New teachers union lawsuit says
Sizemore continues to commit fraud
Fahey to run for
seat on Portland
City Council
Mike Fahey, a former financial sec-
retary-treasurer of the Portland Metal
Trades Council and a former Democra-
tic state representative from North Port-
land, will throw his hat into a crowded
race for an open seat on the Portland
City Council.
The incumbent, Sam Adams, is leav-
ing to run for mayor.
A half-dozen candidates have al-
ready filed for, or say that they will file
for the post. Fahey is the seventh.
A member of Pile Drivers, Divers
and Shipwrights Local 2416, Fahey left
the labor movement to open his own
mortgage company. A native Oregon-
ian, he founded the Shipwrights Ap-
prenticeship Program, and he still di-
MIKE FAHEY
rects the Carpenters Food Bank along
with his wife Sandy.
He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in
’92 and for labor commissioner in ’99.
Fahey said he will kick off his cam-
paign in January 2008. He will not use
the city’s public campaign finance fund
program.
Oregon union foe and anti-tax ac-
tivist Bill Sizemore has been using a
non-profit corporation based in Nevada
to avoid paying a July 2003 court judg-
ment. That’s according to a new law-
suit filed Nov. 29 by the Oregon Edu-
cation Association and the American
Federation of Teachers-Oregon (AFT-
Oregon).
The two teachers unions have
fought a seven-year legal battle against
Sizemore and his Oregon Taxpayers
United for fraud and racketeering in
the 1998 election.
In 2002, a Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Court jury found Sizemore and his
group guilty of forgery and fraud, and
the following year a judge ordered
Sizemore and his groups to pay $2.5
Union Food Bank asks for funds to feed less fortunate
The Carpenters Food Bank is appealing for cash dona-
tions to help feed those in need this holiday season. The all-
volunteer food bank, now in its 25th year, is housed in the
basement of the union hall at 2205 N. Lombard, Portland.
The food bank feeds 425 to 500 families the third Friday
each month, said Mike Fahey, who along with his wife
Sandy, coordinate the program.
Mike Fahey is a former executive secretary-treasurer of
the Portland Metal Trades Council and is a member of Ship-
wrights Local 2416.
Fahey said cash donations are needed to help purchase
food items — including meat and turkeys — at bulk rate
prices. Holiday food boxes will be distributed from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21.
Contributions can be sent to: Food Bank, P.O. Box 17358,
Portland OR 97217.
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pages. Sizemore said he wrote the
million in damages to the unions. But
copy, but wasn’t paid by ATRF for that
in October 2006 an appeals court re-
duced that to just $300,000. The unions work. Instead, the non-profit paid his
wife’s defunct company “CBS Con-
appealed that decision to the Oregon
sulting,” and then she paid him $1,000
Supreme Court, which heard the case
a month.
in September 2007 but hasn’t yet is-
The American Tax Research Foun-
sued a decision. Even if the appeals
dation was CBS Con-
court ruling stands,
sulting’s only client.
Sizemore still owes
Meanwhile, it’s not
the $300,000. Plus, in ‘He doesn’t think
September 2004,
any laws apply to clear ATRF has had
any existence outside
Sizemore was found
him. But he does- of paying the com-
in contempt of court
bined $10,000 a month
for violating a related n’t seem to have
to the Sizemores.
court injunction, and
any problem
ATRF, which filed
was ordered to pay
papers of incorporation
union attorney fees of drafting up laws
2006, does
$125,000.
that would apply in not January
appear to have an
So far, the unions
office or telephone; the
have collected only
to other people.’
president, secretary
$16,000.
and treasurer identified
The new lawsuit,
in its articles of incorporation are listed
also filed in Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Court, says Bill Sizemore, his wife as having the same Las Vegas post of-
fice box, and no other contact informa-
Cindy, and the Nevada-based Ameri-
tion is given. Online, there is no evi-
can Tax Research Foundation (ATRF)
dence for the group’s existence except
committed conspiracy to defraud the
for its own Web site, which lists no
plaintiffs by concealing income. The
phone number or address, nor the
evidence for that came from recent
names of any individual. E-mails to the
judge-ordered court proceedings in
which Bill Sizemore testified about his sole e-mail contact listed on the site
were returned as undeliverable. And
income and household finances.
Sizemore has said he has little or no ATRF’s Web site domain name? It was
income with which to pay the court-or- registered as of September 2006 to Bill
Sizemore and his organization Oregon
dered damages. But under oath, Size-
Taxpayers United.
more revealed that the Nevada-based
“He doesn’t think any laws apply to
American Tax Research Foundation
him,” said AFT-Oregon Executive Di-
(ATRF) paid $7,500 a month to a de-
rector Richard Schwarz, “but he does-
funct Oregon corporation owned by
n’t seem to have any problem drafting
Sizemore’s wife for work done by Bill
up laws that would apply to other peo-
Sizemore on the group’s Web site.
ple.”
Plus, ATRF paid $2,500 a month for
In a separate legal proceeding, the
rent for the Sizemore family residence
two unions are also seeking a contempt
and amounts for a family vehicle, of-
of court ruling against Sizemore for vi-
fice space and equipment.
olating a court-ordered injunction that
“You can draw your own conclu-
bars him from raising and spending
sions about how much work has been
money through any political action
done on that Web site,” OEA attorney
committee until he pays the damages.
Greg Hartman told the NW Labor
If he’s found in contempt of court,
Press.
The site —americantaxresearch.org Sizemore could go to jail for up to six
months. An April 18, 2008, court date
— is a bare-bones “educational” effort
has been set for the contempt hearing.
with no more than a couple dozen
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