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​Survey Shows Most Oregon Candidates are
Ignoring Voter Demands for Campaign Finance Reform


October 29, 2022

Statewide Survey Results

27 earn A’s -  23 earn and B’s - 4 earn C’s - 9 earn D’s - 104 earn F’s
Tina Kotek earns best grade among candidates for Governor
​
​
Read More about the Survey
Our 2022 Initiative Petitions are Dead
The Oregon Supreme Court on March 29, 2022, finally denied our mandamus petition to to overrule the Secretary of State’s unprecedented and unlawful rejection of Initiative Petitions 43, 44, and 45.  The Court declined to say whether we are right or wrong; just that mandamus is an extraordinary remedy.
So Now We Focus on a Statewide Initiative for 2024
Stay Tuned
In 2022, we will also ask all statewide and legislative candidates in Oregon to state their positions on real campaign finance reform in Oregon, including contribution limits and requirements that political ads name their largest funders.  We will publish those results on this website.
Honest Elections Files Mandamus Action against
Secretary of State in Oregon Supreme Court

February 16, 2022 --- Campaign finance reformers today filed a petition for writ of mandamus, asking the Oregon Supreme Court to overrule the Secretary of State’s unprecedented rejection of Initiative Petitions 43, 44, and 45, which is based on misinterpretation of the Oregon Constitution: “The full text of the proposed measure was not included.” No other Oregon Secretary of State has required including in an initiative petition the text of subsections of existing law that are not changed by the proposed measure.

See full Press Release.

​The Oregonian editorializes for Honest Elections Oregon's effort to get campaign finance reform on the November 2022 ballot
:

The print edition on February 13 stated:  "Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, who has benefited from millions in union donations, disqualified three campaign-finance petitions that seek to impose donation caps.  Oregonians tired of the outsized power of big money in Oregon elections should hop the petitioners' efforts to reinstate the petitions prevail at the Oregon Supreme Court, the editorial board writes."
​
Oregon Attorney General Issues Certified Ballot Titles for All 3 of Our Initiative Petitions

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum  on February 9 issued certified ballot titles for all 3 petitions.  Her office also disputed Secretary Fagan's statement that she based her decision on advice from the Attorney General.

​So our initiatives are not dead!
Campaign Finance Reform Advocates Outraged at Secretary of State's Rejection of their Ballot Measures

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan Cancels Initiatives for No Valid Reason

Statement of Honest Elections Oregon (Feb. 9, 2022):

Supporters of real campaign finance reform in Oregon are outraged by the action of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan today to disqualify all serious campaign finance reform initiative petitions. Any of them would:

  • establish political campaign contribution limits
 
  • require that political advertisements name their largest funders
 
  • require faster and more complete public disclosure of campaign spending, including "dark money"

There is no valid legal basis for refusing to allow the gathering of signatures on these initiatives (Petitions 43, 44, and 45). All of them satisfy all criteria in the Oregon Constitution and laws. The Honest Elections Oregon coalition will on Friday ask the Oregon Supreme Court in a mandamus action to require Secretary Fagan to allow the initiatives to obtain voter signatures. A total of 112,020 verified registered voter signatures must be submitted by July 8.

Contrary to the Secretary's suggestion that the campaign finance reform advocates "start over" after correcting what she claims is a technical error (15 words in petitions that range from 11,000 to 16,000 words), the ballot title process has built-in delays for government actions that consume at least 4 months. Starting over now would mean not being about to start collecting the 112,020 required signatures until early June--leaving only about one month, which is not enough.

Unless the Oregon Supreme Court issues such an order promptly, the window for gathering enough signatures will have closed, and Secretary Fagan's decision will preclude all statewide campaign finance reform initiatives until November 2024.
​Secretary of State Shemia Fagan 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?
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.

DETAILS HERE​
December 2021:  Good government groups file 3 initiative petitions to limit campaign contributions and increase transparency​
PRESS RELEASE
December 7, 2021 PORTLAND, Oregon

Honest Elections Oregon, a coalition of pro-democracy groups and advocates, filed ballot initiatives to enhance the campaign finance system in Oregon, reduce the perception and reality of corruption, and empower more voices in Oregon’s elections.  These measures:
  • include large campaign contribution limits to reduce outsized big money influence
  • require political ads to transparently reveal their largest funders
  • create a small donor matching program to make smaller contributions matter and improve opportunities for candidates from historically marginalized communities
“I am honored to support the ballot campaign finance reform initiatives filed today. These measures can help to restore voters’ confidence in healthy democracy. Voters must know that our elections are fair and free of undue influence by powerful dark money at the expense of voters. We can accomplish this and restore trust in our political system.”
          --Rebecca Gladstone, President, League of Women Voters of Oregon
“I am proud of the measures we have filed and the extensive process we embarked on to craft the best policies possible with both local and national experts. We hope in the coming months, during the ballot title review process, to continue building a big tent to support these measures and to continue to work with historically marginalized communities. We know that voters want to take big money out of politics. These initiatives could move Oregon from the Wild Wild West of campaign finance to leading the way with one the best programs in the nation.”
          --Jason Kafoury, Honest Elections Oregon

Honest Elections Oregon worked successfully to pass campaign finance reforms in Multnomah County (2016) and the City of Portland (2018), proving not only that such policies are needed and popular but also that they work. The goal is to simply limit the corrosive impact money has had in Oregon politics and hold accountable those who attempt to subvert the will of democracy by buying elections.
OPB article
GOOD GOVERNMENT GROUPS ARE PUSHING CAMPAIGN FINANCE LIMITS IN OREGON. THEY MIGHT HAVE COMPETITION. ​

A coalition of good governance groups filed three potential ballot measures with the state on Monday that would shake up Oregon’s permissive system of funding campaigns. The group says it will decide on one to put forward to voters in 2022, once polling shows which is most popular.

While complex and differing in their specifics, each of the proposals would create new limits on what individuals, advocacy groups, labor organizations, corporations and political parties can contribute to candidates and causes.
The proposals also include requirements that political advertisements prominently display top donors, and that so-called “dark money” groups disclose their funding sources if they engage in campaigning.
​

One of the proposals would implement a system of public campaign financing, allowing candidates to accept small donations from individual donors and have that money multiplied by matching public funds. With public funding of up to $8 million a cycle for gubernatorial candidates — and far lower amounts for other offices —-- the system is designed to allow candidates to run competitive campaigns without focusing solely on big donors.
​
oregonian article
Oregonian_12_9_21

Oregon good government groups file initiatives to cap campaign contributions, shed light on ‘dark money’

Oregonian
Hillary Borrud
December 9, 2021

Oregon voters could get a chance to decide whether to cap political donations and mandate transparency on who truly pays for political ads, under three proposed ballot initiatives filed this week.

The issues are hugely popular with voters, who overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment in 2020 to explicitly allow campaign contribution limits and requirements that political ads identify the individuals or groups that paid for them. More than 1.7 million people voted for it, the most ever to support a ballot measure.

Now the good government groups that helped campaign for last year’s constitutional changes want voters to approve the types of political money limits and disclosures allowed under the amendment. They also want to create a public financing system, although not all of their proposals would do so.

Despite voters’ clear desire for donation limits and greater transparency, state lawmakers failed to agree on a plan to achieve those goals after months of closed-door negotiations with political players including big donors from across the political spectrum.

Supporters started gathering signatures Wednesday to qualify for ballot titles. If they succeed, they would need to gather 112,020 voter signatures to get any of the proposals on the November 2022 ballot.

“These measures can help to restore voters’ confidence in healthy democracy,” said Rebecca Gladstone, president of the League of Women Voters of Oregon and one of the chief petitioners on the initiatives. “Voters must know that our elections are fair and free of undue influence by powerful dark money at the expense of voters. We can accomplish this and restore trust in our political system.”

Jason Kafoury, another chief petitioner and a member of the group Honest Elections, said supporters consulted with national experts on campaign finance. He said he believes the donor disclosure requirements in all three proposed initiatives would be the strongest in the nation. Honest Elections is the group behind campaign contribution limits that voters passed in Multnomah County in 2016 and Portland in 2018.

Under the proposals, groups such as political nonprofits would be required to identify their top donors in all advertising and other communications to influence elections, if those donors chipped in more than $5,000 each. Political nonprofits are often referred to as “dark money” groups because they can keep their donors anonymous.

Additionally, Kafoury said, “All of these measures would prevent rich people from writing six-figure checks to candidates.” That’s already happening in the leadup to the 2022 gubernatorial primary and general election. Four years ago, Nike co-founder Phil Knight gave much more: $2.5 million directly to Republican candidate Knute Buehler.

Kafoury and other advocates for campaign finance reform negotiated for more than three months with a variety of groups that tend to support Democratic candidates and left-leaning policy initiatives, but those groups ultimately decided not to support any of the proposals. Kafoury said supporters needed to move ahead now to have a chance at getting any of the initiatives on the ballot in November 2022 because “the process is so cumbersome, time consuming and expensive” and the pandemic has only added to the challenges.

Oregon’s powerful public employee unions were among the groups that got a say in shaping two of the proposed ballot measures, initiative petitions 43 and 44. SEIU 503′s political action committee has raised $1 million annually in recent years and is among the largest donors to Democratic legislative candidates and candidates for statewide offices such as secretary of state and governor. A spokesperson for the union declined to comment on why its leaders decided not to support the proposed contribution limits and donor disclosure requirements. The associate director for another large union, AFSCME, did not respond to calls for comment.

In recent meetings, the unions and progressive political groups indicated they were concerned about two aspects of the initiative proposals in particular, Kafoury said: provisions that would require disclosure of major donors to political nonprofits buying ads and allow people to get a court to weigh in on alleged campaign finance violations. Currently, it’s up to the partisan elected secretary of state to decide if a candidate or entity violated Oregon campaign finance laws.

“From a good government standpoint, our perspective was we’re not convinced the secretary of state is going to adequately investigate these claims,” Kafoury said.

The main differences between the proposals, which supporters will test for voter support, fundraising potential and level of opposition, is that initiative petition 43 includes a public financing system that would match small donations up to $8 million in the governor’s race and much less in other state races. Initiative Petition 45, which supporters did not negotiate with political groups and unions, has lower contribution limits including for the type of political action committee that could be used by unions. It also calls for more stringent enforcement of violations.

Supporters negotiated initiative petitions 43 and 44 not only with public employee unions but also with a variety of groups that tend to support Democrats, including Coalition of Communities of Color, Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Pro-Choice Oregon. Those groups do some of their political work through nonprofits.

Under the proposals, individual donors could give no more than $2,000 to a candidate for statewide office per primary or general election cycle and political parties could give a candidate no more than $50,000 per cycle.

Small donor committees such as unions could accept contributions of up to $250 per person per calendar year. They could give $20,000 per election cycle to a statewide candidate and $10,000 to a legislative candidate per cycle, although organizations with large numbers of donors could give much more: $50 from each individual Oregon donor’s contribution to the political action committee. Only donations from people who live, work or attend school in Oregon would count.

Ads for or against a political candidate or initiative would have to disclose the top four funders and the types of business from which the funders generate income.

Penalties would be much higher than they currently are in Oregon, with fines of “at least the amount of the unlawful contribution or expenditure, including amounts not properly disclosed or spent on ads that do not comply with the disclaimer requirements,” according to supporters’ summary of IP 43. In addition to status quo enforcement by the Oregon secretary of state and attorney general, the initiative would allow people to appeal a case in circuit court if a case involving an alleged violation of at least $1,000.

81st Oregon House of Representatives sworn in

The directors of two political groups that helped to shape initiative petitions 43 and 44 but ultimately decided not to support them said they broadly support campaign finance reform. However, they said it would take years rather than months to develop political money limits and transparency requirements that would not hurt the operations of some of their partner organizations.

“Unfortunately because of how complex this policy area is, the time ran out,” said Christel Allen, executive director of reproductive rights group Pro-Choice Oregon, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon. Allen said it would be better to wait until 2024 to fine tune the proposal to be put before voters.

The need to advise large donors that their contributions might trigger advertising disclosure requirements, which the current proposals would necessitate, would pose a burden on political committees, Allen said. But, she said, that warning could be critical, as some donors highly value their privacy. “When it comes to those of us who work to defend abortion access, unfortunately our opponents have a history of violence,” she said.

Imani Dorsey, interim executive director of the small political nonprofit Washington County Ignite, said the group spent between $15,000 and $20,000 on elections in 2020. The organization works to build a leadership pipeline from young people who are Black, indigenous and people of color as well as LGBTQ. Dorsey said small groups like hers are already tight on resources and complying with new political spending regulations would reduce their ability to fulfill their mission. “The provisions in the measures would just make things really hard and add administrative things we aren’t able to accommodate,” Dorsey said. “We really see this as an equity thing.”

Kafoury said regardless of what Oregon voters do in the coming months, forces across the nation will continue to shape how powerful interests spend money to influence elections. He said he is worried the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could further expand the flow of dark money. “We understand this is a long-term battle, that the forces of big money are continually going to try to influence elections.”

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that only one of the three proposed initiatives contains a public financing system.

— Hillary Borrud

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.


Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2021/12/oregon-good-government-groups-file-initiatives-to-cap-campaign-contributions-shed-light-on-dark-money.html
This web page was saved on Saturday, Dec 11 2021.





​why are there three initiative petitions?
We are in an early stage trying to move the policy through the process and onto the ballot to allow Oregonians to have a say on the matter.  Each of these policies would be transformative for Oregon politics with the goal of limiting big money in politics, and we support each of them. However, we need to file these petitions now (December 2021) to start the the ballot title process now, or nothing will qualify for the November 22 ballot.  We settle on a single measure after that (probably February 2022) and until then will continue our work in the community to see which measure has the most support.
Oregonian Article 12/22/2021 PDF
Oregonian Article 12/12/2021 PDF
Oregon Public Broadcasting Article 12/09/2021 PDF

One-Page Summary of Measures PDF

2022 Measure Endorsers
You Can Endorse the 2022 Measures
Petition 43  text  summary  contribution limits chart 

Petition 44  text  summary  contribution limits chart

Petition 45  text  summary  Contribution limits chart
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oregon 2020

MEASURE 107 = SUCCESS
Measure 107 (2020) won with a 78% "yes" vote statewide.  It removes any barriers to campaign finance reform in the Oregon Constitution, ensuring that Oregon voters can adopt (1) limits on campaign contributions and spending and (2) requirements that political ads name their largest funders, including corporations.
We worked to amend the Oregon Constitution in 2020 to eliminate the contention that, unlike the constitutions of every other state, it somehow prohibits the enforcement of limits on political campaign contributions.  The free speech clause in the Oregon Constitution is the same as in 36 other states; all of those states have limits on political contributions.  This measure is aimed at the November 2020 ballot, because of steps taken by anti-reform activists to delay our opportunity to collect signatures for 2018 by repeatedly challenging in court the ballot title prepared by the Attorney General (and the revised ballot title prepared by the Attorney General).  Can you guess the political party most closely affiliated with those anti-reform agents?
  • We Need Campaign Finance Reform (one-pager)
  • Official Text of Oregon Initiative Petition 1 (2020)
  • Endorsers So Far
  • Oregon Measure News
See the remarkable 2019 Oregonian series:  Polluted by Money: How Corporate Cash Corrupted One of the Greenest States in America, by Rob Davis.
​

The series is available at two places at The Oregonian:
HERE and HERE.  The first piece documents how Oregon legislators depend on corporate cash and how they reward their donors with lax environmental laws and policies.  It includes this powerful 4-minute video-minute video but also much, much more.
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Our Current Slide Show
Current News
about Our Campaigns
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cartoons courtesy of Springer Creative​
PORTLAND 2018
Thanks to You for Honest Elections Portland's 87% Victory

Measure 26-200 Earned Over 87% "Yes" Votes and Won in Every Precinct in Portland

Thank you for everything you did to help with election cycle. Whether it was making social media posts, talking to your friends and family members to get them to vote, helping gather the 55,000 signatures to qualify the Honest Elections measure for the ballot, or volunteering to drop literature at the doors.

Read more about the victory here.​
​
The Portland Campaign Finance Reform Charter  Amendment (Measure 26-200) amended the Portland City Charter to limit political campaign contributions and expenditures in candidate elections and to require that political ads prominently disclose their actual major funders (not just nice-sounding names of committees or nonprofit corporations). 
​
These provisions apply to all City of Portland elections, including Mayor, City Council, and City Auditor.
  • Campaign Finance Reform for Portland (one-pager)
  • We Need Campaign Finance Reform (one-pager)
  • Voters Pamphlet Statements
  • ​Official Ballot Title
  • Official Text of Measure 26-200
  • Endorsers So Far
  • Portland Measure News

MULTNOMAH COUNTY 2016

In 2016, our efforts resulted in the enactment of Multnomah County Measure 26-184, which amended the Multnomah County Charter to limit contributions to candidates for County public office and to require that political ads financed by any large donors prominently disclose those donors in the ads.  Measure 26-184 received a "YES" vote of 89% from Multnomah County voters.
  • Endorsers
  • Official Ballot Title
  • One Page Summary
  • Major Provisions
  • Official Text of Measure 26-184
  • Voter Pamphlet Statements
  • Multnomah Measure News (Archive)
  • Multnomah Measure News (blog)


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