Getting Back to Work …

Hello! How have you been?
I’ve been busy at work as a Nurse and spending some much needed quality time with my family. I recently began a new position working with Veterans at the Veterans Hospital Brain Injury and Spasticity clinics, and am looking forward to also joining OHSU’s Living Donor team working with people who want to donate a kidney to save a life of someone in need.

While I write you all today about work, it isn’t me I really want to talk about. What is top of mind for me is YOU and what you deserve in those you elect to represent you and your families. As some of you may know, we’re over two weeks into another walkout in the Oregon State Legislature, this time by 13 Republican Senators, which has halted all critical Senatorial business, including passing a host of bills and a budget for the next two years.

Despite Oregonians voting overwhelmingly in support of strict consequences for law makers who do not show up for work, this handful of Senators, including my former opponent and now Senator, Suzanne Weber (R – Tillamook), continue to shrug off their responsibilities to their constituents and to our great state.

It is unacceptable to walk off the job, not show up for work day after day without explanation, or to do only the parts of a job that one finds palatable. Passing complex legislation may not be easy and goodness knows negotiations come with struggle, but neither of these are valid reasons for refusing to do the work they were hired to do while collecting a paycheck on the backs of hard working taxpayers.

It is time we let Senator Weber, and every Senator participating in this unprofessional walkout, that it is high time they GET BACK TO WORK.

In Solidarity,
Melissa Busch