Did brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy go too far when they led a 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge?
Participants at an annual conference for Republican activists in Salem decided by a narrow vote Saturday that they did.
The five-decade-old Dorchester Conference has no formal standing in the Oregon GOP. But it often serves as a forum to discuss some of the most divisive issues facing party members.
A federal jury last year acquitted the Bundy brothers and five others of federal charges related to the standoff. Several Dorchester attendees say the occupiers were right to argue that federal land management is too heavy-handed.
But others say the Bundys and their followers shouldn’t have carried weapons during the occupation, and they questioned whether the occupiers were acting in a lawful manner.
The vote was 89 to 84 in favor of a resolution criticizing the Bundys.
Four other occupiers are currently on trial in federal court in Portland. That case is expected to go to the jury this week.
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