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Saturday, June 12, 2021

Oregon's House expelled a Republican legislator. AP reported and Strib carried the report.

 The item is online here. While Strib may have edited the AP feed, let us concentrate on what Strib choose to print (which may be the full AP item).

Reading it, it seems longer than needed with statements of different people reported. Below are the opening paragraphs.

SALEM, Ore. — Republican lawmakers voted with majority Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives to take the historic step of expelling a Republican member who let violent, far-right protesters into the state Capitol on Dec. 21.

Legislators said on the House floor that this could be the most important vote they ever cast. They then proceeded Thursday night to expel an unapologetic Rep. Mike Nearman with a 59-1 vote, marking the first time a member has been expelled by the House in its 160-year history. The only vote against the resolution for expulsion was Nearman's own.

"The facts are clear that Mr. Nearman unapologetically coordinated and planned a breach of the Oregon State Capitol," House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said after the vote. "His actions were blatant and deliberate, and he has shown no remorse for jeopardizing the safety of every person in the Capitol that day."

Rep. Paul Holvey, a Democrat who chaired a committee that earlier Thursday unanimously recommended Nearman's expulsion, reminded lawmakers of the events of Dec. 21, which were an eerie foreshadowing of the much more serious Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

"On the morning of Dec. 21st, a couple hundred protesters — some of them heavily armed and wearing body armor — arrived at the Capitol for a protest, with the intent to illegally enter and presumably occupy the building and interrupt the proceedings of the Oregon Legislature," Holvey said. "Staff and legislators were terrified. We can only speculate what would have happened if they were able to get all the way in."

That is largely the story. You can access the item and read more.

Try a word search for the item, "white." 

In fairness, search "black."

AP and Strib may think the expelled Republican's race is immaterial. I do not.

Do you?

Word search for "Trump" shows one instance in the item.

Is this good or bad reporting, leaving an arguably key fact out but dancing "white" by implication throughout the item where some of the legislator's characteristics - Republican, unapologetic, are reported?  The name, "Mike Nearman" indirectly hints non-Hispanic, not Hmong, not Somali, etc., again narrowing implicit reporting, but what would be wrong with being explicit? 

Is there some unwritten rule, the AP nurtures?

________UPDATE________

Mike Nearman has a Wikipedia page, confirming likelihoods one might infer from the AP item. An old white guy with a McConnell neck from Independence, OR.

Likely outside of the Portland metro area, possibly east of the mountains, if you check it out via an online map search. 

Interestingly, nobody dropped the ball in getting the wiki updated, with the opening paragraph:

Michael J. Nearman[2] (born 1963 or 1964) is an American politician who served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 23rd district from 2015 until 2021, when he was expelled for his role in the incursion of the Oregon State Capitol in December 2020.

Not metro. A map of Oregon's legislative districts shows the 23rd district north of Eugene, "Corvalis" shown there per the map. Rural.

That webpage with the map is yet to be updated. It lists Nearman, 23rd District; no asterisk or "former" indicator.

________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Nearman opening the door, YouTube, 3.2 million views. Dec. 21, last year.

It, interestingly, took half a year to throw the bum out. Legislative speed.

Half a year, then the expulsion, with AP quoting this and that from a few people, without identifying him as an old white guy from a rural Oregon district. 

Great job, AP.

______FURTHER UPDATE_____

Independence, OR, has a Wikipedia page. Under Demographics:

As of the census[3] of 2010, there were 8,590 people, 2,857 households, and 2,021 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,146.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,214.9/km2). There were 3,168 housing units at an average density of 1,160.4 per square mile (448.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 73.3% White, 0.4% African American, 1.8% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 19.1% from other races, and 4.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35.3% of the population.

There were 2,857 households, of which 42.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.3% were non-families. 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99 and the average family size was 3.45.

The median age in the city was 28.3 years.

Guns per household would be an interesting demographic that the census seems to not quiz. It would be interesting to know, but could you trust reporting from households? 

Nearman's Ballotpedia page is current, as of his House expulsion. He has not updated his Facebook page about his expulsion, although somebody has assured his FB posts are captioned,

Former State Rep. Mike Nearman

. From within the Ballotpedia entry:

On June 4, 2021, Oregon Public Broadcasting published a December 16, 2020, YouTube video of Nearman telling a group of people to text him if they wanted access to the state capitol. According to the video, Nearman said, "There might be some person’s number which might be [his cell phone number], but that is just random numbers... that’s not anybody’s actual cell phone. And if you say, ‘I’m at the West entrance’ during the session and text to that number there, that somebody might exit that door while you’re standing there."[14]

This video seems to be the "Operation Hall Pass" presentation by Nearman days before the door breach confrontation.

Also within the Ballotpedia entry, Nearman in the past has run as "a man of his word." He said somebody might exit a particular door, and true to his word, somebody did.

Representative government is not without flaws; he was elected and reelected. Best and brightest in the district? A "deplorable" per Clinton-speak? Both?