{"id":360921,"date":"2025-12-21T00:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360921\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:53:07","slug":"health-issues-delay-investigation-into-portland-area-lawmakers-conduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360921\/","title":{"rendered":"Health issues delay investigation into Portland-area lawmaker\u2019s conduct"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen. Chris Gorsek<\/a>, a Democrat from Gresham, has continued participating in legislative work as he recovers from a stroke he experienced during back surgery in August, which he said affected his ability to speak and walk.<\/p>\n

At the same time, his health issues, which prompted Democrats to delay<\/a> this fall\u2019s special legislative session for weeks until he could return to the Capitol, have delayed an investigation into his conduct earlier this year when he scolded another lawmaker during a tense public meeting.<\/p>\n

Top lawmakers have not publicly discussed Gorsek\u2019s condition or how it has impacted his legislative work. A spokesperson for Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, who oversees committee assignments, did not respond to an emailed question Thursday about how Wagner has evaluated Gorsek\u2019s ability to serve on six interim committees, including two in leadership roles.<\/p>\n

Gorsek told The Oregonian\/OregonLive Thursday he experienced a \u201cmild stroke\u201d during a long-scheduled back surgery in August. He initially hurt his back by slipping while knocking on constituents\u2019 doors, he said. He briefly returned to the Capitol in late September in a wheelchair to cast his vote for a controversial transportation package<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gorsek has visibly carried out some legislative work as lawmakers prepare for the February short session, attending meetings and speaking at length at a recent Troutdale City Council meeting. \u201cIt\u2019s the interim, so things are quieter, we\u2019ve stayed engaged on district, budget and policy work daily,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cOn weekends too, which is what it means to do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the investigation regarding Gorsek\u2019s conduct has been delayed twice because his health challenges prevented him from meeting with an investigator for an interview about the incident, Gorsek said Thursday. <\/p>\n

His outburst occurred during a tense 90-minute meeting<\/a> of the legislative transportation committee in June. At the time, Gorsek was serving as co-chair of the committee.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Gorsek raised his voice toward Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, a Republican from Albany, who had been criticizing Democrats for attempting to quickly pass a transportation funding plan that would raise various taxes, characterizing their actions as \u201cgrossly irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorsek interrupted Boshart Davis after she said the process to craft the proposal had been \u201creally bad\u201d and condemned Democrats for holding public hearings on the package before complete revenue estimates had been made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me,\u201d Gorsek said, speaking over Boshart Davis and Rep. Susan McLain, his fellow co-chair of the committee. \u201cYou are impugning all of us that have worked on that bill, so stop with that. … Stop with it. You\u2019ve made your point, representative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ARep. Shelly Boshart Davis sits in the Oregon House chamber on Feb. 5, 2024. On Wednesday, Boshart Davis expressed frustration with an investigation regarding the behavior of another lawmaker in a committee meeting earlier this year.Dave Killen \/ The Oregonian<\/p>\n

Later that day, Boshart Davis sent an email to the Legislative Equity Office filing an informal complaint, alleging that Gorsek had violated a provision of Legislative rules requiring a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. She filed an official complaint on Aug. 27, she told The Oregonian\/OregonLive Thursday, more than two months after the incident.<\/p>\n

Three days after the June meeting, Gorsek stepped down<\/a> from the committee.<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday letter sent to the Legislative Equity Office \u2014 which is carrying out the investigation \u2014 Boshart Davis expressed frustration with the handling of her complaint, particularly because of the delays that have stretched the investigation past the typical 84-day deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing delays are indefensible and, in my opinion, undermine the integrity of the process,\u201d Boshart Davis wrote in the letter. <\/p>\n

Aislyn Matias, administrative coordinator for the Legislative Equity Office, said the office cannot provide or confirm many details of ongoing investigations and directed The Oregonian\/OregonLive to submit a public records request for specific information.<\/p>\n

In an interview Thursday, Boshart Davis acknowledged that health issues could be a valid reason to delay the investigation, but pointed out that Gorsek has not taken a leave of absence or stepped back from his committee assignments. She also expressed concern that Democratic leaders recently selected Gorsek once again to serve as chair of a committee, despite his outburst while he was serving in a similar capacity.<\/p>\n

Connor Radnovich, spokesperson for Wagner, declined to comment on Wagner\u2019s decision to assign Gorsek committee leadership positions.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from The Oregonian\/OregonLive, Gorsek said he is planning to meet with an investigator for the interview next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Democrat from Gresham, has continued participating in legislative work as he recovers from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[178096,97,252,253,178097,60350],"class_list":{"0":"post-360921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-2024-oregon-legislative-session","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-oregon-house-chamber","13":"tag-salem"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}