[CFR-Announce] Article about Our Campaign in Oregonian today

[Dan Meek]

The Oregonian article includes a sidebar (not shown below) with contact 
info for us:

www.fairelections.net
503-246-7850
800-939-8011
info at fairelections.net

	


  Initiatives would alter campaign finance laws

*Politics - Two proposals would ban corporate and union contributions 
and restrict individual amounts *
Monday, November 28, 2005
DAVE HOGAN
*The Oregonian*

After a legislative campaign scandal prompted legislators to revise 
Oregon's campaign finance laws this year, it's likely that voters will 
consider much bigger changes next year.

Petitioners for a pair of campaign finance initiatives say they have 
gathered about 106,000 signatures. That's more than half the number 
needed to place the proposals on next November's ballot, with seven 
months until the deadline to collect the rest.

The initiatives would dramatically alter the financing of political 
campaigns in Oregon, one of five states with no limits on campaign 
contributions. They would ban contributions by corporations and labor 
unions, and restrict the amounts that individuals could give to campaigns.

Thanks to a recent poll, which found that three of every four voters 
support limiting campaign contributions, supporters of the initiatives 
are optimistic that voters will approve the proposals if they appear on 
the ballot.

"We just don't think it's defeatable," said Harry Lonsdale of Sisters, 
one of the leaders of the effort to place the initiatives on next year's 
ballot.

Because the proposals are not on the ballot yet, there is no organized 
opposition. But many of Oregon's most powerful political players -- 
industry associations, unions and corporations -- have opposed 
contribution limits as an unconstitutional restriction of their rights, 
and they are likely to be vocal critics of the initiatives if they 
qualify for next year's election.

Giving campaign dollars is viewed as a key way to gain influence because 
it is a necessary ingredient for most candidates. Legislative races 
routinely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a contest such as 
next year's race for governor will cost millions.

Campaign money laws have been in the public eye much of this year, both 
in Oregon and nationally. Oregon legislators made a number of campaign 
finance changes, including increasing penalties for personal use of 
campaign money, starting limited auditing of candidates' campaign 
finance reports, and establishing a searchable electronic reporting 
system for campaign finance data, which will begin in 2007.

Those changes came after Rep. Dan Doyle, R-Salem, resigned Jan. 31. 
Doyle pleaded guilty this fall to filing false campaign finance reports 
to hide the payment of more than $145,000 in campaign money to him and 
his wife. He was sentenced last month and is serving a 10-month sentence 
at a Marion County sheriff's office work center.

The roots of the proposed initiatives go back much further, marking the 
latest in more than a decade of attempts to limit campaign money in 
Oregon. The effort succeeded once -- but only briefly. In 1994, 
Oregonians, with 72 percent of the vote, approved a measure that limited 
campaign contributions and spending.

The measure was in effect for the 1996 elections, but the Oregon Supreme 
Court overturned it, ruling that campaign contributions were protected 
by the Oregon Constitution's free-speech provisions.

Lonsdale, Portland attorney Dan Meek and others have since tried several 
times to place limits on campaign money, including last year, but they 
failed to collect enough signatures to place proposals on the ballot. 
Their closest miss came in 2002, when they fell about 10,000 signatures 
short of the 89,000 needed.

"The vast majority of those signatures came in during the last three 
months, so we're significantly ahead of that this time," Meek said.

Lonsdale noted that they also have money this year -- about $100,000 -- 
to help collect signatures through a network of volunteer and paid 
petition circulators.

*$2,500 contribution cap *

Because of the court ruling that overturned the 1994 ballot measure, one 
of the new proposals -- Petition 8 -- is a one-sentence amendment to the 
Oregon Constitution. It would explicitly allow state laws to prohibit or 
limit campaign contributions and expenditures.

The constitutional amendment requires 100,840 valid signatures to be 
approved for the ballot, and Meek said 63,000 signatures have been 
collected.

The other proposal, Petition 37, would fill in the blanks. In addition 
to banning corporate and union contributions, it calls for limiting the 
number of dollars each individual could contribute to campaigns. For 
each primary and general election, the limit would be $500 to a 
candidate in a statewide race for an office such as governor, and $100 
for any nonstatewide candidate such as a legislator or county commissioner.

In addition, overall campaign contributions by an individual would be 
capped at $2,500 per calendar year.

Other states place overall limits on individuals' contributions, but 
Oregon's would be the lowest of those that have annual limits, Meek 
said. The lowest caps are currently in Arizona, which limits annual 
contributions to a total of $3,530, while Rhode Island and Wisconsin 
have annual limits of $10,000 total. Maryland limits contributions to 
$10,000 in a four-year period.

As a statutory proposal, Petition 37 needs 75,630 valid signatures to 
make the Oregon ballot, and Meek said 43,000 signatures have been 
collected.

*Strong public support *

A poll taken in August found strong support for limiting campaign 
contributions. The questioning, done for the initiatives' supporters by 
Riley Research Associates, included responses from 501 registered voters 
throughout Oregon who had voted in two of the past three most recent 
elections. Fifty-seven percent said they strongly supported limits, and 
another 19 percent said they somewhat supported them. A total of 13 
percent opposed limits, while 11 percent were undecided.

The limits proposed in the initiatives would make a massive change in 
the state's politics. Last year, for instance, a third of the more than 
$17 million given to Oregon legislative candidates came from 25 unions, 
corporations and industry associations.

Meek and Lonsdale say that's the idea. They see campaign money playing a 
major role in the Legislature's handling of many corporate issues, 
including utilities collecting but not paying millions of dollars in 
taxes and the level of the state's commissions to lottery retailers.

"We think the system reeks of corruption," Lonsdale says. "We want to 
return campaigns to the people."

Dave Hogan: 503-221-8531; davehogan at news.oregonian.com


©2005 The Oregonian

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