It’s good to be King so you can cut off their heads if they accuse you of abuse of power–or if they just disagree with you. From Bend Bulletin:

…the newly released e-mails, …depict a sustained effort [by Hunt], including several e-mails and conversations, to persuade Head Start to endorse the measures and to fire Nelson.

First House Majority Leader, Democrat Mary Nolan threatens a lobbyist with early retirement after his support of M 66 & 67

Now we have the email scandal that shows House Speaker trying to cajole the clients of ANOTHER lobbyist into firing him because of his opposition to M 66 & 67. From Nick Budnick of the Bend Bulletin:

the newly released e-mails, obtained from Nelson, portray a more aggressive role by Hunt. They depict a sustained effort, including several e-mails and conversations, to persuade Head Start to endorse the measures and to fire Nelson.

Hunt gets in touch with one of Mark Nelson’s clients, Head Start:

Citing its desire to stay out of divisive fights, Head Start declined to support the measures or fire Nelson. That prompted Hunt to warn Miller that the 2011 session would be a rough one.
Hunt “indicated that we had ‘drawn a big bull’s-eye’ around ourselves in the event that (the tax measures) don’t pass,” Miller said in her e-mail.
“He said we have isolated ourselves by not taking a position (on the measures) and that others did step up. He said that 2011 will be a real challenge for us.”

And then Hunt got in touch with ANOTHER Head Start office, also a client of Mark Nelson and threatens their funding if they keep Nelson as their lobbyist:

On Jan. 9, he sent a Clackamas County Head Start official, Sue Elder, an e-mail saying he was following up on an earlier conversation “about Head Start’s representation in Salem …. Has your association taken any action yet?”
Elder then forwarded the message to other officials noting Hunt’s “concern about Mark Nelson representing us.”
He said he had e-mailed Miller to ask if the group had “taken any action” on Nelson because he was looking at potential budget cuts if the measures went down, and “I wanted to have a clear sense of what the challenges were going to be in terms of protecting money for Head Start.”
One such obstacle, he said, would be having a lobbyist like Nelson, who “is not a credible messenger for (protecting) general funds,” thanks to his anti-tax stance.

Oh, and he did it again to the head of the Harney County Head Start official and he threatened her with cuts to her budget:

In September, when a Harney County Head Start official, Donna Schnitker, e-mailed Hunt to thank him for supporting Head Start last year, he responded with a message noting Nelson’s work on the anti-tax campaign. Hunt said if Nelson is successful, “there will be no way that Head Start can continue to be protected” from budget cuts.

And then Hunt doubled down on the threats:

On Jan. 9, he sent a Clackamas County Head Start official, Sue Elder, an e-mail saying he was following up on an earlier conversation “about Head Start’s representation in Salem …. Has your association taken any action yet?”
Elder then forwarded the message to other officials noting Hunt’s “concern about Mark Nelson representing us.”

Hunt told Nick Budnick that he was only being helpful,

“I wanted to make sure … that they are in the best position to be successful,” he said of Head Start.

This is precisely the kind of corruption that Oregonians will vote OUT in November.