The Average

Sen. Lew Frederick

D-NORTHEAST PORTLAND

OVERALL RATING

6.9

8.49 INTEGRITY

6.61 BRAINS

5.61 EFFECTIVENESS

Frederick, 71, a former television newsman and Portland Public Schools spokesman, is a steady influence on his colleagues, which helps explain his astonishing workload: He has no less than nine committee assignments, including subbing for Sen. Chris Gorsek as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. Frederick led passage of bills that fix a loophole in rural fire districts and will outlaw a dangerous vehicle modification nicknamed the “Carolina squat” in which the front bumper is higher than the rear. Of all senators, Frederick scored the highest on integrity. “Conscience of the Senate,” says one longtime observer, “but needs to be more assertive.”

6.81

8.26 INTEGRITY

6.84 BRAINS

5.33 EFFECTIVENESS

In redistricting, Senate District 13 got sharply redrawn, eliminating the GOP voter registration advantage that enabled Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) to hold it for two terms. Into that vacuum (and a new 14-point Democratic advantage) stepped Aaron Woods, a retired Xerox executive. Woods, at 73 the Senate rookie of the year, brought military discipline (he served for six years) and private sector experience.

As a rookie, he got six committee assignments, a hefty workload, including co-chairmanships of the Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology and the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development.

Views on Woods were mixed. “He’s been noticeably effective for a freshman, especially on issues where he can use his tech background,” says a business lobbyist. “He’s kept his head down as a freshman,” says another veteran lobbyist. “Too far down.”

Sen. Janeen Sollman

D-HILLSBORO

OVERALL RATING

6.59

7.49 INTEGRITY

6.12

Brains

6.18

Effectiveness

Some lawmakers become closely associated with one issue. Sollman, 53, a longtime Hillsboro School Board member and employee of an educational software company, is among them. As she has testified, she grew up the daughter of a physically abusive father, which shaped strongly held views on domestic violence and substance abuse legislation. “One of the biggest hearts in the Legislature,” says a respondent.

Capitol denizens love the pancakes she periodically cooks on a portable griddle. “Word spreads like wildfire,” says one regular. This term, Sollman chaired the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment and co-chaired the Joint Committee on Semiconductors, which passed her bill to get $200 million to entice new investment. “Shined in her work on the Joint Semiconductor Committee and behind the scenes on related efforts,” says a business lobbyist.

D-GLADSTONE

OVERALL RATING

6.59

6.99

Integrity

6.47 BRAINS

6.31

Effectiveness

Meek, an Air Force veteran who ran bars before moving into real estate brokerage and management, is the Senate everyman—and also a noted crooner who reliably sings “Happy Birthday” to whomever is celebrating. And with Betsy Johnson gone, the first-term senator has inherited her position as the moderate in the Democratic caucus around whom some closely fought bills pivot. “Adeptly figured out how to leverage his position as a key vote to push through his priorities,” says a Senate insider. Meek, 59, chaired the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, a lower-stress post than in other sessions because of the state’s overflowing tax receipts. Like Johnson, Meek incurred the wrath of progressives. One calls him “a vengeful weasel, threatening the caucus agenda in order to placate the moneyed real estate interests.”

D-TROUTDALE

OVERALL RATING

6.28

7.42 INTEGRITY

5.95 BRAINS

5.47 EFFECTIVENESS

A former Portland cop turned community college geography professor, Gorsek, 65, possesses an unusual biography. “An old-school Democrat rather than an ideological one, he’s a voice of moderation in his caucus and a no-BS guy,” says a lobbyist. Gorsek missed much of the session because of open-heart surgery, and by the time he returned in early June, the Senate Republicans were gone. “His colleagues think well enough of him that senators on both sides of the aisle adopted his bills when he went out on medical leave,” notes a lobbyist. Two of his priority bills, SB 615, which makes it easier for cops to crack down on street racing, and SB 256, protecting Oregonians against fake airbags in vehicles. Colleagues felt Gorsek’s absence as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. That committee’s agenda included funding a new Interstate Bridge and finding a path forward on tolling. Both efforts went mostly sideways.

6.28

7.42

6.58

Although Weber’s home is on the coast, her newly drawn district sprawls from Astoria to Lincoln City and into western Multnomah County, making it among the most politically diverse and evenly balanced in the state (registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 1.2%). A retired elementary schoolteacher and former mayor of Tillamook, Weber, 76, brings a softer touch to Salem than her longtime predecessor, centrist Democrat Betsy Johnson, although lobbyists were surprised at the zeal behind her conservatism. “She’s got a lot of Jesus in her,” says one.

Weber served as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Education but made little impression before Republicans walked out. “Extremely kind and surprisingly quiet,” says a staffer. “Her reputation in the House was ‘grandma bulldog,’ but I don’t recall seeing it much so far in the Senate.”

Senate President Rob Wagner

D-LAKE OSWEGO

OVERALL RATING

6.18

6.4 INTEGRITY

6.95 BRAINS

5.18 EFFECTIVENESS

Seldom has anyone risen faster in Salem than Wagner, 50, who before his appointment in 2018 to replace Sen. Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) worked in administration at Portland Community College and before that as longtime lobbyist for the American Federation of Teachers. Always ambitious, Wagner vaulted to the head of the pack of lawmakers itching to succeed Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem), who ruled the Senate for two decades. The father of four has little time for one of his favorite hobbies—playing the guitar—as he tries to ride herd on the fractious Senate. Many observers blame him for the duration of the Republican walkout. “A very effective majority leader, he’s proven the Peter Principle as Senate president,” says a longtime lobbyist.

He is still learning, but it’s unusual for a chamber leader to score so low. “Has the charisma and charm of a used mattress salesman,” says a progressive lobbyist.