[CFR-Announce] Vicki Walker is the SoS Candidate Who Stands Up to Big Money in Politics

[FairElections Oregon]

As a supporter of the 2006 campaign finance reform measures in Oregon, 
you know that Oregon's campaign finance "system" is broken.  To reform 
it, we need someone who isn't beholden to special interests or wealthy 
out-of-state contributors.

Fortunately, this year we have someone running to be the chief overseer 
of elections in Oregon who has a record of fighting for more 
accountability and transparency in state government and who is running a 
true grassroots campaign.

State Senator Vicki Walker has spent the last decade in Salem fighting 
against the big money special interests that seem to control other 
politicians.  Vicki was the originator and chief sponsor of SB 408 
(2005), which stopped the private utilities from charging Oregon 
ratepayers  for "income taxes" that the utilities actually never paid.  
These charges had amounted to over $1 billion since 1997.

    *Vicki also played a pivotal role in stopping the 2003-05 efforts of
    Neil Goldschmidt and the Texas Pacific Group (leveraged buyout
    artists) from taking over Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) and
    then probably dismantling it---as Texas Pacific later did to
    utilities it bought in Texas---with profits in the billions of dollars.*

*Her actions in the 2005 Legislature caused the big money interests to 
fund against her in 2006 the second most expensive campaign for a State 
Senate seat in Oregon history.*  Her opponent's campaign spent over 
$734,000 (about $31 per vote), nearly all coming from corporate-funded 
PACs.  To overcome the paid media barrage, Vicki was herself compelled 
to raise large sums.  So she knows exactly the effects of Oregon's 
current "system" of having no limits whatsoever on political contributions.

Vicki is running for Secretary of State and needs the help of people 
like us who believe it is time to reform the way money influences 
politics.  She supports campaign finance reform that sets limits on 
political contributions and provides the opportunity for publicly funded 
campaigns.

She isn't hiding behind sound bites and 30-second TV ads.  Instead, her 
website, http://www.vickiwalker.com, includes a detailed discussion of 
her  ideas to level the playing field, such as prohibiting pass-through 
political contributions (also banned by our Measure 47) and requiring 
that the Voters Pamphlet list the top five contributors for each measure.

We strongly support Vicki.  She is being vastly outspent by her 
opponents, who are getting five-figure contributions from out-of-state 
groups.  Vicki is counting on small contributors throughout the state.

We hope you will join us by donating $100 or whatever you can afford. If 
we are ever going to see real campaign finance reform enacted in Oregon, 
we need to start by electing a Secretary of State who believes that 
courage to stand up against big money should matter more than insider 
connections.


Sincerely,

Tom Civiletti
David Delk
Ernest Delmazzo (Injured Workers Alliance)
Drew Kaza
Lloyd K. Marbet
Dan Meek
Eulia Quan Mishima
Liz Trojan


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