QUOTE
O' THE WEEK
"Larry keeps talking about the nut harvest. At first
we thought he was referring to some get-out-the-vote drive."
--Robert Liberty of 1000 Friends of Oregon, commenting
on why Oregonians in Action head Larry George, a hazelnut
farmer, has missed some of the debates on Measures 2 and
7.
BIG MONEY
REARS UGLY HEAD!
In the final weeks before election day,
supporters and opponents of the campaign-finance reform
measure are flip-flopping faster than Olympic gymnasts.
First, there's Kate Brown. The Senate minority leader
backed legislation much like Measure 6 last session. The
bill didn't even make it to committee, but sponsor Rep.
Diane Rosenbaum expected Brown's endorsement on the ballot
initiative. Last week, however, Brown told WW that
she could not support M6.
News of her opposition left M6 proponents feeling betrayed
and started grumblings that after trying to raise more
than $800,000 for Democratic Senate candidates, Brown
got too deep into the system to see her way clear.
The Southeast Portland Democrat, however, said her position
was based on the budget: The state can't afford to finance
campaigns even if the tax and spending measures facing
the Legislature don't pass.
"We're looking at a $750 million shortfall," she said.
"We can't take money out of the classrooms and put it
into the political process."
Just a few days later she backed off and said she is
staying neutral.
Then there's AFSCME. The public employees union told
Measure 6 supporters it would stay neutral. But this week
it's changed its mind, telling its 20,000 members to vote
no on the initiative.
What happened? Let's just say there's been some powerful
persuasion.
The M6 folks, including Rosenbaum, sat the senator down
for a little chat. After leaving the meeting, Brown said
she understood how the campaigns could be funded without
robbing the schoolhouse. Proponents noted that in Maine,
which has a similiar public-financing law, elections are
funded almost entirely through tax-return checkoff. "I'm
feeling better about ballot Measure 6," she now says.
The public employee union, on the other hand, is feeling
a lot worse about M6 after Richard Butrick of Associated
Oregon Industries showed AFSCME the light. Union spokeswoman
Mary Botkin says the union now understands that the state
can't afford to pay for elections.
Butrick is having a lot of little chats, working his
mojo against M6. He says he doesn't like the idea of tax
money funding the campaigns of people like forest activist
Tre Arrow.
To that end, the No on 6 campaign has begun a series
of radio ads charging that the measure will spend taxpayer
money to fund the campaigns of eco-terrorists and Nazis.
In addition, he says, "it makes all the PACs, whether
it's AOI or Oregon Public Employees Union, obsolete."
(AOI plans to give $300,000 to political candidates in
2000.)
Kevin Looper of the M6 campaign says, "This comes down
to trying to preserve a system of paid access to lawmakers
which is benefiting AOI very well."
--Patty Wentz
OFF
YER ARSE
THREE WAYS TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF IRONY
*MOCK INTOLERANCE: The Special Righteousness Committee
has been poking fun at Lon Mabon since 1992. The group
will host a street theater demonstration Thursday, Oct.
26, on the sidewalk in front of the Portland Public Schools
Education Service Center at 501 N Dixon St.
*GET THE FACTS: Portland State University's noon forums
continue Wednesday, Nov. 23, with a debate on Measure
94, which would repeal the state's mandatory sentencing
law. PSU's Smith Memorial Center, Room 238, 1825 SW Broadway.
*GET SPECIFICS: Candidates for attorney general face
off for the City Club at 11:45 am Friday, Oct. 20. Multnomah
Athletic Club, 1849 SW Salmon St.; call 241-9242 for reservations.
Seating is free to members, $5 for nonmembers.
TRAIL
MIX
*Pucker up, ladies. Next Wednesday, House Republicans
are holding a fund-raiser at the home of GOP strategist
Elaine Franklin. The featured speaker? Franklin's hubbie,
Bob "Hot Lips" Packwood. Is anyone worried about
honoring a man pushed out of the U.S. Senate five years
ago for making unwanted sexual advances? Nah, says Majority
Leader Mark Simmons, "I don't think the issue has any
traction with the public." (Can you say gender gap? We
think you can.)
*Speaking of Simmons.... The man charged with keeping
the 60-member House in GOP hands told WW last week,
"If the vote were held today, we'd have 34." Barbara
Smith, the hired quipster for the House Ds, has a
different story. "I don't know what Simmons is smoking,"
the strategist chortles. "I heard he told an eastside
Republican he can't even guarantee 30."
*U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley was out $24,000 in expenses
and stuck with dinner for 400 when President Clinton canceled
a Sunday fund-raising gig at Memorial Coliseum and instead
headed for peace talks in Egypt. The food that had been
prepared ahead of time went to Blanchet House as a donation.
Hooley's campaign is still working out the details on
the dough she shelled out, considering Clinton's advance
team still expects to be paid.
*Rep. Bill Witt didn't make many friends in the
high-tech community when he sponsored a go-nowhere bill
to eliminate the strategic tax credit that provides millions
of dollars to companies in exchange for promised jobs.
The biggest benefactor of the SIP is Intel. Still,
that didn't keep the high-tech lobbying group American
Electronics Association from giving him $1,000 for
his race against Democrat Mitch Greenlick. Intel's Oregon
chief, Jim Johnson, however, gave $5,000 of personal money
to Greenlick, an OHSU prof. It isn't about the the tax
credit, Johnson insists. It's just that he thinks Dr.
Greenlick's health-care experience is necessary in Salem.
*Kevin Cosgrove, editor of OregonLive, is catching
some well-deserved flak for banning Green Party secretary
of state candidate Lloyd Marbet from an Oct. 30
debate on The Oregonian's website. In response
to Marbet's request to be included, Cosgrove dashed off
an email defending the O's king-making role. "With due
respect," he wrote, "our intent is for voters to hear
from the two people most likely to hold office."
Got grub? Send it to
pwentz@wweek.com.
