State Sen. Jeff Kruse was uneasy last February when Senate President Peter Courtney appeared in a hearing room doorway at the Capitol and summoned the Roseburg Republican into the hall. Courtney, a Salem Democrat, had caught wind that Kruse was suffering health problems, and Courtney wasn’t happy. He didn’t believe Kruse was taking matters seriously. Courtney, a colon cancer survivor, has been in the Legislature since 1981 and is the body’s longest-serving member. He told Kruse to get with it. “He just read me the riot act,” Kruse said. “Peter Courtney can be very dramatic, and he was telling me, …




