POLITICS 
 Updated 1 hour ago

Where’s Waldo? Oregon On The Lookout For AWOL Republican Politicians

State Republicans still on the lam to sabotage vote on historic climate change bill.
Mary Papenfuss
Oregon citizens and state troopers are keeping an eye peeled for AWOL GOP state senators who are stonewalling a vote on stricter pollution standards to battle climate change.
All 11 Republican senators walked out of a legislative session Thursday and are in hiding to block passage of the historic bill. They don’t have the votes to stop it the old-fashioned, democratic way. The walkout leaves the Senate two people short of a required quorum before a vote can be held.
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A rightwing militia group has vowed to “protect” the senators from any miffed voters — or police. A special legislative session had been planned Saturday but the Capitol building in Salem was shut down by law enforcement authorities as a safety precaution, Reuters reported. The State Police Superintendent informed the Senate president of a “credible threat from militia groups coming to the Capitol,” read a text sent to senators Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. “The Superintendent strongly recommends that no one come to the Capitol.”
Several senators have claimed they left the state to avoid detection by state troopers, who have been ordered to retrieve them by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. Police said that “outside” agencies are helping them keep tabs on the errant senators.
Members of the Three Percenters militia ― a pro-gun, anti-government extremist movement ― wrote on Facebook Thursday they would do “whatever it takes to keep these senators safe.”
A leader with another rightwing militia, the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard, posted on Facebook that he spotted Republican Klamath Falls Sen. Dennis Linthicum gobbling up bacon and eggs at a Redmond diner Saturday morning.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” guard member B.J. Soper asked, he recounted in his post.
“Having bacon and eggs just like you,” Linthicum said. As for police, the wandering Republican added: “I’m not worried, pretty sure the boys have me covered,” apparently referring to the militia.
GOP senators face a $500 fine for every session they miss. The legislature goes on recess the end of June.
A senator from Bend, who was sitting by an undisclosed lake, told a reporter that GOP senators would come back for a “bipartisan” and “less complicated” — and more polluting — bill than what the Democratic majority backs. The current House Bill 2050 would dramatically reduce fossil fuel emissions by 2050. If passes, it would become the second toughest program of its kind in the nation after California. 
The Democrats have issued a “Wanted” poster for the wayward GOP senators, calling them “fugitives from justice and their jobs.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Senate Republicans would turn their back on their constituents who they are honor-bound to represent” in the Capitol, the governor said in a statement. “They need to return and do the jobs they were elected to do.”