Democrats Take Credit For Stopping Cuts They Helped Propose

After a budget rebalance agreement was released late yesterday, House Democrats quickly issued a press release touting themselves for "standing up for Oregonians' Priorities." The press release included a headline stating: "Democrats Stop Proposed Cuts To Schools, Senior Services, Prisons."

Of course, it was the Democrats themselves--who control two of the three chairs of the Ways & Means Committee--who were instrumental in proposing those cuts in the first place. In fact, closing the 440-bed Santiam Correctional Institution remained part of the plan until Governor John Kitzhaber spoke out against it last week.

UPDATE:  House Democrats Communications Director Jared Mason-Gere takes issue with my characterization of the sequence of events surrounding the original budget framework and the newly issued update to that agreement. In an email, Mason-Gere writes:

"This is a negotiation.  Just because there were multiple parties involved in the negotiation, not everyone will take credit for everything in a budget.  The elements we are claiming credit for are things Co-Chair Buckley has been negotiating for quite some time.   It was through his efforts and the efforts of House Democrats that they were included in the budget.

I think it’s entirely consistent for the caucus to come in to a negotiation with some desired outcomes, leave with a general framework that is agreed upon but say if they can they’ll try to find a way to make the framework even better, then talk about their victories in the instances where they’ve succeeded."