Winter '04 Issue 28 Yoga-Agelessness in the Face of Aging Put Away Your Toys - Poetry Chronic Pain-The Hidden Epidemic Mind Over Genes-The New Biology Confessions of a Straight Man The Courage to Fly Stretched Toward Him Like a Dark Wake Of Coastal Hikes and Buoyed Hopes Let’s Get the Big Money OUT of Oregon Politics Leaving Home: Facing Reality without Losing Hope-A Peaceful Nation Some Dare Call It Treason-Wake Up America! Radical Astrology: Inner Guidance and Outer Transformation Dreams of Kindness, Love & Grace |
Are you sick and tired of all of the Big Money in Oregon politics? Troubled that some lobbyist from the tobacco industry is out on the golf course—right now—with your State Representative? Does the thought arise that democracy is broken in America? If so, read on. There’s something you can do to help fix the problem. This is possible using the Voter’s Initiative. It allows We the People to pass laws, even amend the state Constitution. In 1902, Oregon became the second state, after South Dakota, to approve—with 90+% of the vote—a Constitutional Amendment giving citizens the direct power to make laws. Two years later, Oregon became the first state in the union to actually make laws this way. Thus was born the Voter’s Initiative, the only real political power that voters have. The Initiative has been widely used in Oregon ever since. We’ve passed more laws by Initiative than any other state—and, for the most part, the Initiative process has been enormously beneficial to Oregonians. Women got the right to vote in Oregon, by Initiative, in 1912, years before it became federal law. Similarly, the 40-hour workweek became law in Oregon by the voters’ Initiative process. These were the most important social justice issues of the day. Now we’ve got an issue every bit as big as those issues were then. We’re going after Big Money in politics. And we will win, just as earlier generations of Oregonians won. We’re talking big-time Campaign Finance Reform in our state! The amount of money spent in Oregon politics has exploded, mainly because of the high cost of buying TV time to run ads. Huge “contributions” from corporations and wealthy individuals are thinly veiled bribes. Those contributors want something when the election is over. And they usually get it, at the expense of the public good. Why should you care? Because the flood of money impacts every facet of our lives, from the taxes we pay, to corporate welfare, to environmental regulation, to arms exports, even to the war in Iraq. Special interests, including the health insurance industry and National Rifle Association, thwart the will of the voters by denying us universal healthcare and gun control, for example. Campaign Finance Reform (CFR) activists have been at work in Oregon for more than a decade. In 1994, Oregon voters overwhelmingly approved a CFR Initiative, with a 72% “yes” vote. For the one election cycle that the statute was in effect it had a very positive effect: campaign contributions dropped by about 3/4. Unfortunately, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in 1997, arguing it violated the free speech clause in Oregon’s Constitution. (Our Constitution is even more protective of freedom of speech than the U.S. Constitution.) Since then, campaign contributions and expenditures have continued to skyrocket, hitting an all-time high of $42 million in 2002. (In the 2002 governors race, one man—Loren Parks—contributed about $700,000 to Kevin Mannix campaign. Mannix still lost.) With all of the money, of course, came all of the influence-peddling, corruption, sold-out lawmakers, and laws favoring the special interests, starting with corporate tax-breaks. But the will of the people cannot be denied. We know from poll results that Oregonians still overwhelmingly favor CFR. And now we have a very strong law-in-the-making. It’s known as Petition 53. When it becomes law, Petition 53:
To prevent this law from being overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court, or gutted by the Oregon legislature, it will become part of the Oregon Constitution. Only federal courts have jurisdiction to hear challenges to this amendment, and any such challenges are likely to fail because the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled favorably on similar laws in other states. (It would have been our choice to set many of the above limits even lower, but we ran the risk of being overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.) When this new law becomes part of the Oregon Constitution, it will forever change the way candidate elections in Oregon are conducted. No longer will the fat cats rule. We expect to see a new breed of elected official in Oregon, one beholden to no one but Oregon citizens. Right now, Oregon is one of only six States with NO limits whatever on political contributions from any source to any candidate. Petition 53 will change all that. There are two great features to this Initiative petition. First, of course, when it becomes law it’ll clean up Oregon politics. But equally important is the opportunity it gives for Oregon progressives to coalesce around an issue of great importance. Under present conditions, it’s difficult for even outstanding progressives who are poorly funded to get elected. Until we fix the money problem, progressives can have an enormous impact by getting progressive Initiatives on the ballot and getting them passed into law. Some future Initiatives we are looking at seriously include:
Our work is cut out for us. By July, 2004, we must collect 150,000 signatures of registered voters in order to qualify our Petition 53 CFR Initiative for the ballot. It’s a huge job—but a huge opportunity. We’re expecting young Oregon progressives to lead the way in the signature-gathering effort. If “democracy isn’t a spectator sport,” then direct democracy—which is what this is about—is clearly an activist’s sport. We Need Your Help In case you’re wondering, even passage of Petition 53 won’t clean up the corruption in Washington, DC, where it’s at least as bad as it is in Oregon, and it affects all of us even more profoundly. But only Congress can change federal campaign finance law, and they won’t clean it up until enough citizens make their voices heard. Passage of Petition 53 will send a message to Congress from Oregon that we demand change. The McCain-Feingold law, passed by Congress in 2002, is a small step in the right direction. But it doesn’t stop fat cats from buying members of Congress. Our CFR measure in Oregon is the best we can do, until we have a national Initiative. Harry Lonsdale lives in Sisters and is a registered member of the Pacific Green Party. He ran for the U.S. Senate three times in the 1990s. He has written a current book about his experiences: RUNNING. Politics, Power, and the Press, available from www.1stbooks.com or 1-888-280-7715.
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Let’s Get the Big Money OUT of Oregon Politics!