Government work hums at the state capitol
Charbonneau Villager June 2025 5
Civic Affairs
By DAVE MAUK
Government work hums at the state capitol
MAUK
Last month I had the privilege to attend the swearing-in at the state capitol of our new state senator representing Charbonneau, Courtney Neron Misslin. She has been our rep in the house for the past six years, and was appointed by county commissioners for the seat held by Aaron Woods, who passed away from cancer on April 19.
During the time the senate seat sat empty to the official act of filling it I was reminded of government’ s bricks and mortar and the resiliency of our democratic systems. How, whether by election or appointment, the transition of the people’ s representatives is seamless by design and that this continuum is a foundational pillar of a healthy democratic republic.
State representatives, senators and their staffs work in a capitol building that has itself been transformed three times in the past 170 years. The first Salem capitol, built in 1855, served the Oregon territorial government. The capitol that welcomed the 20th century had elegantly symmetrical Italian Renaissance columns and a dome. It was built in 1876 and destroyed by a fire in 1935. The current capitol, built during the depression by the Works Progress Administration, was opened in 1939. The golden statue on top of the capitol is a bronze-cast, 22-foot tall, bearded pioneer woodsman, brandishing an axe in his right hand, while the left holds a tarp draped over his shoulder. Finished the same year Superman was first published, it’ s easy to see a similar brawny look to them both.
The capitol that welcomed in the new millennium is a modernistic monolith. It’ s austere Vermont marble facade can seem like a fortress on the outside. And in a way it is, like other
seats of government, in defending the democracy our founders drew up, that our ancestors fought for and where the laws of the land are written and maintained. People entering the capitol really are walking in the footsteps of Oregon’ s history. Once inside, this becomes even more apparent.
Today’ s capitol fits the gravity, decorum and duties of the work done within it. The chambers of the house and senate are high-ceiled, walnut-paneled, grand spaces that resemble a museum. Visitors might feel like they’ re in a setting where history is being reenacted. As it is. Like their predecessors, today’ s legislators are there to do work that benefits people’ s lives, happiness and prosperity.
One of the dramatic murals featured in the capitol rotunda( which is currently closed), is of the Lewis and Clark expedition at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. It shows the two leaders and the corps of discovery including Sacajawea, on the river bank below the falls. The other mural in the rotunda is a scene at Fort Vancouver, with a mix of buckskin clad frontiersmen, and men and women dressed in their Sunday best, with the silhouette of a large sailing vessel on the Columbia River in the background.
The mural dominating the house chamber depicts the scene at Champoeg when the first provisional government was established there in 1843. And in the senate chamber, the mural behind the dias shows the excitement of people in Salem’ s hearing of Oregon’ s February 14, 1859 admittance into the Union. This is where myself and other witnesses to the senator’ s swearing-in felt that excitement, too.
Being in the capitol reminded me that in representing people, our representatives are people, too. Some are better suited to the role than others. Some might be in office for personal gain, or other selfish reasons. The majority are dedicated to public service, inspired by making a difference in improving the lives of those they serve. Charbonneau has been fortunate to have representatives who are deeply committed to their
See CIVIC AFFAIRS / A8
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