DEC-Holiday-2008:Holiday Issue
12/16/08
10:05 AM
Page 5
Sizemore released from jail — but not from legal woes
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Dec. 4, one day after union adversary Bill
Sizemore was placed behind bars for contempt
of court, he was released from jail — but not
from ongoing legal difficulty.
Because of the contempt of court ruling, Size-
more and a sham Nevada charity he created will
likely owe $500,000 to $750,000 to two teachers
unions, said union attorney Greg Hartmann.
Plus, the judge granted the unions greatly ex-
panded power to subpoena further testimony and
documents from Sizemore, his groups and asso-
ciates. And, evidence uncovered in the case
could be the basis for further civil and criminal
action against Sizemore and his millionaire fi-
nancial backer, Loren Parks.
In the contempt of court ruling that sent Size-
more to jail, Multnomah County Judge Janice
Wilson declared that he set up the American Tax
Reform Foundation (ATRF) in order to evade the
consequences of a jury award and judge’s order,
to support himself and his family while he
worked to get five initiatives on this year’s ballot,
and to give his donors, particularly Loren Parks,
an improper charitable donation tax break for
donating to what were, in fact, political cam-
paigns.
The ruling was the latest development in an
eight-year legal battle that started when the Ore-
gon Education Association and the American
Federation of Teachers-Oregon sued two groups
controlled by Sizemore. A jury found the groups
had engaged in a pattern of criminal activity, in-
cluding forgery and fraud in the course of getting
initiatives on the 2000 ballot. That made the
Sizemore groups liable for civil penalties under
Oregon’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations (RICO) law.
That jury decision is the source of frequent
references to Sizemore as a “convicted racket-
eer,” by his political opponents. Sizemore
protested that in late November, filing a lawsuit
in Marion County Circuit Court that accuses
over a dozen groups and individuals of violating
Oregon elections law by making false statements
about him. The suit argues that calling Sizemore
a “convicted racketeer” is false: first because a
civil judgment is not the same as a criminal con-
viction, and secondly, because the jury found
Sizemore’s groups, not Sizemore himself, had
violated Oregon’s racketeering law.
Bill Sizemore is handcuffed and hauled off to jail Dec. 3 after a Multnomah County judge found him in contempt of court. Sizemore was released
the next day, but his legal problems likely will continue, predicted labor attorney Greg Hartmann. Photos by Jeston Black and Jillian Smith
“If Sizemore wants to have a public legal
fight about what we can call him that a judge
hasn’t already called him, then we’ll have that
fight,” said Scott Moore, spokesperson for De-
fend Oregon, one of the groups named.
Of course, whatever inaccuracy it might be to
call Sizemore a convicted racketeer pales in
comparison to the misstatements Sizemore made
under oath in sworn depositions and before
Judge Wilson, and in forms he submitted to the
Internal Revenue Service and the state of Oregon
to secure his release from jail. In her contempt
ruling, Wilson included a four-page appendix of
“examples of deceit by Mr.
Sizemore.” Some of those
examples could be used if
District Attorney Michael
Shrunk decides to charge
Sizemore with perjury.
Hartmann said typically
perjury charges begin with
a judge referring a case for
prosecution, and so far, Wil-
son has not said publicly
she intends to do that.
Sizemore may also have
opened himself up to fur-
ther liability with inten-
tional misstatements on tax
and charitable forms he
turned in to get out of jail.
Wilson ordered Sizemore jailed after he broke
a promise to turn in two years of tax and charita-
ble forms for ATRF, forms which could shed
light on whether he had violated the 2002
judge’s order. Signing and turning in the forms
was made a condition of his release from jail. He
did that, and was released.
But as reported by the Oregonian Dec. 5, on
the IRS forms, Sizemore swore that ATRF had
not attempted to influence “a legislative matter
or referendum,” did not have officers or directors
of the foundation who were related to one an-
other, and had not paid anyone excessive bene-
fits. Yet, Wilson had determined that ATRF’s true
purpose was to fund Sizemore’s political work.
Sizemore’s mother was on its board. And ATRF
paid Sizemore and his wife hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars for work that had no value and
little relation to the foundation’s stated mission;
ATRF also loaned Sizemore money to buy prop-
erty, bought his wife a car, paid for his family’s
groceries, and purchased a time share in Mexico.
Sizemore backer Loren Parks could also be
found liable as the case unfolds. In 2000, the
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