Tina Kotek was sworn in as Oregon’s governor Monday, changing into, with Massachusetts’s Maura Healey, one of many first two out lesbian governors within the nation. Healey took her oath of workplace final week.
Kotek, a Democrat, was sworn in by Oregon Supreme Court docket Chief Justice Meagan Flynn shortly earlier than 2 p.m. at a joint session of the Oregon Home and Senate on the state’s capitol. The brand new governor was accompanied by her spouse, Aimee Wilson, and gave her a shout-out after taking the oath, calling Wilson “the first woman of Oregon” and including, “Thanks, my love, to your help.”
Kotek defeated Republican Christine Drazan and impartial Betsy Johnson in November. Kotek was beforehand speaker of the Oregon Home, the primary lesbian to carry such a place within the U.S., and he or she was additionally the longest-serving speaker in Oregon historical past. As governor, she succeeds fellow Democrat Kate Brown, who was the primary out bisexual governor within the nation.
In her inaugural deal with, Kotek thanked Brown for main the state by a tough time and went on to quote Oregon’s final Republican governor, Victor G. Atiyeh, who served from 1979 to 1987. He, like Kotek, pledged to go to each county in Oregon and take heed to individuals’s considerations. It may be shocking for her to invoke a Republican as an inspiration, she mentioned, however she identified what they’ve in widespread: He was additionally a former legislator, and so they had been each firsts — he was the primary governor of Arab descent within the U.S., and he or she and Healey are the primary out lesbian governors.
Kotek started her listening tour a couple of weeks in the past in Yamhill County in western Oregon. “I need to hear straight from people who find themselves doing the exhausting work day-after-day to serve their communities, particularly on problems with shared concern throughout our state,” she mentioned.
She promised to handle essentially the most urgent points dealing with Oregon, together with homelessness, an absence of inexpensive housing, and the necessity for entry to behavioral well being care. “We gained’t be excellent, however we’ll enhance yearly, so Oregonians can proudly say their state authorities was there for them,” she mentioned.
She mentioned that Tuesday, her first day in workplace, she’s going to subject an order setting bold targets for creation of recent housing. It’ll set up a statewide housing goal of greater than 36,000 new properties per yr, an 80 p.c improve over latest development charges, she mentioned. She will even declare a homelessness state of emergency, she mentioned. “Our state’s response should meet the urgency of the humanitarian disaster we face,” she famous. She is going to suggest a minimum of a $130 million funding to assist a minimum of 1,200 unhoused Oregonians transfer off the streets inside a yr. “That is solely step one,” she added.
She is delivering a brand new set of expectations to all state businesses, calling for improved customer support and elevated accountability. “Our job is to make issues work as effectively as potential,” she mentioned.
She concluded by calling on all Oregonians to affix in making these targets a actuality, beginning with the upcoming weekend of service to commemorate the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “It’ll take all of us, doing what we will, to construct the Oregon we need to reside in,” she mentioned.
“Think about an Oregon the place nobody has to reside in a tent on a sidewalk,” she mentioned. “The place Oregonians who need assistance for a psychological well being concern or a substance use subject can discover and afford the help they want. Think about an Oregon the place each baby has a protected place to obtain a high-quality public schooling and each working household has entry to inexpensive baby care. And picture an Oregon the place everybody has monetary stability and pathways to larger alternatives. And all Oregonians really feel protected of their properties and communities.”
“That’s an Oregon price preventing for,” she completed. “And at the moment is a brand new starting.”