Guest column: Appointment comes with a big paycheck | columns

Oh what if you’re ready to leave the Oregon Legislature? How about one of the most convenient jobs in state government?

It’s actually more of a federal job, but why argue about the details when the job comes with an annual paycheck of $ 142,848 and a potentially hefty increase in state pension benefits?

This month, Governor Kate Brown appointed a longtime colleague, Senator Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, to be one of Oregon’s two representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. In 1980, Congress created the Four State Commission to establish and maintain long-term plans for electricity generation in connection with the protection of fish and wildlife. As described in the Council’s history, it emerged from “our region’s disastrous experiment in building nuclear power plants in the 1970s and early 1980s”.

If you don’t remember the unfortunate WPPSS – mockingly pronounced “whoops” as the acronym for the Washington Public Power Supply System – you’re in luck. It became the largest municipal debt default in US history.

You are still paying for this poor planning and improper execution. The region owes nearly $ 5 billion for the one nuclear power plant that is in operation and two that were never completed. These costs, which are gradually paid for, make up one third of the wholesale electricity price that the Bonneville Power Administration charges its wholesale customers.

So there is a role for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

“It’s very important work. It’s very complicated work, ”said Burdick, admitting a shaky side.

A flood of ex-legislators

Burdick will take office on November 1 to allow former Oregon State Senator Richard Devlin, who chairs the council, to complete work on the latest revision of the 20-year energy plan.

Brown had appointed Devlin, D-Tualatin, and John Day’s Republican Senate Chairman Ted Ferrioli for a three-year term ending that year. On April 1, Ferrioli was replaced by Chuck Sams from the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Like Sams, Burdick must be ratified by the Oregon Senate, which should go without saying.

Democrats or Republicans, half of the people who have been appointed by Oregon since the council’s inception have been former lawmakers and other elected officials. These include Congressman Bob Duncan; Secretary of State Norma Paulus and Bill Bradbury; and Senators Ted Hallock, Joyce Cohen, Gene Derfler, and Joan Dukes.

The four Member States set their own salaries for the job. Oregon’s salary of $ 142,848 is way above the rest: Washington, $ 115,000; Idaho, $ 119,995; and Montana $ 122,464.

Oregon also funds the finances so its members can receive the Public Employees Retirement System, which usually means a huge pension increase if they were already in PERS. The members of the other states have a different pension plan.

Bonneville, the federal power marketing organization, pays the council, which in turn pays councilors from Washington, Idaho, and Montana. However, Oregon members are paid by the Oregon Department of Energy, which is then reimbursed by the council.

What does it take to be an expert? The council has a professional staff at its headquarters in Portland and four small regional offices in Portland. Vancouver, Washington; Eagle, Idaho; and Helena, Montana.

Devlin told me that he spends his days reading, more reading, and all kinds of meetings. “We are generally working hard to reach agreement on issues,” he said. “We often look for compromises that people can live with in order to meet their needs.”

To illustrate how quickly the planning scene is changing, he cited batteries and fish courses. During the time he was on the council, large-scale energy storage batteries have moved from experimental to part of the utility mix. On the other hand, he said, some fish runs are now looking bleak compared to just a few years ago.

When Brown reached out to Burdick about the job, Brown wanted someone with collaborative skills, whom Burdick honed during 24 years in the Senate. While the public knows Burdick best for their gun control advocacy, they love to delve into difficult issues, be it the shameful corporate energy tax credit or the cannabis regulation.

And long before he stepped into legislature, Burdick worked for Atlantic Richfield Co .; targeted environmental analysis for corporate customers; and reported as a journalist on the environment and energy.

Brown makes diversity a key factor in making appointments, and Burdick will be the only woman currently on the eight-member council.

An appointment to governor, be it an energy council or some other job, can be a way to reward an ally, get rid of a political enemy, dignified retirement of a lawmaker, or pave the way for a new lawmaker level.

In this instance, as with Devlin’s appointment, the changes will likely shift the Senate’s Democratic caucus further to the left and away from centrist Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, with whom Burdick had a close working relationship. Through a spokesman, Courtney declined to comment on Burdick’s appointment.

Senator Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, took Devlin’s Senate seat in 2018 and quickly established himself as a rising star of the progressive wing. Last year he succeeded Burdick as Senate majority leader.

Burdick will remain in the legislature until the 2021 session and a possible special session on redistribution. She said the timing was good. “I’ve been here for 24 years,” she said. “I think it’s time for a new challenge.”

As noted by Gary Warner, my colleague at the Oregon Capital Bureau, there will no doubt be a fierce battle to win the nomination to fill Burdick’s positions in Senate District 18. According to the law, the officials of Multnomah County and Washington must select someone from their party, that is, a Democrat. Unlike in the past, it has become quite difficult for a centrist Democrat to win an appointment or election in the Portland area.

Potential candidates include first-time state officials from the two districts of the House of Representatives that make up the Senate District – Dacia Grayber, D-Tigard, and Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland. Choosing one of the two procedures would trigger a similar process to fill the then vacant seat of the House.

Dick Hughes has been reporting on the Oregon political scene since 1976.