QUOTE
O' THE WEEK
"I have an Eeyore doll and a Tigger doll in my office,
and while I try to be more like Tigger, I tend to be a
cup-is-half-empty kind of guy."
--State Rep. Chris Beck, responding to criticism that
he's been too negative during past legislative sessions
GET
LIT
READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF CAMPAIGN LITERATURE
FOR TRACES OF WHITEWASH.
After getting blasted for a misleading radio ad in support
of Measure 8 (a prosed state spending limit), media consultant
Gregg Clapper has a new ad paid for by medical magnate
Loren Parks.
The ad continues to tout misleading claims about state
spending and goes after the Oregon Health Plan. Clapper
gives a series of outrageous examples of taxpayers getting
screwed by freeloaders on the plan, including $250,000
for "a convicted child molester from Mexico" to get a
bone-marrow transplant and a ski bum with a trust fund
getting kneecap replacement.
Problem is, no one knows what he's talking about.
Clapper says those examples come from state Sen. Eileen
Qutub, chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human
Resources. Qutub says the information came from an agency
that administers the health plan. But Jim Sellers, a health
plan spokesman, says he's never heard of the incidents.
He faxed the Parks Foundation a letter asking for the
names of the patients cited in the ad to track down the
information, but he's received no response.
FUN WITH
BILL, LYNN, LLOYD AND ED
Friday could be Fun Day with the City Club if a candidate
debate earlier this week is any indication. The four applicants
for secretary of state showed their stuff at a forum hosted
by the Oregon Student Association at Portland State University
on Monday. Between Bill Bradbury's facial expressions,
Lynn Snodgrass' sneak attacks, Lloyd Marbet's evangelizing
and Ed Pole's aeronautical antics, it made for a lively
show.
Even political cynics can enjoy this one: This year's
most expensive race has turned into a referendum of sorts
on campaign-finance reform.
City Clubbers can expect to hear a lot about Measure
6, the initiative that would provide public financing
of campaigns to any candidate willing to eschew big-dollar
donations. The measure was the issue during Monday
night's verbal joust. Bradbury, a Democratic incumbent,
is trying to take the high road on reform away from Green
Party challenger Marbet, who is following self-imposed
donation limits.
On Monday, just before the debate, Bradbury challenged
all his opponents to refuse to accept independent expenditures--that
is, campaign ads purchased by outside supporters. Pole,
the Libertarian candidate, showed Bradbury what he thought
about the idea by making paper airplanes out of copies
of the pledge and tossing them into the audience.
But Bradbury's challenge was really aimed at his GOP
rival. Snodgrass is steadfastly against Measure 6, which
is leading in the most recent polls. Although she says
she supports full disclosure of contributions, the Speaker
of the House sees the ballot initiative as lining the
pockets of politicians with public money.
While all this debate was going on over the influence
of money, political strategists and reporters were poring
over the contribution and expenditure reports that had
been filed with state elections earlier that day. The
reports show this is by far the most expensive race in
the state. Bradbury has raised $442,682; Snodgrass, $378,646.
The big donors aren't throwing money at the contest because
they care about campaign-finance reform, of course. It's
all about the post-Census redistricting that will adjust
and expand the legislative districts based on new population
numbers. After the Legislature haggles over the maps and
inevitably fails to come to a consensus on which line
goes where, the responsibility falls on the secretary
of state.
The City Club debate will be from 11:45 am to 1:15 pm
Friday, Oct. 13, at the downtown Hilton (call 228-7231
for reservations).
--Patty Wentz
OFF
YER ARSE
THREE WAYS TO SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY
*PARTY: The GOP's debate-watching party sounds
like fun. It's hosted by the Bush-Cheney 2000 Hispanic
Advisory Committee at Casa Lupita near Washington Square.
*CRUISE: X-PAC makes a good point. Young people
gripe that politicians don't listen to them, but given
that only one out of five of them voted in the last election,
why should they? No excuses: Go to xpac.org to get that
group's take on ballot measures and candidates or www.oregonvotes.com
to get the facts from the secretary of state's office.
*BROWNBAG: Spend your lunch hour at the library.
The City Club and League of Women Voters continue their
quest for civic education. At an Oct. 18 ballot-measure
forum, they'll present the gist of the eight most prominent
measures (11:30 am-1:30 pm at Multnomah County Central
Library).
TRAIL
MIX
*State Sen. Frank Shields is steamed. Shields
is running for the Multnomah County Commission, and his
District 4 opponent, former state Rep. Lonnie Roberts,
has hoovered up most of the big local labor dollars--$19,050
to be precise, including a whopping $10,000 from AFSCME.
Shields says that as "a sitting state Senator" he's being
dissed. The way the Methodist minister sees it, he's always
been a good friend of labor, but in this race that friendship
is worth only $2,350, according to his recent financial
statement.
*Oregon Gun Owners' John Hellen says he didn't
copy www.helpstopgunviolence.com code for code, but he
does admit he played a little fast and loose with the
cut-and-paste functions for his own website against Oregon's
gun control Measure 5, www.voteagainst5.com. He says he
was trying to minimize the negative feelings about the
site by emulating the gun-control folks
*Politics and literature made awkward bedfellows at last
week's fund-raiser for Democrat Secretary of State
Bill Bradbury. The party was called "Fahrenheit 2000"
(get it?), and authors Jean Auel, Ken Kesey, Jody Seay
and Chuck Palahniuk gave readings in support of
the the candidate. The bohemian thing didn't fly with
all the 80-some $100 payees, however. During Palahniuk's
reading of a grisly-beautiful scene from Fight Club,
one tightly-coiffed grand dame said, "I'd rather rent
a Disney movie, thank you very much."
* One of the most interesting tidbits to come out of
yesterday's contribution reports: Oregon Right to Life
has created a political action committee that's sitting
with a $191,000 balance aimed at passing Measure 2 and
fighting Measure 6, neither of which, on the surface,
has anything to do with abortion. Measure 2 allows challenges
to administrative rules--such as those governing Oregon's
doctor-assisted-suicide law. Measure 6 would limit the
amount of money ORTL can donate to pro-life candidates.
Got grub? Send it to
pwentz@wweek.com.
