Labor Day
PICNICS
Labor Day – Monday, Sept. 5
Every year, labor unions throughout Oregon hold Labor Day picnics.
Here is a list of picnics taking place:
BEND — Solidarity Day Picnic, *Sunday, Sept. 4, at Pioneer Park in
Bend. 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Central Oregon Central La-
bor Council. Contact Linda Bradetich at 541-350-0965 or Steve Williamsen
at 541-678-0235 for more information. * Note the date is not Labor Day.
EUGENE/SPRINGFIELD — John Lively Picnic Shelters, behind
SPLASH at 6100 Thurston Road in Springfield. Noon – 4 p.m. Please
bring a side dish. SPLASH will offer a swim rate for picnic participants that
wish to use the wave pool. Sponsored by the Lane County Central Labor
Council. Contact Cj Mann at 541-913-0056 for more information.
MEDFORD — TouVelle State Park, 8425 Table Rock Road, Central
Point. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Donations accepted and there is a $5 charge for
parking. Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Council. Call
Kathy McUne at 541-664-0804 for more information.
NORTH BEND — Ferry Road Park in North Bend. 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sponsored by the Southwestern Oregon Central Labor Council. For more
information, call Robert Westerman at 541-756-3907 or e-mail at
ibew932@frontier.com.
PORTLAND — Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast Portland. 10 a.m.
– 5 p.m., with a brief program at 1 p.m. Scrip sells for 50 cents. Deluxe
ride bracelets are $9. The Oregon Pacific Railroad Shuttle Train will trans-
port people ($2 per person roundtrip) to and from Oaks Park from 8:30 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Parking will be available at the Portland Opera, 211 SE Caruthers
St., and in the vicinity of SE Ivon and 4th Street. Sponsored by the North-
west Oregon Labor Council. Call 503-235-9444 for more information.
SALEM — Riverfront Park in Salem. 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Sponsored
by Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Council. Cost: two food items per
person. Call Judy at 503-362-7057 for more information.
Backers file second ballot initiative
aimed at public employee unions
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Supporters of an anti-union ballot
initiative turned in 1,000 signatures
Aug. 5 to the Oregon secretary of state’s
office. The initiative is dubbed the “Get
Government Out of Politics Act,” by its
authors. But “Get Public Employee
Unions Out of Politics Act” might be a
more accurate title.
Reached by phone, the initiative’s
chief petitioner, Sandra Chapin, said its
purpose is “to prevent public unions
from taking money out of people’s
checks to support political agendas.”
The initiative would bar public employ-
ers from collecting union dues if any
part goes toward political activities.
“All indications are that they are
treating it seriously as a campaign,” said
Scott Moore, spokesperson for Our
Oregon, a union-backed ballot measure
watchdog group. “It’s a direct attack on
public employees, and it’s part of a na-
tionwide effort to attack working fami-
lies.”
It could take several months before
signatures are validated and a ballot title
is certified. At that point, the initiative
— currently known as “Petition 23” —
would be approved to circulate, and to
pay petitioners. To become a ballot
measure on the November 2012 ballot,
it will need 87,213 valid signatures from
registered Oregon voters.
Chapin herself is a public employee
— she’s an applied behavior analysis
assistant at High Desert Education Serv-
ice District in Redmond, working with
autistic students. In that job, she’s rep-
resented by the Oregon Education As-
sociation, the state’s biggest teachers
union. At one time, Chapin said her
union dues paid for political activities
that she opposed. But she went through
a process for objectors, and now has
“fair share” employee status, which
means she pays reduced dues that go
only toward “representational” ex-
penses.
Chapin was asked to serve as the ini-
tiative’s chief petitioner because of that
stance, but she wouldn’t say who asked
her, or who is backing the campaign,
and she said she’s never met her fellow
chief petitioner — retired Oregonian
and anti-light-rail activist Mel Zucker.
Zucker, reached by phone, said for-
mer Oregonian editorial board member
David Reinhard is a key figure in the ef-
fort, and is working full time on it.
The campaign address is a mailbox
at downtown Portland Mailboxes etc.
Chapin said the campaign is paying
circulators, but said she doesn’t know
any details and doesn’t know who’s
paying them. The Oregon secretary of
state’s campaign finance database lists
a Get Government Out of Politics Peti-
tioners Committee associated with the
initiative. But the committee had re-
ported no contributions or expenditures
at the time this article went to press. Un-
der Oregon law, the committee must re-
port contributions and expenditures
within 30 days. The group lists as its
treasurer Carol Russell of Bandon, who
has served on the executive board of the
agribusiness lobby group Ag-PAC, and
chairs the Oregon Cranberry Network.
Zucker said one figure who emphat-
ically is not involved in this effort is Bill
Sizemore.
“I don’t care what Bill Sizemore
does,” Zucker said. “He is not affiliated
with us. We can’t stand him.”
Sizemore, a perennial union foe, was
the author of ballot measures that were
very similar to Petition 23. Such pro-
posals have sometimes been called
“paycheck protection” by their backers,
and “paycheck deception” by oppo-
nents. But whatever the label, the meas-
ures are intended to make it harder for
public employee unions to gather polit-
ical resources.
Voters rejected those measures in
1998, 2000, and 2008. And Sizemore is
currently behind bars in Marion County
for failure to file tax returns. But his as-
sociate Tim Rohrer, who took over the
Sizemore signature gathering operation,
is listed as chief petitioner on Petition 3,
which is also aimed at the November
2012 ballot, and has been circulating
since October 2010.
Moore, at Our Oregon, calls Petition
3 a “carbon copy” of Sizemore’s 2008
Ballot Measure 64.
So, incredibly, Oregon may witness
two initiative campaigns for the 2012
season that are targeting public em-
(Turn to Page 5)
THE DALLES — Sorosis Park Shelter in The Dalles. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Potluck. Sponsored by Mid-Columbia Central Labor Council. Call Walt
Denstedt at 541-298-4783 for more information.
OREGON STATE FAIR — The Oregon AFL-CIO labor booth in
the central canopy area continues to be staffed with union volunteers dur-
ing the entire two weeks of the fair, including Labor Day.
Know Your Rights
If you are hurt on the job,
you have the right to
choose your doctor. Your
employer cannot force you
to use a certain doctor or
facility.
PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
AUGUST 19, 2011