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They say timing is everything, and for advocates of a robust transportation funding bill, timing could not be worse.

Almost a third of a century later, the State Capitol is still in Floyd Prozanski’s orbit. Occasional thoughts of stepping aside are always outweighed by the gravitational pull that keeps Oregon’s “iron man” lawmaker crafting public policy.

“You can’t go home again,” observed the famed novelist Thomas Wolfe in his iconic book by the same name. Sens. Bruce Starr (R-Dundee) and Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) are putting that theory to the test as they return to the Oregon Legislature after a prolonged absence.

Thump! Thump! Thump! That was the sound heard near election offices around the state as voters soundly whacked a measure put forward by legislative Democrats to bring Ranked Choice Voting to federal and statewide offices. With counting nearly complete, Measure 117 is flaming out by well over 300,000 votes.

With a citizens’ Initiative Petition (IP-9) to limit campaign contributions in Oregon politics steamrolling towards the November election ballot, legislators suddenly have decided to wrest control of the parade route. Powered by major donors representing both Republican and Democrat interests, HB 4024-5 creates a tangled web of new rules that proponents say solves the campaign spending problem and is a preferred alternative to the citizens’ initiative.