The Oregon House voted to expel a Republican lawmaker who was accused of helping far-right protesters storm the state Capitol last year.
The House voted 59-1 on a resolution declaring that Mike Nearman’s act of opening a Capitol door for a far-right crowd on Dec. 21 amounted to “disorderly behavior,” the constitutional standard for ejecting a legislator, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Nearman was the only lawmaker to vote against his removal.
Nearman has been facing calls to resign especially after video emerged last week showing him talking to an audience of protesters about how they could get inside the Capitol, even telling them to text his cellphone.
Nearman was seen on surveillance video opening an interior door then leaving the building through an external door, stepping around a man holding a flagpole and kept on walking. The man held the door open then rushed to prevent the interior door from closing. He signals for the other protesters to enter.
Once inside, protesters clashed with police for about eight minutes before they sprayed officers with “some kind of chemical agent,” causing them to retreat from the doorway, thus allowing the protesters to enter the building.
Nearman had previously been stripped of committee assignments and forced to pay $2,000 to make up for damages caused by the protesters. He was also charged with first-degree official misconduct and second-degree criminal trespass.
“The facts are clear that Mr. Nearman unapologetically coordinated and planned a breach of the Oregon state Capitol,” Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D) said. “His actions were blatant and deliberate, and he has shown no remorse for jeopardizing the safety of every person in the Capitol that day. Given the extraordinary circumstances, this was the only reasonable path forward.”
House Republican Leader Christine Drazan also criticized Nearman for allowing protesters to enter the Capitol. Drazan said someone could’ve died that day.
“[Nearman] made a decision to intentionally come up with a plan to let people into the building [when] he did not know how that would turn out and he was comfortable with that,” Drazan said. “I am not comfortable with that. There could easily have been a death on that day.”
Meanwhile, Nearman, who is the first member of the Oregon House to be expelled is making light of the situation. He told a conservative radio host last week that “someday you’re gonna be watching Jeopardy and somebody’s gonna say, ‘Who is Mike Nearman?’ And that’s gonna be the right answer,” The Daily Beast reports.
