Oregon’s initiative system in need of some repairs
By JOE BAESSLER
A recent Portland City Club report
that calls for overhauling Oregon’s ini-
tiative and referendum system has,
predictably, created a maelstrom of
comments from both friends and foes
of the current way of doing things.
Those who think the system is just fine
the way it is accuse “special interests”
of trying to sabotage the system. Many
who agree with the report want whole-
sale changes immediately. Surely there
must be some reasonable middle
ground.
Few can argue that Oregon’s initia-
tive and referendum system is, in
2007, nothing like Oregon’s founding
fathers had in mind. Right or wrong,
things have changed. True “grass-
roots” initiative campaigns are few and
far between. People like Bill Sizemore
and Kevin Mannix have created cot-
tage industries out of placing initia-
tives on the ballot. While their support-
ers are among the first to decry that
“special interests” want to emasculate
the current system, it’s an ironic fact
that Sizemore — in particular — has
become a virtual special interest unto
himself.
It is true that our organization —
the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) — has had historical con-
cerns about abuses within the current
system. Given the high number of ini-
tiatives that Sizemore has aimed di-
rectly at public employees, can you
blame us? Yet we have never called for
abolishing Oregon’s revered initiative
system. We do believe the system has
warranted occasional tweaks over
time.
Case in point: In the mid- to late-
1990s, it became apparent that the en-
tire signature gathering system was
running amok. Initiatives had become
such big business that those in the sig-
nature-gathering field were tempted to
cheat. So we played a major role in
two bills that reformed — not elimi-
nated — the process. As a result, cur-
rent Oregon law says you must pay
signature gatherers by the hour, rather
than on a per signature (or “bounty”)
basis. We were also key backers of HB
3053 in the 1999 Oregon Legislature
that brought a scientifically valid for-
JOE BAESSLER
mula to the method by which initiative
signatures are verified. And in 2007,
we helped champion HB 2082, which
simply requires chief petitioners that
pay signature gatherers to register
those gatherers. All of these laws are
reasonable checks and balances to en-
sure that the “John Hancock” on initia-
tive petition sheets indeed belong to
John Hancock.
The Portland City Club report is 76
pages long. We don’t agree with every
word or every recommendation. But
we do believe the report should be re-
quired reading for the 2009 Oregon
Legislature. It is completely reason-
able for that body to review the current
system and debate if and where fixes
are needed.
We’d also like to add one idea to
the mix that’s not included in the city
club report. In Nevada, there is a
process for that state’s Supreme Court
to review potentially unconstitutional
initiatives before they’re placed before
voters. This is an option Oregon
should strongly consider. How many
times have we seen divisive campaigns
over initiatives here that end up in
court, only to be ultimately thrown out
as unconstitutional? Where is the
down side in determining the question
of constitutionality before people on
either side of an issue invest time,
money and energy either supporting or
fighting a measure? It doesn’t matter
what your political persuasion is —
liberal, conservative, moderate or oth-
erwise — you feel “cheated” if your
cause passes a vote of the people only
to be struck down after the fact by a
court. And while such judicial review
is an appropriate piece of our check-
and-balance form of government,
there’s much to be gained and little to
be lost by moving judicial review to
the front end of the process.
(Joe Baessler is a Political Coordi-
nator for Oregon AFSCME Council
75.)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Klare’s column
will be missed
To The Editor:
Subscribers to the Northwest Labor
Press will sincerely miss its icon, Gene
Klare’s column “Let Me Say This
About That.”
Gene has played a major role in re-
porting and commenting on the unions
and its members in this area both as a
columnist and as editor of the newspa-
per.
In all the jobs he has worked in, he
has shown outstanding talents. His last
column outlined many of his accom-
plishments — from the infamous Ore-
gonian strike and helping to start the
labor-supported Reporter newspaper.
Let me assure you that’s only the
tip of the story. He’s done so much
more.
We will miss his column very
much.
Nellie Fox Edwards
Retired
UFCW Local 555
AFL-CIO Political Director
Portland
More retirees sought to build
Alliance For Retired Americans
To the Editor:
Everyone says 2008 will be a land-
mark year for America. After eight
years under a regime that has deci-
mated the middle class, violated the
Constitution, and reversed much of the
social and political progress of the last
70 years, people are starting to remem-
ber the issues they used to care about.
Labor needs to capitalize on this
reawakening. This could be the year.
You may have heard that the Al-
liance for Retired Americans was
formed with this in mind, but do you
understand why? It’s not hard to ex-
plain. It’s the doing that’s been diffi-
cult.
The problem stems from the num-
bers. Historically, large numbers of
union retirees are never heard from
back at the hall or lodge once they no
longer work for an income. But there
were always the members born be-
tween 1946 and 1966. That’s no
longer the case. Large numbers of
Baby Boomers are beginning to retire
everywhere in America, including in
the labor community. That spells trou-
ble.
The notion of “Big Labor” has al-
ways been a myth. Union membership
has been in decline for more than three
decades, but the damage done to la-
bor’s power since Ronald Reagan
crushed the air traffic controllers union
FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Open
Forum
in 1981 has put us on life support. La-
bor needs retirees to organize them-
selves across turf lines; join in work-
ing coalitions with people holding
similar political views; make their col-
lective voice heard by municipal,
county, state, and federal elected offi-
cials, and show the newer generations
of union members why the wages and
benefits are as good as they are.
Right now, only the Alliance for
Retired Americans, with three dozen
states on board and more to come, is
taking on that task. That’s why I’m
urging ALL unions in Oregon to send
one of their soon-to-retire members to
our Western Regional Conference in
Las Vegas March 24-26. Retirees and
older working people (blue-collar,
white-collar, and no-collar) from 12
Western states — including such left-
wing labor bastions as New Mexico,
Montana, and Colorado — will be
learning from and teaching each other
what retirement security is all about
and what we all must do to protect it.
Please contact me at
vvjporter@aol.com or 503-284-8591
if you want to hear more. It’s crucial.
We must join together. America may
never be the same if we don’t.
Verna Porter
President
Alliance for Retired Americans
Portland
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