Secretary of State Plans to Kill Our Ballot Measures
February 7, 2022 by David Delk
We just learned that the Oregon Secretary of State plans to use an obscure interpretation to kill our 2022 ballot measures for getting big money out of Oregon politics. We need your help to persuade Secretary Shemia Fagan to do the right thing.
Can you contact Secretary Fagan's office and tell her the importance of allowing Initiative Petitions 43, 44, and 45 to move forward?
February 7, 2022 by David Delk
We just learned that the Oregon Secretary of State plans to use an obscure interpretation to kill our 2022 ballot measures for getting big money out of Oregon politics. We need your help to persuade Secretary Shemia Fagan to do the right thing.
Can you contact Secretary Fagan's office and tell her the importance of allowing Initiative Petitions 43, 44, and 45 to move forward?
Call: 503-986-1523 (leaving a voicemail is ok)
(choose extension 3 or 0)
Email: oregon.sos@sos.oregon.gov
Here is an Oregonian article about this:
Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan plans to kill
effort to set campaign contribution limits in 2022.
This could happen as early as tomorrow.
(choose extension 3 or 0)
Email: oregon.sos@sos.oregon.gov
Here is an Oregonian article about this:
Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan plans to kill
effort to set campaign contribution limits in 2022.
This could happen as early as tomorrow.
Secretary Fagan's office says she is going to reject Petitions 43, 44, and 45 (three different versions we have been working on to bring sensible limits to money in Oregon politics) on the basis that they do not include the “full text” of the law being amended. In fact, all three petitions follow the longstanding precedent of including the full text of the subsections that are being amended but not the text of the subsections that will not be changed.
As far as we can tell, no other Secretary of State has ever rejected a petition for this reason. In fact, Initiative Petition 3 is currently collecting signatures and was approved in October 2020 with exactly this same "issue." Changing the standard now, with no advance notice, beginning with these petitions to get big money out of Oregon politics, reeks of elected officials applying different standards based on what is favored by the politically connected. During the comment period on these petitions only one party raised this specific concern: the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which donated $50,000 to Secretary Fagan's 2020 campaign. She has received over $2 million in donations from UFCW and other unions.
Please call or email Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and tell her that you want to see real campaign finance reform on your 2022 ballot and that she should not reinterpret the Oregon Constitution to keep Oregonians from being able to weigh in on sensible limits to money in politics.
Here is an Oregonian article about this: Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan plans to kill effort to set campaign contribution limits in 2022. Here is a short Willamette Week article.
Some talking points you might use:
As far as we can tell, no other Secretary of State has ever rejected a petition for this reason. In fact, Initiative Petition 3 is currently collecting signatures and was approved in October 2020 with exactly this same "issue." Changing the standard now, with no advance notice, beginning with these petitions to get big money out of Oregon politics, reeks of elected officials applying different standards based on what is favored by the politically connected. During the comment period on these petitions only one party raised this specific concern: the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which donated $50,000 to Secretary Fagan's 2020 campaign. She has received over $2 million in donations from UFCW and other unions.
Please call or email Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and tell her that you want to see real campaign finance reform on your 2022 ballot and that she should not reinterpret the Oregon Constitution to keep Oregonians from being able to weigh in on sensible limits to money in politics.
Here is an Oregonian article about this: Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan plans to kill effort to set campaign contribution limits in 2022. Here is a short Willamette Week article.
Some talking points you might use:
- Oregon voters overwhelming passed Measure 107 in 2020 paving the way for real campaign finance reform and now they deserve to be able to vote on actually changing the role of money in Oregon politics.
- Our legal research indicates that no other Oregon Secretary of State has used the "full text" reason to disqualify initiative petitions.
- Secretary Fagan's unprecedented rationale is that "full text" means must reprint every section of Oregon Revised Statutes that the measure affects, not just the subsections it changes. This interpretation overturns longstanding practice exercised by Secretary Bev Clarno and others. Secretary Clarno in the 2022 election cycle approved Initiative Petition #3, which does exactly what IP 43-45 do--shows changes to a subsection without reprinting the other subsections which the measure does not change.
- Any change to interpretations, should be neutrally applied and messaged to the public, not decided in secret and applied only to petitions disfavored by the politically powerful.