Honest Elections Oregon

HONEST ELECTIONS - OREGON

Check out how the Oregon Legislature Might Advance or Hinder Campaign Finance Reform during June 2019

Read the amazing Oregonian Editorial (June 9. 2019) supporting our efforts.

See the Oregonian series: Polluted by Money: How Corporate Cash Corrupted One of the Greenest States in America.

The series is available at two places at The Oregonian:
HERE and HERE

The first piece is like nothing we have ever seen in any newspaper in Oregon. It documents how Oregon legislators depend on corporate cash and how they reward their donors with lax environmental laws and policies.

Sign the Petition on-line and then mail

NOW you can sign the initiative petition on line. If you are a registered voter in Oregon,
just click below, print the petition, sign and complete the form, and mail it to
119 SE 52nd Ave
Portland, OR 97215

Sign the initiative petition

Note: Do not number the sheet in the lower right area where it says Sheet Number.

The Oregon Secretary of State has approved initiative 2020-1 for signature collecting. If we are successful in collecting over 149,000 valid Oregon voter signatures by early July 2020, it will be on the Nov 2020 ballot. It would amend the Oregon Constitution by adding this:

Laws consistent with the freedom of speech guarantee of the United States Constitution may regulate contributions and expenditures, of any type or description, to influence the outcome of any election; provided, that such laws are adopted or amended by an elected legislative body by a three-fourths vote of each chamber or by initiative.

End the Corruption

Supporters

TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT HONEST ELECTIONS IN OREGON

FEBRUARY 2019

Quick Tip: If you choose to email your elected officials please feel free to mention your personal reasons for supporting getting big money out of politics. The more personalized the message is the more powerful it is.

For the City of Portland Call and/or email the Portland City Commissioners and Mayor Wheeler thanking them for a swift implementation of Honest Elections (26-200) and urge them to direct the City’s attorneys to file an amicus brief (a “friend of the court brief”) to the Supreme Court Case regarding the constitutionality of the County ballot measure; defending the will of City and County voters to allow campaign contribution limits and disclosures requirements in ads funded by dark campaign money.

Mayor: Ted Wheeler: MayorWheeler@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-4127 City Commissioners:
Chloe Eudaly: Chloe@PortlandOregon.gov, 503-823-4628
Nick Fish: nick@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-3589 Amanda Fritz: Amanda@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-3008
Jo Ann Hardesty: JoAnn@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-4151

For Multnomah County: First, you will need to identify who your county commissioner is, you can do so by visiting this link: https://multco.us/communications/find-your-commissioner.

The Chair, Deborah Kafoury represents the whole county to you should definitely message her as well as your Commissioner. Call and/or email the Chair and your County Commissioner to ask that they pass the implementation ordinance, particularly the clarification of the disclosures. This will help the Oregon Supreme Court case and give clarity to candidates beginning campaigns for 2020.

Chair: Deborah Kafoury: mult.chair@multco.us, 503-988-3308
Commissioners: Sharon Meieran: district1@multco.us, 503-988-5220 Susheela Jayapal: district2@multco.us, 503-988-5219 Jessica Vega Pederson: district3@multco.us, 503-988-5262 Lori Stegmann: district4@multco.us, 503-988-5217

Take Action to Support Honest Elections in Oregon!
For the State:
1) Urge Governor Kate Brown to refer strong campaign contribution limits and disclosure requirements to the Oregon State Legislature as well as a referral to amend the Oregon Constitution to ensure campaign contribution limits are allowable under Oregon law. Take action by calling: (503) 378-4582 Or using her “Share Your Opinion” form (online): https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/share-your-opinion.aspx

2) Urge your State Legislators (senator and representative), to support legislation with strong campaign contribution limits, disclosure requirements, and to support a referral that amends the Oregon Constitution to clarify that unlimited money is not equivalent to free speech.

Email and/or call your Senator and Representative by: going to www.oregonlegislature.gov, and entering your street address into the “Find Your District and Legislator” section and clicking on the “GO” button. Their pages will have email and phone numbers for you to use.

Lastly: you can sign up to collect signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment to make campaign contributions legal. We are aiming to get this state-wide measure on the ballot for 2020 if we are unable to get it referred from the Oregon State Legislature.

Oregon is one of only five states without limits on campaign contributions and expenditures.

Oregon is one of only five states which have no limits on political campaign contributions - Alabama, Nebraska, Utah and Virginia. The limits in other states vary widely with some limiting individual contributions while others also limit or prohibit contributions by corporations. See National Conference of State Legislature 2015-16 election cycle report.

Oregon's political races are among the most expensive in the nation. Why? Because there are no limits on political contributions/expenditures in the state which are enforced. While we enacted limits with Measure 47 in 2006, Oregon's secretaries of state have not enforced them.

Oregon has among the most expensive elections in the nation.

Oregon is among the very worst states for political finance regulation.

In a Nov. 2015 study of corruption by The Center for Public Integrity, Oregon was ranked 49th out of 50 for the political finance regulation. Only Mississippi was worst. Even such notorious states as Texas, New Jersey and Louisiana received higher rankings.