By The FirstDemocratic candidate for governor in Oregon Tina Kotek can’t hide from her ‘Defund the Police’ past —her opponents won’t let her.
During the Oregon gubernatorial debate on Wednesday night, things got a little heated between Democratic candidate Kotek and opponents Republican Christine Drazan and independent Betsy Johnson when the topic of law enforcement came up.
“When people call 911, they need to feel safe and have the right response at the right time. I’ve always supported our state police,” Kotek said. “And we do need more officers. And one of the things the state can do is increase the number of classes and trainings that are available. It’s important to have state police around the state to particularly serve our rural communities.”
Her opponents weren’t going to let her off that easy.
“Tina Kotek is the original defund the police candidate,” Drazan said during her time to respond. “She did not support the police even when rioters were attacking a police station. It’s stunning to me that she would talk now like she supports law enforcement.”
“As governor, I will fully fund state police,” Drazan continued. “As governor, I will support law enforcement because we need it in our communities. Our communities are less safe today because we have less police on our streets.”
Johnson agreed with Drazan’s assessment of Kotek and added a point of her own.
“We’ve gotta start by respecting our police. That doesn’t mean walking with the rioters or excoriating the police when the riots were happening.”
More over at Fox News:
