Republican State Senator Suggests He Would Shoot State Troopers If Sent To Get Him For Climate Vote

An Oregon GOP State senator suggested he’d shoot and potentially kill state troopers if they were ordered by Gov. Kate Brown (D) to round-up Republicans denying Democrats the quorum to vote on a climate bill.

“This is what I told the superintendent,” Oregon State Sen. Brian Boquist (R) said Wednesday, referring to OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton.

“Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple,” he added.

Oregon state senator @BrianBoquistGOP said if R's walk out to stop a vote on Cap and Trade and @OregonGovBrown sends state police to bring him back, they should be single and well armed. Your take? pic.twitter.com/Fcu8NXXl8h

— Pat Dooris (@PatDooris) June 19, 2019

In an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive Wednesday afternoon, Boquist stuck by his earlier statement and rejected a reporter’s characterization of his threat to troopers as “thinly veiled.”

“Nothing thinly veiled,” Boquist wrote. “I have been in political coup attempts. I have been held hostage overseas. I have been jailed politically overseas … Not going to be arrested as a political prisoner in Oregon period.”

Oregon is on the verge of passing a new climate bill through the Democratic-controlled state legislature despite objections from Republican lawmakers.

Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. on Tuesday said that his caucus was “prepared to take actions” to prevent the bill from passing, according to The Oregonian.

Despite holding a supermajority in the state Senate, Democrats are unable to vote on the measure if a certain number of the chamber’s 20 Republicans don’t show up for votes.

Gov. Brown hinted on Wednesday that state troopers might be deployed to round-up the obstructionist GOP lawmakers, saying in a statement that she is “in close communication with Oregon State Police.”