Oregon remains a curious state as we enter 2022.

As you gather ’round the holiday table, or seek to converse via Zoom, where will your small talk take you? Fear not, dear readers, for I offer the following nuggets of news for spicing your chatter.

“Rules are rules for all to follow.” 

Tina Kotek was on a roll as last month came to an end. In a matter of days, the House speaker and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful scored quadruple victories.

To understand Peter DeFazio, political scientist Jim Moore suggests looking back to the congressman’s ads when running for the U.S. Senate in 1995

It was supposed to be over long ago. Only a month or two. Then life would be back to normal.

Good ideas can take years to become law. A prime example is the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, which will send billions of dollars to Oregon.

Oregon is above average. Many Oregonians are not. It all depends on where they live.

Progressives rule Oregon’s Democratic party, and they won big this week. 

What are Oregonians hiring their next governor to do?

Thanks to Sen. Betsy Johnson and journalist Nick Kristof, Oregon is on the verge of the most interesting governor’s race in decades.

A not-so-funny thing happened on my way to writing Capital Chatter three weeks ago. I became a statistic.

Note to readers:

Pssst. … Oregon legislators return to Salem and the State Capitol on Monday. The public is allowed in. But details are sketchy.

I had just parked outside a cafe in downtown Tillamook when Rep. David Gomberg happened to call. When I casually mentioned my location, Gomberg commented that I was barely a block outside his legislative district.

This is the story of how one Oregon city turned its longtime adversarial relationship with state government into a political and financial windfall.

By Dick Hughes

Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader wants to a slow a massive budget bill pushed by his fellow Democrats.

Gov. Kate Brown threw Oregon’s county commissioners under the COVID-19 bus this week.

Want to improve Oregon government? Elect some Democratic legislators in Eastern Oregon. Elect more Republicans in the Portland metro area.

Congressman Peter DeFazio is not giving up.

The craziness known as Oregon politics took another twist this week. An Oregon-bred national journalist jumped into next year’s race for governor – maybe.

Unvaccinated Oregonians don’t trust Gov. Kate Brown’s advice. But new research shows they also lack faith in COVID-19 messaging from almost anyone else, whether talk radio, Fox News, MSNBC or religious leaders.

Oregon doesn’t have traffic crashes. 

The far-reaching, just-concluded 2021 Legislature was the most expensive in Oregon history, approaching $30 billion in basic spending for 2021.

Suzanne Weber recalls when the Oregon Capitol hallways were so crowded with lawmakers, lobbyists and other folks that she had to edge her way through sideways.

No more will Lawanda and James Manning carry the American and Oregon flags to start each day’s session of the Oregon Senate.

When will the Oregon Capitol reopen to the public?

What really counts as “bad” behavior in the Oregon Capitol?

When Oregon made national news last week, “it wasn’t because of riots in Portland, and it wasn’t because of other issues from our most populated city,” said Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford.

With gusto, an employee of a Salem tire store tipped down the signs stating that face coverings were required. Up went new notices with a hot-off-the press exemption: Customers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can go maskless.

Who writes the laws in Oregon? The Legislature, the governor or state agencies?

Well, that was anticlimactic. And strange, maybe even bizarre.

Twenty years ago, Democrats in the Oregon Legislature were publicly incensed about the redistricting plan created by then-Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. The plan arbitrarily benefitted Republican candidates. Or so the Democrats said.

Oh, what to do if you’re ready to exit the Oregon Legislature? How about one of the cushiest jobs in state government.

A sexual harassment complaint between two legislators has upended the Oregon House of Representatives.

Oregon high schoolers may soon have to learn about their government. So today, I offer a primer on what goes on behind the scenes … the stuff that might not show up in textbooks.

The Oregon Capitol remains closed to the public. But the supermajority Democrats say the 2021 legislative session is the most open, transparent and accessible on record, thanks to the use of technology.

Oregon’s Employment Department, like Oregon’s economy, has gradually rebounded.

Mark Simmons, a Republican former speaker of the Oregon House, was set to testify this week at the Idaho Legislature in favor of letting Eastern and Southern Oregon counties become part of Idaho.

Should Oregon legislators still get paid if they don’t show up for work (i.e., the minority Republicans)?

The governors of Oregon and Washington both say that science has guided their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a Seattle Times columnist thinks that Oregon “went more with its gut” when Gov. Kate Brown moved K-12 educators to the front of the line for coronavirus vaccines.

The Oregon Senate began passing legislation this week. But it’s not yet time for Oregonians to worry. Or applaud.

If this were a normal year, Room 50 in the basement of the Oregon Capitol would have been packed for this week’s gun-control hearing. The overflow crowd also would have filled additional rooms in the Capitol, with people watching the hearing on big screens and hoping to hear their names call…

With the Oregon Legislature running at half-speed this week due to the ice storm, we’ll start by talking a bit about what is, or isn’t, happening at the State Capitol. Then we’ll catch up on other tidbits of news and reader comments.

There’s a longstanding joke among Salem residents that state offices shut down the moment a snowflake is spotted.

During several evenings of testimony and discussion this week, a bipartisan committee voted that state Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, violated legislative rules against sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.

2021 is starting badly as far as transparency in state government.

A third political party has joined the Oregon Legislature. Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas switched from Republican to being a registered voter with the Independent Party of Oregon.