BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- Shortly after the gavel dropped Thursday on February’s special session, leaders for the state’s two legislative bodies spoke on the progress, or lack thereof, which was made in February.

Senate Minority Leader, Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, spoke about the partisan politics which he says played into the policies passed.

“The majority party has spent the last 24 days using the legislature as their personal political cattle prod, hoping that Oregonians won’t notice the posturing and vengeful, partisan retribution against political enemies,” said Ferrioli.

Contrarily, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, made an effort to shed light on the body’s accomplishments during the short session.

“We showed that in Oregon when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. We didn’t sit on our hands. We accomplished what we came here to do,” he said. “We brought the state budget back into balance after a revenue forecast that was down and tackled important policy issues.”

Speaker of the House, Dave Hunt, D-Clackamas County, echoed that sentiment saying, “From extending unemployment benefits and funding day care for low income families to adding more dollars for college aid, we’ve helped families today when they need it most.”

Roseburg Republican Bruce Hanna, House Minority Leader, made clear his frustrations on the legislature’s attempts to improve job creation in the state.

“There was a lot of talk about creating jobs, but the only jobs that were created this session were 200 new government positions that’ll be difficult for us to sustain in the future,” stated Hanna.

“It’s unfortunate that rather than curbing spending, legislative leaders drained reserves, increased state debt and then called for a federal bailout for the next budget.”