Tina Kotek and Betsy Johnson Support Releasing Violent Criminals Back onto the Street

July 15, 2022

Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer, AP

Over Fourth of July weekend in Portland, a 5-year old girl and her father of Japanese descent were assaulted by a homeless man who was arrested, detained, and released back onto the streets without bail thanks to Oregon Democrats Tina Kotek’s and Betsy Johnson’s soft on crime policies. As reported by Breitbart, “Former Democrat House Speaker Tina Kotek voted in June 2021 in favor of Senate Bill 48, a bail overhaul bill that became effective July 1, 2022.”

Senate Bill 48, which went into effect just one day before the attack, was a Governor Kate Brown priority passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature that allows for the release of perpetrators of violent hate crimes without bail by means of eliminating “certain mandatory minimum bail amounts currently in statute.”

Several police departments and sheriff’s offices criticized the bill yet Kotek and Johnson still voted yes:

  • The North Bend Police Department: “The bill will require the release of a significant number of suspects from police custody into the general public.”
  • The Klamath County Sheriff’s Office: “When someone is suspected of victimizing others, it is appropriate for them to be brought before the judge for their initial plea. That is best accomplished by holding them in jail until they appear before the court or requiring some form of assurance (bail) that they will appear before the judge at a later date.”
  • The Columbia County Sheriff: The bill “removes local control and requires the Sheriff’s Office to immediately release people who we would have previously housed in jail until trial.”
  • The Curry County Sheriff’s Office: The new law mandates release on charges that used to be lodged in Curry County Jail; these crimes include “Assault on a Peace Officer and Aggravated Harassment.”

“Just like the failed Democrat Governor Kate Brown, the then-Democrat state legislators Betsy Johnson and Tina Kotek followed closely in her footsteps with their soft on crime approach to the crime crisis that plagues the state,” said RGA Spokeswoman Kaitlin Price. “With a majority of Oregonians seeing the state headed in the wrong direction on public safety, voters know they can’t afford more of the same disastrous Democrat policies that have only made the crime crisis worse.”