[CFR-Announce] Op-Ed about Campaign Finance Reform in Wednesday's Oregonian

[FairElections Oregon]

  CAMPAIGN FINANCE

by Harry Lonsdale
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

*Get big money out of Oregon's politics *

O n Election Day of our recent primary, The (Bend) Bulletin offered two 
parallel stories on its front page. One was about all of the big money 
affecting the different races in the state. The other was about the 
unusually low voter turnout.

Was it just a coincidental juxtaposition of these two stories? Or does 
all of the big money actually suppress voter turnout? What's your guess?

Here are a few of the facts: In the governor's race, one man -- Loren 
Parks, now living in Nevada -- contributed $713,100 to Kevin Mannix's 
Republican primary campaign. That's about 40 percent of all the money 
Mannix raised. Parks also spent $170,000 on radio ads attacking one of 
Mannix's opponents, Ron Saxton. Saxton, no slouch himself in the 
money-raising department, received $100,000 from Rod Wendt of the 
Jeld-Wen Co. of Klamath Falls and another $100,000 from Bill Swindells, 
former CEO of Willamette Industries.

In the other major money story, the Grande Ronde tribes spent $820,000 
in so-called independent expenditures against Mannix and Democratic Gov. 
Ted Kulongoski because they support the proposal of the Warm Springs 
tribes to site a new casino in Cascade Locks, 35 miles east of Portland 
-- much closer than the Grande Ronde casino that's 75 miles southwest of 
Portland.

Qualifying for a runoff for a seat on Oregon's Supreme Court was Jack 
Roberts, who has not practiced law for decades but who spent more than 
$400,000 in the primary, breaking all previous records for a Supreme 
Court race. He got a $150,000 contribution from the political arm of the 
National Association of Manufacturers, the nation's largest corporate 
lobbying group. He also got $50,000 from Loren Parks.

How can all this happen? Because Oregon has no limits on political 
campaign contributions -- one of only five states with no such limits. 
So big money pours into the system, and that's one of the factors that 
turns off voters.

Oregon needs campaign-finance reform, and it needs it soon. Two ballot 
measure petitions are circulating on the streets right now that will 
bring about that reform. These are Petitions 8 and 37. Under Petition 
37, the obscene money from our recent primary would have been sharply 
limited. Individual contributions would be limited to $1,000 an 
election. Independent expenditures by corporations or unions also would 
be banned, while those made by individuals would be limited to $10,000. 
Even $1,000 or $10,000 is still more money than most people can afford, 
but Petition 37 is intended to be a compromise between free speech and 
big money-influenced elections.

Why should we care? Because "He who pays the piper calls the tune" -- or 
its more modern equivalent: "The golden rule of politics is that he who 
supplies the gold makes the rules."

Even in the absence of corruption, do we really want any one person, or 
one tribe or lobbying group, to be the deciding factor in who should be 
our next governor or Supreme Court justice?

If the will of the vast majority of Oregonians prevails, these two 
measures will make the November ballot. But don't be surprised if more 
big money -- from corporations, labor unions or the ultra-rich -- pays 
for negative ads against them. Who will decide how Oregon is governed? 
It's really up to you.

Harry Lonsdale, a former Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, lives 
in Sisters. Find out more about campaign finance reform online by 
calling 1-800-939-8011 or at www.fairelections.net.


©2006 The Oregonian

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