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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2007)
...Past Sizemore business practices raise eyebrows (From Page 4) The honor system assumes in- tegrity. But well before Bill Sizemore be- came a well-known political figure, his conduct raised questions about his in- tegrity. During Sizemore’s 1998 cam- paign for governor, an Oregonian in- vestigation brought to light the messy details of his failed carpet and toy companies. Sizemore walked away from $358,000 in debts when Sizemore Carpet Brokers liquidated under bank- ruptcy protection in 1987. His Illumi- nated Toy Inc., founded in 1984, ceased operations in 1994, with unpaid debts of about $795,000. Anybody can have a business fail- ure. It was Sizemore’s business prac- tices that raised eyebrows. Sizemore raised funds for his businesses by per- suading members of his church and his softball team to loan him money, promising to double their money in six months. One fellow member of Port- land Bible Temple cashed a life insur- ance policy to lend Sizemore $30,000, which the entrepreneur promised to re- turn in one month with $3,000 in inter- est (That’s 120 percent annual inter- est). Instead it took years, and a lawsuit to recover the money. And he was the only creditor to get repaid. An- other church member, dying of cancer, asked Sizemore in 1997 to return the $98,000 he was owed, and was told it would be repaid after he became gov- ernor. Later, Sizemore asked the widow to recant what she had told the Oregonian about the incident. In the end, Sizemore stiffed his landlord, the factories that made his products, the IRS, and a printing com- pany he wrote a bad check to. He used toy company money to buy land that he would then build his family’s home on. Later, he sold the company prop- erty and used proceeds to pay off per- sonal income tax liens. The explana- tions he gave to the Oregonian of the details were contradicted by most of the individuals. That was how he operated his toy business. By 1994, Sizemore’s business was politics. The businessman who hadn’t paid his taxes now formed Oregon Taxpayers United, a political action committee, and devoted himself to raising money to wage ballot initiative campaigns. That year his Ballot Mea- sure 8 won by 1,000 votes, requiring public employees to contribute 6 per- cent of their salary to their pensions. The measure was later overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court as a viola- tion of contract rights. In 1996, Sizemore was back with a referendum that overturned the Legis- lature’s plan to build statewide light- rail system. He also won passage of Measure 47, a property tax limitation to cap property taxes, limit increases to 3 percent per year, and establish a dou- ble-majority requirement for local temporary future tax increases. In 1998, he went after public em- ployees unions again; his Measure 59 would have restricted their ability to participate in politics. It was narrowly rejected by voters, but union political action committees reportedly spent over $4 million opposing the measure. Sizemore had a sure thing: Win or lose, his measures would drain union treasuries, weakening their ability to pursue other issues. It was a cynical purpose, said judges on the appeals court panel, and the cynical means by which he con- ducted the campaigns spurred voters to approve Measure 46 in 2004, which banned the “bounty,” by prohibiting initiative campaigns from paying by the signature. But abuses continued. Media ac- counts about circulators paid in cash on street corners led the Bureau of La- bor and Industries to aggressively prosecute whatever violations of Mea- sure 46 they could prove. Now, the Oregon Legislature is preparing to clean up the initiative process. The House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules, chaired by Diane Rosenbaum, began hearings on initiative abuse in January. “I am not an opponent of the initia- tive process,” said Rosenbaum, who herself was a chief petitioner on a bal- lot measure that increased the mini- mum wage. “But we believe it has been hijacked.” “A lot of people wonder why can’t we just ban paid petitioning altogether. Rosenbaum said. “The problem is the Oregon constitution doesn’t allow it.” “By 2002 the ideal of citizen volun- teers gathering signatures from their friends, neighbors and colleagues had long ago disappeared,” Ellen Lowe told Rosenbaum’s committee Jan. 31. Lowe was a longtime lobbyist for Ecu- menical Ministries of Oregon, a social justice group. “Instead,” Lowe said, “every initiative season, armies of mercenary signature gatherers de- scended on our state looking for a quick and easy buck …. Too often last year Oregon’s initiative system looked more like drug deals than democracy.” Legislators expect to look at a num- ber of reform proposals in the coming months, including: • Color-coding initiative petition sheets when campaigns are paying pe- titioners; • Requiring paid signature gatherers to register with the Secretary of State’s office, and provide a signature sample. • Prohibiting anyone convicted of identity theft from gathering signa- tures; • Requiring that campaigns gather 10 percent of required signatures be- fore submitting their measure to the state for a ballot title, an idea meant to prevent “ballot title shopping;” and • Making chief petitioners person- ally liable for what goes on in their campaigns. Sizemore told Rosenbaum’s com- mittee he didn’t like that last sugges- tion. “I don’t believe you get anywhere by pursuing chief petitioners,” Size- more testified Jan. 31. “It isn’t possible to control what everybody circulating your petition does.” “I get so sick of being accused of being involved in forgery,” Sizemore added. “I have never knowingly bro- ken the law.” Michael E. Hardeman, Business Representative Sign & Display Local 510 The bank of local unions brings 50 years of on-the-job labor experience provides complete banking services tailored to the Local leadership guides investments to ensure your money works as hard as you do offers online access to keep multiple accounts easily organized gives each and every local union their due. Invest in you ® Labor Management Trust Services Stephen Heady, Vice President, (503) 450-1270 Louis Nagy, Vice President, (206) 587-3627 Labor Management Deposit Services Diane Williams, Senior Vice President & Manager, (213) 236-5085 John Mendoza, Vice President & Relationship Manager, (415) 705-7112 Visit us at unionbank.com FEBRUARY 16, 2007 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ©2007 Union Bank of California, N.A. Member FDIC PAGE 5
