and it get's published, email us at or.bat.drat@gmail.com and let us know so we can share it far and wide! 

Editorial Board
Bend Source Weekly 11-1-23
The Democratic Party Machine should take Congressional District 5 seriously this time....
Against predictions, Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer took the seat, not by winning in the two most populated counties in the district, but by picking up the lion's share of the votes in the more rural parts of CD5. Since then, Chavez-Deremer has been far from present in Bend or Redmond, to the point that some locals have been holding "empty chair town halls" to highlight her absence and apparent lack of investment in the needs of voters on this side of the mountains. This was one of the greatest fears for eastside voters in the district.
Read More

David Ebbert
Wallowa Co Chieftan 10-31-23
The Republican National Committee has lost its way!

The new speaker of the House, a hard-line right-winger and a Donald Trump-approved election denier, may be about to change the course of history. This individual has an opportunity to sway the ratification of electors during future elections a la Trump. Since we know this ratification nearly succeeded in overturning the vote of the people during the past election, what is to keep it from succeeding next time.
Since these are the same legislators who refused to vote in favor of paying the nation’s bills, one must question their motives. The funding was only approved with the help of Democrats (the opposing party) and the loss of a speaker’s position, so even that funding is temporary.
Read More



Rick Swart
The Oregonian 10-24-23
As a longtime resident of Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, I am disappointed with Rep. Cliff Bentz for his recent votes supporting MAGA extremist Jim Jordan in his bid for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It is hard to imagine a worse choice.
Bentz squandered a golden opportunity to distinguish himself from MAGA Republican extremists as a courageous and principled leader who we could count on to uphold his oath of office and protect our democracy from those who would take away our votes...
Bentz appears to suffer from the cowardice that afflicts many MAGA Republicans. They are paralyzed out of their fear of disgraced ex-president Donald Trump.      Read More

Norm Cimon
LaGrande Observer 10-31-23
Who does Cliff Bentz care about?
Fifteen years ago, I wrote to a friend who was concerned about the Republican Party. It was moving away from much of what it had supported in the past and there was no knowing where it might be headed. I mentioned that we really needed at least two viable parties for democracy to work. The party is now tearing itself apart and the people who should be helping to keep it on track have lost their way.

It was deeply upsetting to have our Congressman, Cliff Bentz, vote not once or twice but three times for Jim Jordan as speaker of the House of Representatives. Jordan has never voted for a farm bill. He’s been called a “legislative terrorist”...
Read More

Kathy Selvaggio
West Linn Tidings  10-25-23
Don’t be fooled by Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s claims to moderation. Don’t be taken in by Congressmember Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s proposal to ban tolling on I-205 and I-5. It is little more than a naked play for votes because, with no House cosponsors, it’s dead in the water.

In other ways, she presents herself as moderate and uses her membership in the so-called “Problem Solvers Caucus” to claim she favors nonpartisan solutions to pressing issues. True, she did vote for Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker this week, instead of extremist Jim Jordan. But many other efforts are hardly moderate.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Read More

Debi Ferrer
LaGrande Observer 8-22-23
It’s not surprising that Rep. Cliff Bentz claims the “facts don’t support Trump indictments” (The Observer, Aug. 10). After all, this is the guy whose very first vote in Congress was to disqualify Pennsylvania’s legitimate electoral votes immediately after violent insurrectionists, egged on by Trump’s words, tried to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election.
Maybe Bentz was feeling a bit defensive about his role in the insurrection when he read the proof laid out in the two latest indictments about the fake elector schemes. For example, the evidence in the Special Counsel indictment asserts that Trump:       Read More

Brad Streinlein
Douglas Co. News-Review 8-20-23
Following redistricting, Glide residents ended up with U.S. Congressman Cliff Bentz as their representative. He claimed, while campaigning, that he would be a conservative who would represent rural Oregon residents. We were hopeful. While Congress is out in August 2023, Bentz claimed he would be holding town halls in all 20 counties he represents.   Read More

Mary Chaffin
Sisters Nugget 8-2-23
Our Congresswoman, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, claims that “without opinions from constituents, [she] would not be able represent Oregon's 5th congressional district best.” Yet she has turned a deaf ear to repeated requests that she hold in-person, unscripted town halls throughout the District. In May, a group of constituents visited Chavez-DeRemer’s Redmond office to present a letter signed by 46 voters in CD5 asking for in-person, unscripted town halls. We received no response.   Read More


Mary Chaffin
Bend Source Weeklly 8-10-23
Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer tries to portray herself as a bipartisan moderate. She's not. Did you know that Chavez-DeRemer:

Joe Yetter
Hermiston Herald 5-24-23
Strike two, Rep. Cliff Bentz.

Twice now, you have voted to injure veterans. That's two strikes too many. How on Earth can you look any veteran in the eye? Ever?

You are the elected United States representative for Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District — more than 70% of Oregon’s land area. You represent the thousands of veterans living in this vast district, the families and friends who love them and every American citizen here who respects and honors their service. You did not serve in the military; you did manage to avoid serving during the Vietnam War era.    Read More

Stephen Thiroux
Ashland News 4-21-23
The Sandy Hook mass shooting occurred over 10 years ago. This tragedy, where 20 innocent children, the school principal and psychologist and four teachers were slaughtered, is horrifying enough. That so little has been done in the way of meaningful gun safety legislation since the massacre occurred is an unforgivable burden that we all bear. As the lead crime scene investigator at Sandy Hook says, “We’re pretending things aren’t the way they are.”       Read More

Gayle Stemler
Bend Source 5-11-23
I was extremely disappointed that our CD5 rep, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, voted to support MAGA legislation in regard to the debt ceiling. It is a reckless piece of legislation that would hurt, among many others:   Veterans, Seniors, Hungry children, Lower-income people with serious health issues. Republicans are playing political games  ...   Read More

Mary Chaffin
Oregon Capital Chronicle 4-12-23
Oregon’s newly-redrawn Congressional District 5 has a new representative, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has started to cultivate the image of a reasonable, moderate member of the Republican party. She is trying to reflect the “toss-up” character of the district, as Randy Stapilus said in a recent commentary. But anyone who closely follows both her statements and her actions can see that they are diametrically opposed....   Read More

Norm Cimon
LaGrande Observer 9-13-22
It was disappointing to find out that Congressman Bentz failed to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s inconceivable that a bill benefiting all of us in Eastern Oregon and rural residents across the country ...   Read More

Debi Ferrer
Columbia Gorge News 8-31-22
After attending Cliff Bentz’s Town Hall in The Dalles Thursday, I am even more disturbed by his representation of CD2.  I had the opportunity to ask him about his recent interview on Newsmax regarding the FBI search carried out (legally) at Trump’s Florida home....  Read More

Videos!  (LCD videos coming soon)

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