Mark Hass

Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, rose to the challenge of figuring out a way to bring the "Game of Thrones" into legislative debate.

(Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian)

State Sen. Mark Hass is a huge "Game of Thrones" fan -- he's even read the books -- so he couldn't resist rising to the challenge of working the hit HBO show into his speeches at the Oregon Legislature.

And so it came to pass, over the course of the session, that the Beaverton Democrat peppered his utterances with some now-classic Ned Stark quotes. For the uninitiated, Stark is kind of the moral center of the series, despite (or maybe because of) his beheading in the first season.

Some of it was pretty easy, such as his quip during a meeting last December that "winter is coming." But it was tougher working in this quote: "You will marry a high lord and rule his castle. And your sons will be knights and princes and lords."

Hass found a way and -- spoiler alert -- it produced a great unscripted response from Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem.

Hass and his aides produced a video for Suk Rhee, a vice president at the Northwest Health Foundation who last year bet Hass he couldn't work some "Game" quotes into legislative debate.

"I'm amazed at the the similarities in "Game of Thrones" and the real world of politics," said Hass, adding drily that Oregon politics are a "tad less violent."

Here's his video:

--Jeff Mapes

503-221-8209

@Jeffmapes