Mystery bill fuels guessing game on Wyden future

It appeared on a short list of committee bills, a controversial form of submitting legislation without the name of the bill’s author or who is requesting the action.

“Why are we doing this now?” asked House Minority Leader Vikki Breese Iverson, R-Prineville, who is vice-chair of the Rules panel.

Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, had little information about the gestation of the idea, other than it came to the committee as a request from a source she didn’t identify.

Oregon is one of five states where the departure or death of a sitting U.S. senator requires a special election to fill the seat, which remains vacant in the meantime.

The proposal would allow the governor to align the replacement of a U.S. Senator with the current system for replacing Oregon’s executive officers. The governor names a replacement drawn from the same political party as the person who had the seat.

An election to fill the unexpired portion of the officeholder’s term is held at the next general election.

The proposed legislation that would allow the governor to choose an interim senator was circulated by bloggers and twitter-users, including the popular Oregon conservative website, Oregon Catalyst.

GOP activists speculated it could be a vehicle for a Democratic governor to replace Wyden if he either withdrew from the 2022 race prior to the general election or won re-election and didn’t finish his new term.

Wyden spokesman Hank Stern said the Twitter-driven scenarios were “silly and uninformed.”

“Senator Wyden is running hard to win re-election to a full six-year term,” Stern said. “He will serve a complete six-year term if re-elected.”

Stern said Wyden does not know where the proposal came from and has no role in its presentation or action to change the law.

After the House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday, the legislation remained in committee with no further action scheduled.

Wyden has $10 million in his campaign fund, and declared his intent to run for re-election in a Federal Election Commission document filed at the beginning of 2021. He formally filed to run for the Senate on Jan. 26 when he filed a statement of candidacy with the Oregon Secretary of State.

Wyden challenged incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Duncan, D-Portland, in the 1980 Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District. Wyden won and then defeated Republican Darrell Conger that November.

When U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Oregon, resigned in 1995 amid a sexual harassment scandal, Wyden won a special election to fill the seat, the first vote in Oregon done entirely by mail ballot.

Wyden has been elected to four terms as senator. If he were to win election in 2022, he would serve until January 2029, when he would be 79.

Wyden has raised $10 million since he was last re-elected in 2016 and reported this month that he ended 2021 with $7.2 million in the bank.

The totals dwarf all other challengers. The one Democrat and seven Republicans who have filed to run Wyden have raised $168,000, combined.

The deadline to file to run for the U.S. Senate and several other federal and state offices in Oregon is March 8.

The primary for both parties is May 17.