Demos oppose Measure
Republicans delay stand
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
If you’re a Democrat, you’re
against it. If you’re a Republican,
you're still undecided.
At least that's how official party
lines are being drawn over
Oregon's Ballot Measure 6.
While the fight over the con
troversial property tax limitation
begins to take shape, both major
political parties are sharpening
their efforts to win the support of
state voters. So far, the Demo
crats hope to do that by opposing
the measure. The Republicans
have yet to make up their minds.
During the Democratic Party’s
picnic meeting Sunday afternoon,
members voted to add a resolu
tion to the party platform that con
demns the long-term effects of
Measure 6.
That resolution, which focuses
on the shift of the tax burden from
business properties to home
owners, clearly points to the
dissatisfaction with the measure’s
intent.
That dissatisfaction may alien
ate some of the 200,000 voters
who signed the initiative petition to
put the one-and-one-half percent
property tax limitation measure on
the November ballot. But the party
isn’t worried about that, says Jim
Klonoski, state Democratic Party
chairer.
“By taking any position in poli
tics you tend to alienate some
people; that’s what politics are all
about,” Klonoski says.
The Democratic Party ap
proaches politics on an issue-by
issue basis, Klonoski explains,
and not on how many votes the
Worker
(Continued from Page 7)
month to organize injured workers
around the state, said Green's in
terest in the insurance company is
a clear conflict of interest and that
Green should resign his position,
Blair first called for Green's res
ignation July 4 in a news story
broadcast by KEZI-TV. Blair said
Green's interest in the insurance
company was costing the state's
businesses money and cheating
the injured workers out of what
was rightfully theirs.
The Workers' Compensation
Board has also wasted millions of
dollars a year by sending injured
workers out of state for medical
examinations, Blair said
Blair, who challenged Straub
and Green to meet him on
KEZI-TV to debate the conflict of
interest charges, said a meeting
scheduled for July between Green
and leaders of four major labor un
ions in the state would probably
result in Green's resignation.
Those rumors are not true, says
Siegrest. The meeting with labor
leaders hasn’t been held, and
Green hasn’t made any move to
resign, he says.
As far as I know Roy Green will
continue to be the director of the
Workers' Compensation Depart
ment at least through this next
year," Siegrest says.
< ireeon Dailv Emerald
party will lose by disapproving of
one of nearly a dozen measures.
The resolution says the party
will not support Measure 6 be
cause it would increase federal in
come taxes, shift the burden of
property taxes onto the private
homeowner and disrupt the edu
cation system of the state. It
speaks for the party in the upcom
ing election, Klonoski says.
While Klonoski doesn’t think the
resolution will hurt the party’s
support, Rosemary Batori, head
of the Lane County Democratic
Central Committee, thinks a loss
of voters is a real possibility.
The only way the party will win
against 200,000 petition signa
tures will be to begin a “tremend
ous’’ educational campaign about
the measure's real effects, Batori
says.
The party’s resolution could
alienate some voters because it
might make the Democratic Party
look like a political machine about
to steamroll over public opinion,
she says. But that doesn’t mean
she disagrees with the resolution.
“A lot of poeple don’t like to be
told how to vote," Batori says. And
a political campaign based on
emotion and not fact will do more
to hurt the party than anything
else.
‘We won’t be able to argue
every detail of the measure, so
what we may do is buy space in
newspapers and run advertise
ments pinpointing specific effects
of the measure."
The Lane County Democratic
organization will probably run a
person-to-person campaign
against Measure 6 beginning the
end of the summer, she says.
But that campaign won’t be a
debate with the opposition. It will
be an information campaign
based on facts about the measure
the opposition failed to provide to
the petition signers.
“Sometimes the best way to go
about it is not to put on a big cam
paign, but to line the opposition up
against you and compare the
two," Batori says.
The Democrats may have de
cided their stance, but the Repub
licans are delaying any decision
until “all the facts are in,” says
Mike O’Brien, head of the Lane
County Republican Party.
That may appear to be “waff
ling" on the issue, but it is just the
opposite, O’Brien says.
Party members from 10 Oregon
counties met last week in
Roseburg to discuss the effects of
Measure 6, O'Brien says. The
conclusion the group reached
about the measure may surprise
some voters.
“There is quite a division among
some people in the party on how
to go on this measure," O’Brien
explains. “There’s a whole bundle
of things that need to be cleared
up before any decision can be
made."
Although the Multnomah
County Republican Central
Committee voted overwhelmingly
to support the initiative petition
last month, O’Brien says the entire
party might not follow their exam
ple.
“The Multnomah County or
ganization is a unique group,” he
says. "They aren't necessarily
representative of the party as a
whole."
O’Brien says the party won’t
make a clear statement about the
measure until after its state con
vention in Bend August 7. There is
speculation the party might sup
port the measure, but only to a
degree, he says.
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“There is quite a lot of opposi
tion to the way the measure is writ
ten,” he says. “But I have a feeling
that the decision may be some
what surprising.”
The party leadership is con
cerned with the future implications
of the measure and won’t take a
stand until those apprehensions
are cleared up, O’Brien says.
“There is a lot of popular de
mand for it so both parties may
support it to some degree.”
Regardless of the outcome in
November, the Republican Party
will continue to press-the state
J
Legislature for a tax reform pack
age during the next session,
O'Brien says. That reform will be
“creative and soundly defined,”
rather than an “emotional re
sponse" to the tax structure, he
adds.
“I have a feeling that the party
may be pushing for tax reform for
a long time,” O’Brien says.
“This measure may be the way to
do it. They may be wholeheartedly
for it, I don’t know. But there are a
lot of questions about it that need
to be cleared up bqfore it goes
down on paper as law.”