In rare move, Oregon Democrats tap a Republican to dig into road funding

As lawmakers search for money to prop up the beleaguered Oregon Department of Transportation, two of the agency’s sharpest Republican critics have a potentially influential new role.

Last week, the Legislature’s top Democrats put state Sen. Bruce Starr, a Dundee Republican, in charge of finding ways to force more accountability out of ODOT at a time when plenty of lawmakers suspect the agency has lost its way.

In an interview on his plans last week, Starr made sure to invite state Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis — a trucking company owner and the top House Republican on transportation matters — saying the two had been working “shoulder to shoulder” in figuring out whether ODOT really needs what it says.

The Democratic olive branch is a relative rarity in Salem, where the majority party typically prefers to handle high-profile jobs itself. It also comes with a risk: Giving Republicans a larger soapbox from which to question tax hikes Democrats say are highly likely.

“Our first instinct isn’t to raise taxes,” Starr said. “Our first instinct is, ‘Hey, are we getting the most bang for the existing dollar?’”

“If it weren’t for Republicans … asking questions,” added Boshart Davis, R-Albany, “I can tell you right now, the only conversation that would be had is, ‘How do we take more money from Oregonians?’”

Starr was still deciding last week whom he’d select to help him dig through ODOT’s budget, and he didn’t have a hard deadline for when recommendations would be ready. But he suggested the effort would have input from both Democrats and Republicans, and include experts from outside the Legislature.

“Maybe they’ve run large agencies before, maybe they’ve delivered mega projects in the past and understand how that should work,” Starr said. “Because right now, from where I’m sitting, the Oregon Department of Transportation can’t deliver big projects.”

ODOT has offered a bleak picture of its financial straits.

In presentations last year, the agency told lawmakers it needed an extra $1.8 billion a year to be fully functional, warning of mass layoffs and an inability to pave state-owned roads if it didn’t get at least another $354 million in the next budget. The agency says it can avoid dire outcomes with the $875 million a year proposed in December by Gov. Tina Kotek.

Meanwhile, ODOT is billions of dollars short for projects that were supposed to be paid for by a $5.3 billion funding bill in 2017. And recent reporting by the Salem Statesman-Journal detailed sloppy accounting at the agency, ballooning project costs and an inability to easily track where money was flowing.

Democrats this year have said that increases to the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax and vehicle registration fees could be in order to help the agency pay its bills and finish promised projects — a sentiment Republicans have panned.

Both parties agree the Legislature has a role in forcing ODOT to be transparent and responsible with any money it gets.

A press release from Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, and House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, last week said Starr’s team will “review current ODOT accountability mechanisms and their effectiveness, while also studying where additional mechanisms should be added.”

Starr and Boshart Davis, both vice-chairs of the legislative Transportation Committee, seemed to have a more expansive notion of their work. Neither would rule out recommending that ODOT scrap its role in registering Oregon voters, or that the agency spend less money on public transit or amenities for bicycles — both targets of GOP scorn this year.

“In a situation where there’s, according to ODOT, not enough revenue to meet all the needs, maybe they’re doing some things that aren’t core to their mission,” Starr said. “That’s part of this effort.”

Starr has delved deep into ODOT before. In 2009, while representing Hillsboro in the state House, he helped navigate a major funding package for roads.

“Historically, transportation is one of those issues where folks put their shoulder to the wheel and try to find ways to work together,” he said.

Democrats say they’re showing that same spirit by giving Starr this authority. But Salem has changed in the last 16 years, and lawmakers often complain the House and Senate are more politically polarized than ever.

That was evident by Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham’s reaction last week to Starr’s new role.

“Turning to Republicans for help fixing this problem is the ultimate admission that Democrats lack the vision, creativity, and resolve to reform an agency riddled with mismanagement and misplaced priorities,” Bonham, R-The Dalles, said in a statement. “But if Democrats are only looking for cover to justify another tax hike, we won’t be their scapegoat”

Asked last week whether he agreed with that sentiment, Starr took a softer stance on Democrats, whose supermajorities in each chamber grant them power to pass new taxes on their own.

“Theoretically, they could do this on their own and just keep throwing more money into the agency,” he said, “I don’t think they want to do that.”