Oregon's 2022 Gubernatorial Race

TINA has been a leader responsible for Oregon’s strong laws protecting reproductive freedom.

• Tina led the effort to pass Oregon’s Reproductive Health Equity Act, the nation’s strongest law to protect reproductive freedom and assure access to affordable reproductive health care including abortion.

• She expanded access to birth control as well.

• We are confident Tina Kotek is the best person to have as Oregon’s governor as we work to protect reproductive freedom in our country.
  

• Read more about Tina's strong position on reproductive right in this interview with OPB.
  

• Click here to see why Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon is endorsing Tina.

BETSY is not as “pro-choice” as she claims and may weaken Oregon’s strong reproductive freedoms.

• Betsy is not as "pro-choice as she claims.

• Bridget Barton, Betsy's key campaign aide, adamantly opposes the right to abortion; Barton wants the state or federal government to deny people reproductive freedom and force pregnancies on them.

• Barton recently released a video stating that Betsy and GOP anti-choice candidate Christine Drazan have "virtually identical" views on abortion rights.

• Betsy has admitted she opposes abortion access for low income people and would not assist health care facilities providing abortion-related services to people traveling to Oregon from other states that restrict abortion rights.

• Reproductive freedom is at stake, now more than ever. We can't take a chance on a governor whose key advisor wants to restrict abortion access.

BETSY is no friend to democracy.

• She has voted against making voting more accessible for registered voters. She even voted NO to Oregon's first-in-the-nation successful automatic voter registration system.

• Betsy voted against prepaid postage for ballots and against allowing ballots to count as long as they are postmarked by election Be

• Betsy's key aide, Bridget Barton is a Republican who refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election and instead spreads the Big Lie that led to the insurrection and interference with Congress' certification of the election on January 6, 2021.

• Betsy has associated herself enthusiastically with Timber Unity (TU), which was founded to protect the political interests and profits of timber company owners like Andrew Miller. TU has many ties to hate groups like Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, and 3 Percenters. TU supports an extreme right wing agenda. Its PAC is now run by Angelita Sanchez who, along with Proud Boys and 3 Percenters, participated in the January 6 insurrection. (Proud Boys and 3 Percenters have been indicted for their involvement.) Betsy enthusiastically welcomed an award from Timber Unity - watch it here.

• As if that's not enough, she recently defended the presence of a Confederate flag at her campaign events.

BETSY is in the pocket of polluters and has worked to kill any legislation to address the climate crisis.

• Betsy sides with polluters and climate change deniers, and has worked to kill any legislation to address the climate crisis.

• Betsy vowed to repeal the 2020 Executive Order that has put Oregon state agencies on track to reduce greenhouse gasses and improve energy efficiency in housing and consumer goods.

• As a legislator, she voted against the Clean Fuels Program that will make Oregon the first coal-free state by 2020.

• But that's not all. Betsy has voted:

  • NO to bills that would develop Oregon's renewable energy industries.

  • NO to establishing incentives for electric vehicles like more charging stations and help for low income purchasers.

  • NO even to developing Oregon's biodiesel industry which would reduce fossil fuel use and carbon emissions.

  • NO to updating energy efficiency requirements for appliances

  • NO to protections for low income utility ratepayers.

  • NO to Oregon's new program to hold producers of plastic packaging responsible of the costs of recycling plastic waste.

• Betsy joined Republicans in supporting a bill that would have doubled logging in Oregon's state forests, had it passed. It would have decimated our state forests and their important role in sequestering and storing carbon from the atmosphere.

• Betsy also supported bills to undermine wetlands protection.

• She has side with polluters again and again, rather than the people of her district - those communities on the coast, in rural areas and small cities - who would benefit greatly from improved energy efficiency, transition to an economy that includes renewable energy, and averting the severe damage climate change will cause to health, natural resources, the economy, and our way of life.

• It is no surprise that Betsy has taken money from the Koch Bros., Timber Unity, and other corporations and individuals representing the timber industry, oil and gas companies, real estate development, and tobacco companies. Her largest donors include a subsidiary of oil and gas conglomerate, Global Partners, which has holdings including a terminal in Clatskanie.

TINA has led Oregon’s efforts to implement common sense gun safety, and her work has made Oregon a safer place.

• Tina has let Oregon's efforts to implement common sense gun safety and reduce gun violence. Because of laws she championed, Oregonians are safer today and people at risk are less likely to have access to guns. Here are some of her achievements:

  • groundbreaking gun safety legislation to reduce the risk of accidental shooting deaths and suicide by requiring guns to be stored safely and securely.

  • laws allowing universities, community colleges and school districts to prohibit concealed carry of firearms on campuses.

  • legislation preventing stalkers and domestic abusers from possessing guns or ammunition.

  • laws to close loopholes in state law to require private firearms sellers to conduct criminal and mental health checks for nearly all private or unlicensed gun sales and transfers, including at gun shows.

  • creation of an Extreme Risk Protection Order that allows a judge to remove guns from people who may harm themselves or others.

  • federal reimbursement for evidence-based violence prevention programs that will reduce violent retaliation in our communities.

• As governor, Tina's priorities for reducing the risk of gun violence are to:

  • Require a complete background check before any firearm purchase.

  • Increase the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 because these are weapons of war that should not be in the hands of teenagers.

  • Collaborate with the Oregon Attorney General and state law enforcement to stop the ghost gun black market.

  • Invest in local government efforts to expand the availability of trained specialists who respond when individuals are suffering from a mental health crisis.

  • Prevent acts of hate from turning deadly by banning individuals with hate crime convictions from owning guns.

• As speaker, Kotek launched historically expansive new programs for mental health treatment including drug treatment that was sorely lacking particularly in rural Oregon. She also expanded telehealth services during and after the pandemic, giving rural Oregonians in particular much more access to mental health treatment.

• Tina has been a leader in strengthening sexual assault laws by holding law enforcement agencies accountable for backlogs of rape kits, extending the statutes of limitations for getting justice for sexual assault, and protecting survivors of campus sexual assault from retaliation and discrimination.

“Machine Gun” BETSY opposes common sense gun safety and public safety measures.

• Betsy opposes common sense gun safety or efforts to reduce gun violence. She has protected guns over people and gun safety. There is a reason she has an A rating from the NRA and is called Machine Gun Betsy.

• She's a life-long member of the NRA and has worked to carry out its agenda of guns and more guns. As a legislator, Betsy consistently voted against nearly ALL gun safety measures and was the ONLY Democrat to vote against the law to allow schools, airports, and the Capitol to prohibit guns. She also voted:

  • NO to requiring safe gun storage when guns are not in use (HB 2510).

  • NO to background check for private gun sales.

  • NO to keeping guns out of the hands of intimate partners convicted of abuse or stalking. (Even Republicans in Congress now support this law known as Closing the Boyfriend Loophole.)

  • NO to red flag laws, including laws to keep guns out of the hands of people determined by a court to be at risk of suicide.

  • NO to a bill to fund pilot mental health screening programs for high school students and NO to a bill to fund crisis intervention or peer respite services that would provide voluntary overnight stays for people suffering mental illness or trauma (yet she blames gun violence on mental health issues).

• It is simply disingenuous for her to claim not while she is running for governor that she will look for "solutions." This shows she will say anything to get elected. It is most likely that, if elected governor, Betsy would continue to carry out the agenda of the NRA and gun manufacturers.

• Betsy allowed a bill for funding for overnight stays for individuals suffering incidents of mental illness or acute trauma, a key cause of homelessness, to die in her committee.

• She blocked extension of a program authorizing the Department of Justice to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with housing needs, another key cause of homelessness among women and children.

• Check out this great article in Rolling Stone Magazine - "Oregon's Next Governor Could Be a Machine-Gun Toting Darling of GOP Megadonors."
  

• Betsy's voting records on gun safety legislation.

TINA supports affordable health care for all Oregonians.

• As Speaker Tina protected patients from healthcare discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity, making it so much easier for so many Oregonians to access safe health care.

• Tina closed gaps in access to health care by expanding Medicaid insurance coverage (the Oregon Health Plan) to roughly 100,000 adult Oregonians. Tina protected health care for Oregon’s most vulnerable individuals and families, including 400,000 children.

• As Speaker Tina protected patients from healthcare discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity, making it so much easier for so many Oregonians to access safe health care.

• Tina passed laws to:

  • Lower the cost of insulin for Oregonians living with diabetes.

  • Increase the transparency of prescription drug prices.

  • Improve the reporting of health outcomes for vulnerable populations.

  • Reduce the likelihood of medical debt by requiring hospitals to establish financial assistance policies for low-income Oregonians.

TINA has worked to make a difference for Oregon families at work and in education.

• As Speaker, Tina passed sick leave for working families, increased the minimum wage and worked to close the gender pay gap.

• She passed paid family and medical leave that will go into effect next year.

• As a legislator she led the overhaul of how Oregon gives cash assistance to families in need.

• For too long Oregon’s education system has been near the bottom nationally. Tina prioritized education, and as a result Oregon’s Student Success Act means historic levels of funding for programs in schools to improve learning in K-12. As Governor, we know she will make sure the much needed funding translates into the best education of our children.

As a multi-millionaire timber heiress who has never had to worry about paying bills, BETSY has time and again shown a callous disregard for the needs of Oregonians.

• Betsy voted against paid sick leave for employees and said NO to the modest increases in the minimum wage that went into effect over a period of years. The minimum wage she voted against varied depending on location. It is not even $15/hour in some places and is as low as $12.50/hour. She did not want workers to earn even these low wages, which are not enough to pay rent, let alone support a family.

• She also allowed a bill to require overtime pay for farmworkers to die in her committee. The bill finally passed and became law soon after she left the legislature in 2022.

• Betsy said she regrets supporting Oregon's public schools by voting for the historic Student Success Act. Apparently she preferred keeping Oregon's schools ranked near the bottom nationally.

• Betsy voted against a bill establishing the right of workers to participate in labor unions! That is not even close to what we would consider "moderate," as she claims to be.

TINA has the most experience working on issues of housing and homelessness.

• Tina also took on housing and homelessness during her time in the legislature, and as a result hundreds of millions more funds have been appropriated to help Oregonians in need with shelters and transitional housing and resources.

• She also worked to streamline the processes and end restrictions in the way of more housing options like duplexes, triplexes, cottages, and townhomes, and shelters.

• Tina prohibited extreme rent increases and standardized eviction procedures to help keep people in homes.

• As Speaker, Tina helped expand the "missing middle" housing options in Oregon, and helped fund more affordable housing, down payment assistance, homeless services and tenant support.

• She is the first to say there’s much more work to be done, and she has outlined serious plans to tackle this crisis including by reducing the racial homeownership gap.

BETSY has failed on the issue of homelessness in her own district.

• Betsy has done nothing to address homelessness or the lack of affordable housing. In her own district, Clatsop County has the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the entire state.

• She actually blocked two important bills to help with homelessness mentioned above from passing - a bill to fund overnight stays for people suffering from incidents of mental illness, and a program to help victims of domestic violence with housing needs.

• For all her expensive TV ads about the plight of the homeless, Betsy voted against a bill to prohibit evictions of tenants who fell behind on their rent during the Covid emergency. In other words, she voted to push more people into homelessness.

• Betsy recently referred to Portland as the "City of Roaches" when discussing the problem of homelessness, indicating that she is callous and insensitive to the needs of thousands of Oregonians in crisis. This is not the kind of language we would expect from someone who claims to be a bridge-builder.

BETSY was a divisive legislator who never initiated any significant bills.

• Betsy was in the sate legislature for 20 years with a D behind her name, but she was a conservative swing vote during that time. The GOP stopped running candidates against her after 2010 when the recognized her as one of their own.

• Betsy was a very divisive legislator. She used her position on the Joint Ways and Means Committee to block legislation that would have helped Oregonians. She consistently opposed bills to address homelessness and housing; she opposed legislation that benefited workers and legislation that promoted gun safety, voting rights, mental health care, and civil rights.

• Betsy Johnson never initiated any significant bills during her entire tenure in the legislature. She was there to play defense for her corporate donors.

• Nike co-founder Phil Knight has donated at least $1.75 million to Betsy's campaign and has given another $1 million to a GOP PAC to elect the GOP. He clearly associates Betsy with the GOP, as do we! As does she, apparently: In 2018 Betsy registered as a GOP write-in candidate when she ran for re-election to the state senate.

• Betsy had a reputation for refusing to meet with or respond at all to letters or emails from Democratic or progressive constituents in particular. She stood constituents up at meetings. She never held town halls or sent newsletters. For those who caught up with her at the Capitol in the hall or the elevator or on the phone, she typically said, "Save your breath." She is only interested in her right wing donors and their supporters. Betsy has proven she is incapable of bridging divides.

• Betsy has refused to release her tax returns, like another rich politician we know all too well.
  

• Check out Corporate Bought Betsy's website for more information on where her loyalty lies.