- Bipartisan Oregon lawmakers introduce legislation to compensate Robert Parker Jr., a Black legislative employee wrongfully accused of financial impropriety in the 1980s.
The decades-long plight of a Black legislative employee wrongfully accused of financial impropriety during his time battling the influence of oil companies in Salem has lit a flame under an unusual bipartisan duo of Oregon lawmakers.
Reps. Ed Diehl, R-Scio and Travis Nelson, D-Portland, two of the Capitol’s prominent conservative and progressive lawmakers, announced Wednesday that they would be introducing a legislative fix to begin the process of compensating Robert Parker Jr., an attorney and former legislative aide from the 1980s whose career was derailed by allegations of misusing his position in the Capitol for financial gain. Former Rep. Jeff Kropf, R-Sublimity and former Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Beatty, as well as Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, joined Parker, Diehl and Nelson at a Wednesday news conference.
“The state of Oregon wronged Bob Parker,” Nelson said. “He was framed, and for decades, he was denied the type of income that a lawyer of his caliber could have earned.”…