With the start of December, the two groups campaigning for and against a pair of major Oregon tax measures ignited their multimedia advertising strategies.
The measures in debate, 66 and 67, are expected to raise $733 million to balance the 2009-2011 state budget from increased taxes on the top two percent of earners and large in-state corporations. According to the legislative measure summaries, the majority of the funds will go toward education, health care and public safety. With less than two months to go until the Jan. 26 special election day, both organizations are eager to publicly expose one another’s flaws while boosting their own integrity.
Currently, both Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, the Republican Party-supported group in opposition to the tax hike, and Vote Yes For Oregon, the supporting side endorsed by the Democratic Party, have aired multiple television and radio ads.
One side in particular has gotten especially creative to get its point across to the public.
In the last week of November, thousands of Oregon voters received a letter from what appeared to be a Tillamook dairy farmer, Carol Marie Leuthold, who urged readers to vote no on the potential tax hike.
“Facing higher taxes, small businesses like ours would be forced to lay off workers, reduce wages and benefits, or close their doors,” Leuthold wrote.
In fine print below Leuthold’s signature, it reads: “I worked with Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes to share my thoughts with you in this letter.”
According to Vote Yes for Oregon spokesperson Scott Moore, the Leuthold dairy farm is a limited liability corporation, meaning Leuthold’s “small business” would actually be one of the larger corporations hit with Measure 67’s new tax raise, increasing the minimum corporate tax from $10 to $150. Further investigation revealed that the return address on her letter was that of an abandoned mattress warehouse in Salem, and the appearance of her signature varied in the mailed letters, suggesting that different people had signed her name.
In a letter posted on the Tillamook County Creamery Association Web site, Corporate Communications Manager Heidi Luquette explained that Leuthold’s views are not representing those of the association and that they currently haven’t taken a position on the measures. However, the Dairy Farmers of Oregon and Oregon Cattlemen’s Association have announced their opposition to the measures.
“This is just another example that the opposing lobbyists can’t find any small business farmer to represent them,” said Moore, who described two similar profile examples. “They have to resort to making stories up.”
To Pat McCormick, spokesperson for Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, the letter was simply a concept intended to be “treated as a personal letter” by voters.
McCormick’s campaign has been airing three television and radio ads, demonstrating that the act of raising taxes during a recession is devastating to businesses, and by doing so, would ultimately cost thousands of Oregonians their jobs.
One of the group’s ads highlights an Aug. 5 interview with President Barack Obama, in which he states: “The last thing we want to do is raise taxes during the middle of a recession.”
“We think he’s done a good job articulating exactly the issue Oregonians face as whether these taxes are a good idea right now,” McCormick said in a press release.
Moore’s campaign, endorsed by the Oregon Educational System and Oregon Public Health Association, has been airing a television ad for a few weeks, targeting the imbalance between large corporations and middle-class taxes.
Vote Yes For Oregon, supported by the University’s College Democrats, will begin on-campus campaign efforts next term, Moore said.
“The youth vote is critical for these measures,” Moore said. “If the measures fail, there will be a significant impact on tuition, class size and overall funding for the Oregon
University System.”
Moore added that unlike his group’s opponent, Vote Yes for Oregon will not seek a famous face to stand for its campaign, as “the most incredible face for voters is the people they know, such as teachers, law enforcement and other groups that voters know and trust.”
As the months until the Jan. 26 election become just weeks, both campaigns urge Oregonians to invest their time in evaluating how Measures 66 and 67 will affect them. To vote in the special election, Oregonians should register before Jan. 5.
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