Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said in a statement Monday that he was pleased to hear about the potential partnership between Salem Health and OHSU.
“OHSU is a health care juggernaut that provides leading-edge services to people from all across our great state,” he said. “A partnership between our hospital and OHSU could catapult medical services in our community to be among the best in the Northwest and even the entire West Coast.”
State Senate President Peter Courtney is the Michael Jordan of Oregon politics.
He appears to know his strengths and weaknesses. He doesn’t pretend to have the highest intellect in the Oregon Capitol. He admits he doesn’t understand the intricacies of budgets. He counts on others, including Democratic Sen. Richard Devlin and Republican Sen. Jackie Winters, to figure out those details.
But he has immense political intelligence. Although he loves the limelight and the role of showman, he gives others credit. His campaign slogan long has been that no one works harder.
Senate President Peter Courtney, a Salem Democrat who has come out in strong support of the bill, said Friday the policy is still alive and that the situation is “dynamic and fluid” heading into the weekend.
“It would be great to be able to get a breakthrough in this area,” he said. “We’re all working hard to try to get it through.”