[CFR-Announce] You Can Put the Campaign Finance Reform Measures on the Oregon Ballot!
Dan Meek
dan at meek.net
Wed Apr 19 19:48:18 EDT 2006
*We are 80% of the way to getting two crucial campaign finance reform
measures on Oregon's November ballot. Your help _now_ can make it happen!
*
Now is the time to join over 300 other volunteers who are getting
signatures for the Oregon Campaign Finance Reform Initiatives: Petition
8 and Petition 37.
On Petition 8, the one-sentence constitutional amendment, we have
collected over 111,000 signatures. But we need 140,000 to be safe. *So
we need just 29,000 more signatures on Petition 8 before July 7.
*On Petition 37, the statute limiting political contributions in all
state and local races in Oregon, we have collected over 92,000
signatures, but we need 106,000 to be safe. *So we need just 14,000
more signatures on Petition 8 before July 7.*
To get signature sheets, contact info at fairelections.net or 800-939-8011
*and give us your mailing address* and the number of signature sheets
you want (spaces for 10 signatures per sheet). Be ambitious; ask for
many sheets. This is the best way to go. Each signature sheet is a
3-fold "self-mailer" that is pre-addressed back to FairElections Oregon.
Or go to www.fairelections.net and click on "Create Your Petition
Packet" in the left column. If you do this, YOU MUST PRINT THE "COVER
SHEET" _ON THE BACK_ OF THE "SIGNATURE SHEET" OR ALL THE SIGNATURES YOU
COLLECT WILL NOT COUNT.
*_With the endorsements and support of the Oregon Sierra Club,
Alliance for Democracy,
OSPIRG, and many others, we can get this done and make history._*
Thanks!
Dan Meek
**dan at meek.net
Check out this article in the Portland Alliance:
The Portland Alliance.org title image
**About Us <http://www.theportlandalliance.org/about.html> - Subscribe
<http://www.theportlandalliance.org/subscribe.html> - Contact &
Submission info <http://www.theportlandalliance.org/contact.html>**
------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Front Page <http://www.theportlandalliance.org/index.html> >
Issues <http://www.theportlandalliance.org/issues.html> > 2006
<http://www.theportlandalliance.org/index.html>>***April*
Sierra Club backs campaign finance reform
By Dave Mazza
The state's largest environmental group is throwing its weight behind
two statewide petition initiatives that, if passed, would severely limit
the role of money in Oregon elections. The Sierra Club of Oregon
announced its endorsement of Initiative Petitions 8 and 37 (see sidebar
for details) in a Feb. 28 press release. FairElections Oregon is
circulating both statewide campaign finance reform measures. Oregon is
one of only five states that do not limit political contributions.
Initiative Petitions 8 & 37
Oregon voters originally approved political contribution limits in 1994,
but three years later the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the state
constitution did not allow such limits. FairElections Oregon is trying
to correct that by a two-step process.
Step one is Initiative Petition 8, a one-sentence amendment to the
Oregon constitution that would permit limits to be imposed on political
contributions. Step two is Initiative Petition 37, a detailed statute
that restores and updates the 1994 limits.
Initiative Petition 37 bans all corporations, labor union treasuries,
and other entities from making contributions in candidate campaigns.
There are 21 states that currently ban corporate contributions and 14
that ban union contributions. Initiative Petition 37 allows any
individual person to contribute in candidate races (primary and general
elections are separate races):
* $500 in any statewide race (governor, attorney general, secretary
of state, treasurer, labor commissioner, superintendent of
education, appeals court judge); and
* $100 in any non-statewide race (state legislature, city council,
etc.).
In addition, any person can contribute $50 per year to any small donor
committee, $500 to any political committee, and $2,000 to any political
party with an aggregate limit on all of these contributions of $2,500
per person per year. Individuals contributing within these limits would
be the only source of funds for political committees and political parties.
Initiative Petition 37 allows anyone or any group to create a small
donor committee which can receive contributions of $50 or less per
contributor per year. The committee can use these funds in any amount to
support or oppose any candidate or candidates. Membership organizations
of individuals such as public interest groups or labor unions can form
these committees --- as well as regular political committees --- and can
allocate part of each member's dues to the committee as long as it
doesn't allocate more than $50 per member per year. Membership
organizations can also solicit contributions from its members.
Under Initiative Petition 37, a candidate may spend not more than
$50,000 in a statewide partisan race or $10,000 in any other race with
those limits increased by 50 percent for non-incumbents.
Initiative Petition 37 bans all such expenditures by corporations,
unions, and other entities and limits individuals to "independent
expenditures" of not more than $10,000 per year on all candidate races.
Further, it requires:
* Every campaign ad funded by "independent expenditures" must
prominently disclose everyone who contributed $1,000 or more to
the "independent" campaign, their lines of business and the
amounts contributed; and
* Anyone making independent expenditures during any two-year
election cycle in excess of $200 must publicly report the
expenditures in the same manner and schedule as a political
committee must report.
For more information on Initiative Petitions 8 & 37, see
www.fairelections.net. For information on the Sierra Club endorsement,
see www.oegon.sierraclub.org.
"What Tom DeLay was indicted for in Texas is completely legal in
Oregon," states Harry Lonsdale, a former candidate for the U.S. Senate
and supporter of the two measures.
Backers of the two measures say Oregon's current system allows wealthy
individuals and corporations to buy the government they want --- leaving
most citizens to pay the price in more ways than one.
"If we really want Oregon's government to reflect the values of
Oregonians, then we have to change our campaign finance system,"
explained Barry Wulff, Oregon Chapter Sierra Club's political chair. "As
long as corporate polluters have so much control of our political
system, we should not be surprised when the system continues to allow
pollution of Oregon's air, water and people."
The claim by supporters of Petitions 8 and 37 about money choking our
political system seems upheld by the numbers. Over the past decade, the
cost of Oregon campaigns increased tenfold. Corporations outspent labor
unions by five-to-one and environmental groups by 100s-to-one. In the
2002 gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Kevin Mannix received over
$1.2 million from six corporate contributors. Between them,
gubernatorial contenders Mannix and Ted Kulongoski spent $4.5 million.
The cost to win a contested state senate seat is now more than $500,000.
A similar seat in the state house is more than $250,000.
Candidates are the only ones claiming money doesn't buy results. Enron
purchased PGE in 1997. Over the following two election cycles they
contributed more than $400,000 to legislative candidates from both major
parties. In return, they received the largest electricity rate increase
in Oregon history ---over $400 million per year. They also got away with
charging Oregon ratepayers more than $800 million in "state and federal
income taxes" never paid by PGE or Enron.
The Sierra Club and FairElections Oregon both believe public support for
reform is at an all-time high. In 1994, 72 percent of Oregon voters
approved limits on political contributions, only to have the Oregon
Supreme Court strike it down as unconstitutional. A recent Oregon voter
poll conducted by Riley Research Associates shows 76 percent of Oregon
voters support the establishment of limits on state and local campaign
contributions. Only 13 percent oppose and 11 percent remain undecided.
Of those who expressed an opinion, 85 percent favored creation of
limits, including 90 percent of Democrats, 79 percent of Republicans and
87 percent of "other."
Winning the endorsement of the Sierra Club is a major coup for the
election reformers. Not only is the Club the largest member-based
environmental group in the state, they are the most active in electoral
politics, bringing money and a cadre of members with experience in
electoral politics. And then, of course, there is the name recognition
the Club's endorsement extends to an issue. All of this will be needed
for the campaign to collect the 100,840 valid signatures necessary by
the July 7, 2006 deadline to qualify for the November ballot.
"These are really important ballot measures that will help Oregonians
take back our political system and help restore confidence that our
government is not being run by wealthy corporate interests," states Ivan
Mulaski, a Sierra Club task force member. "We will be urging all of our
members to take a very active role in this campaign."
Dave Mazza is editor of The Portland Alliance.
* <http://www.theportlandalliance.org/2006/apr/sierraclubcfr.htm#TOP>*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://oreg.org/pipermail/cfr-announce_oreg.org/attachments/20060419/8372ce4d/attachment-0001.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 6687 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://oreg.org/pipermail/cfr-announce_oreg.org/attachments/20060419/8372ce4d/attachment-0001.gif
More information about the CFR-Announce
mailing list