State ballot measures may have a hefty conservative weight to them this November when nine of the 10 possible initiatives filed have come from veteran conservative petitioners.
The Secretary of State’s office will begin verifying the signatures on a number of initiatives this month as the fall ballot begins to take shape.
July 3 was the deadline for petitioners to submit signatures, and the Secretary of State’s office will have until Aug. 2 to verify the signatures.
The bulk of submitted initiatives come from anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore, Vice-Chairman of the Oregon Republican Party Russ Walker, and former GOP head Kevin Mannix.
The lone possible initiative not submitted by the conservative trio is an attempt by a former Oregon secretary of state at an open primary system.
The initiative, sponsored by Democrat Phil Keisling, would create a primary voting system open to all voters regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters would advance to the November ballot.
However, the initiative is expected to draw the ire of both major parties as similar open primary proposals have experienced in other states.
Campaign finance tracking organization Democracy Reform Oregon has chastised the fundraising efforts of the three conservatives because 50 percent of the signature-gathering fundraising has come from one donor – Loren Parks, a perennial donor to conservative candidates and initiatives.
“Ballot measure politics are typically dominated by big donors,” said Janice Thompson, executive director of Democracy Reform Oregon, in a recent press release. “But the level of domination by one person in determining what measures will be on the 2008 ballot raises the question of whether or not Oregon’s initiative system is direct democracy or democracy according to Loren Parks.”
Parks contributed more than $1.1 million of the $2.2 million raised, making him the largest donor to eight of the 10 possible initiatives, according to Democracy Reform Oregon.
The $1.1 million figure shattered the previous donor record set in 2002 – a record held by Parks when he contributed more than $300,000 to three initiative campaigns, according to Democracy Reform Oregon.
Initiatives
Sizemore filed five of the conservative initiatives, two of which are nearly identical to measures voters have rejected in the past, and one that would deplete state coffers by up to $2.5 billion.
His possible ballot measures are intended to:
? Allow residents to deduct their federal income taxes from state income tax returns, an initiative nearly identical to a past measure struck down by voters.
According to the state Legislative Revenue Office estimates, the deductions would cost the state $1.3 billion in the 2009-11 biennium and $2.5 billion in 2011-13.
? Require teacher salaries to be determined by “classroom performance” and not seniority.
? Allow homeowners to make property improvements of up to $35,000 without needing to file a building permit.
? Impose a limit of two years on the amount of time that non-English-speaking children may be taught in a language other than English.
? Prohibit public resources, such as unionized state employees’ public time or money, to be used for political purposes, another measure that was rejected by voters in the past.
Walker introduced two initiatives that have been submitted to the Secretary of State’s office for signature verification. They are meant to:
? Limit the contingency fee a lawyer can pass on to clients at 25 percent of the first $25,000 or 10 percent of any recovery above $25,000.
? Impose court sanctions on attorneys who file frivolous pleadings or motions.
Mannix has long taken the iron fist approach to fighting crime. The author of Oregon’s Measure 11, which imposed mandatory prison sentences for violent crimes, now wants to impose new mandatory sentences and find new revenue to fight crime. His initiatives would:
? Create mandatory sentences for some theft, identity fraud, forgery, drug and burglary offenses.
? Allocate 15 percent of lottery proceeds to crime prevention, investigation and prosecution. Critics, however, have decried this form of lottery revenue shifting because the money currently goes to fund education, parks and economic development.
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