Kotek on PSU: Heckuva job, Cuddie

The Oregon governor's alarmingly placid response to the kickoff of riot season in Portland

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek at her May 1 press conference, in which she praised Portland State University president’s handling of a forcible occupation of the school’s library that closed the university for four days and did $1 million in damage

By the time Oregon Governor Tina Kotek convened a press conference at 3 pm Wednesday, May 1, the occupation by anti-everything rioters at Portland State University library was already a day-and-a-half old. Monday night, 50-75 protesters had seized the library as an anti-Israel campus campout was disbanded by police.

When Kotek took the mic, media had widely reported the following, concerning facts about the occupation:

• The library occupiers had piled chairs and other debris to block the entrance to the library, and were sawing chairs to somehow aid this process.

• Occupiers had extensively graffitied the walls of the library.

• Portland State University had called for Portland police to intervene in the occupation.

• PSU had said that the library was closed, and anyone remaining in it was “committing criminal trespass.”

• The university of 21,000 students had been closed for two consecutive days due to the library occupation.

• Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, a George Soros-supported progressive prosecutor, had said he expected felony charges to be filed against the protesters, including burglary and felony criminal mischief, along with possible misdemeanors.

Into this costly chaos - PSU president Anne Cudd later estimated it would cost $1 million just to repair the damage to the library alone - strode Kotek. This was her chance to set a new tone for a new Portland, striving to change its reputation for mayhem that bloomed during months of riots in 2020.

Instead, Kotek, echoed George W. Bush praise of his FEMA boss as Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans:

Heckuva job, Cuddie.

Kotek on May 1:

I have spoken directly with President Cudd at Portland State University to check in with her, I think that was yesterday. I think she’s taking a very thoughtful and measured approach on how to handle the situation on her campus.

Ann Cudd’s “very thoughtful and measured approach” to the felonious occupation was to offer the occupiers no punishment by the university if they would just come out of the library, and to add “Palestinian works” to the university’s Race and Ethnic Studies requirements.

Meanwhile, Cudd’s university, the third largest in the state and the eighth largest employer in the Portland area, was shuttered to all students not occupying the library.

I do not support discriminatory harassment or violence or property damage. I think that needs to be dealt with. I do think universities are doing it in different ways. I think we’ve seen some very peaceful expressions of free speech that are appropriate on our campuses here.

When Kotek said this, she knew full well the occupiers held the library by force and threat of violence and had committed extensive property damage. There were “very peaceful expressions of free speech” on Oregon campuses, but the occupation of the PSU library did not fit that description, like, at all. She couldn’t even bring herself to say the occupation was inappropriate.

What I want to say to families who have any concerns: We are watching it. We will make sure things don’t get out of hand. And, also, I think we want to make it clear that Oregon is a place where we honor the free exchange of ideas, but we do it in a way that people can feel safe and supported. So, if there are any concerns, I certainly want to know in my office.

Things were very much already “out of hand” at Portland State. The occupiers may have felt “safe and supported” by Kotek’s statement, but likely not so much the students who would have preferred to attend classes or maybe even study in the library. Jewish students sure did not feel safe and supported, as occupiers called for the elimination of the world’s sole Jewish state.

That last line is morbidly hilarious. “If there are any concerns.” There were concerns! That’s why a reporter asked Kotek about it during a press conference devoted primarily to the Governor’s attempt to dissemble her way out of a scandal involving her wife’s role in her office.

Kotek acted as if she was offering casework support to people who for some reason are frustrated with an otherwise-well-functioning state agency, if such a creature existed in Oregon, rather than the forcible, long-term occupation of public property.

The last thing Portland can afford is another summer like 2020. Four years ago, local and state government offered rhetorical support to rioters while saying violence and property damage were bad, while doing nothing of note to stop them.

For all the vigor Kotek claims to bring to the job, on May 1 she was as placid as Kate Brown in the face of chaos. A stern statement that the occupiers should get out of the library immediately would have shown Kotek understands the danger this kind of lawlessness poses to Portland. It would have sent a message that we’re not doing 2024 like we did 2020.

She didn’t do that. If or when Portland and other cities in Oregon experience rioting in the upcoming hot summer leading into a presidential election, or in the aftermath of that election, she will share the blame.