G ENERAL E LECTION
Endorsements of the
N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL
U.S. President/Vice President
B ARACK O BAMA /J OE B IDEN
U.S. House of Representatives
Inside
MEETING NOTICES
See Page 6
First District: S UZANNE B ONAMICI ; Third District: E ARL B LUMENAUER ;
Fifth District: K URT S CHRADER
Statewide
Secretary of State: K ATE B ROWN
Attorney General: E LLEN R OSENBLUM
Treasurer: T ED W HEELER
Labor Commissioner: B RAD A VAKIAN
Volume 113
Number 20
October 19, 2012
Portland, Oregon
Statewide Ballot Measures
Measures 82 & 83 (Wood Village casino)
Support
Measure 84
(Tax break that only benefits the heirs of millionaires)
Oppose
Measure 85
(Reform corporate kicker by putting money into K-12)
Support
Clackamas County
Chair: C HARLOTTE L EHAN
Commissioner, Position 4: J AMIE D AMON
Sheriff: C RAIG R OBERTS
Columbia County
Commissioner, Position 1: E ARL F ISHER
Commissioner, Position 3: T ONY H YDE
City of Gresham
Council Position 3: R ICHARD S RATHERN
Council Position 5: P AUL W ARR -K ING
Ballot Measure 26-141
(Gresham measure to change the City Charter to require
councilors to live in and represent specific districts, rather than run city wide.)
Support
Multnomah County
Ballot Measure 26-143 (Form library district )
Support
City of Wilsonville
Mayor: T IM K NAPP
City Council: S USIE S TEVENS
City of Wood Village
Ballot Measure 26-142 (Wood Village casino)
Support
Oregon State Senate
Dist. 14-M ARK H ASS ; Dist. 17-E LIZABETH S TEINER H AYWARD ; Dist. 21-D IANE R OSENBAUM ; District 22-
C HIP S HIELDS ; District 23-J ACKIE D INGFELDER ; District 25-L AURIE M ONNES -A NDERSON
O REGON H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES
Dist. 26 - W YNNE W AKKILA ; Dist. 27 - T OBIAS R EAD ; Dist. 28 - J EFF B ARKER ; Dist. 29 - B EN U NGER ;
Dist. 30 - J OE G ALLEGOS ; Dist. 31 - B RAD W ITT ; Dist. 32 - D EBORAH B OONE ; Dist. 34 - C HRIS
H ARKER ; Dist. 35 - M ARGARET D OHERTY ; Dist. 36 - J ENNIFER W ILLIAMSON ; Dist. 37 - C ARL H OSTICKA ;
Dist. 38 - C HRIS G ARRETT ; Dist. 40 - B RENT B ARTON ; Dist. 41 - C AROLYN T OMEI ; Dist. 42 - J ULES
B AILEY ; Dist. 43 - L EW F REDERICK ; Dist. 44 - T INA K OTEK ; Dist. 45 - M ICHAEL D EMBROW ;
Dist. 46 - A LISSA K ENY -G UYER ; Dist. 47 - J ESSICA V EGA -P EDERSON ; Dist. 48 - J EFF R EARDON ; Dist. 49 -
C HRIS G ORSEK ; Dist. 50 - G REG M ATTHEWS ; Dist. 51 - S HEMIA F AGAN ; Dist. 52 - P ETER N ORDBYE
Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council 3645 SE 32nd Ave., Portland, OR 97214
A union guide to the Oregon ballot
With two weeks to go before the
Nov. 6 mail ballot due date, the Oregon
AFL-CIO and union partners are ramp-
ing up their political operation. This
year, the labor federation’s priorities are
re-electing two statewide officials,
electing more “worker-friendly” state
legislators and judges, ending the cor-
porate kicker tax refund, permitting
construction of a private casino, and op-
posing an effort to eliminate the estate
tax on millionaires.
SECRETARY OF STATE: Ore-
gon’s secretary of state is responsible
for elections, state agency audits, the
state archives and the corporation reg-
istry — and, significantly, becomes
governor if the governor dies or is inca-
pacitated. Labor-backed Democratic in-
cumbent Kate Brown was a longtime
union ally in the Oregon Legislature,
and as secretary of state has defended
Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and
cracked down on abuses by initiative
petitioners. Her Republican opponent
Knute Buehler has never won public of-
fice before, but has campaign funding
from a Who’s Who of businesses and
wealthy individuals, including a
$50,000 contribution from Nike mogul
Phil Knight.
LABOR COMMISSIONER: The
union movement has a strong interest in
who heads the Bureau of Labor and In-
dustries (BOLI), because the agency en-
forces wage and hour, civil rights, and
prevailing wage laws; and oversees ap-
prenticeship programs. Incumbent la-
bor commissioner Brad Avakian gets
mostly good ratings from Oregon
unions for his first four-year term, and
he has union support for re-election.
Challenger Bruce Starr, a Republican
lawmaker, has said he would support
making Oregon a right-to-work state.
[Unions are weaker in right-to-work
states because union-represented work-
ers can’t be required to pay union dues.]
The Oregon AFL-CIO is backing
several statewide ballot measures this
year:
• CORPORATE KICKER: M EAS -
URE 85, placed on the ballot by the
union-backed nonprofit Our Oregon,
would amend the state Constitution to
eliminate the corporate income tax
“kicker,” and instruct the Legislature to
spend those funds instead on K-12 ed-
ucation. The kicker, unique to Oregon,
is a state income tax rebate that occurs
whenever income tax revenues exceed
(Turn to Page 4)
Worker Representation: Labor looks to
its own ranks for candidates to support
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
When you’re fighting for jobs and
workers rights, it helps to get “friends
of labor” in public office. But electing
“family” may be better still: Union
members and leaders, in state and local
elected office, may not need coaxing or
explanation to know which side they’re
on.
“When it comes to bread-and-butter
labor issues, bargaining rights, rights at
work, people who understand the labor
movement and who have lived those
values as union members themselves
make better advocates,” says Elana
Guiney, Oregon AFL-CIO political and
communications coordinator. “That’s
not to say we don’t have some great
friends in the Legislature who have not
been in unions. We absolutely do. But
the more that people can talk first-hand
about those issues, the better off work-
ers are.”
This year in Oregon, as many as two
dozen union members are candidates
for public office. Some are shoe-ins;
others are long shots.
For many years, unions have en-
couraged and supported members to
run for office. This year, nine Oregon
unions went a step further and formed
the Oregon Labor Candidate School —
a six month course in the mechanics of
political campaigns — for union mem-
bers who want to promote a pro-labor
agenda in public office. Eleven students
took part, and were taught by political
and media consultants who volunteered
their time. Most are working on cam-
paigns for local school boards in 2013.
Union members are also running for
a number of seats in the Oregon Legis-
lature:
• Deschutes County GIS Analyst
Geri Hauser — a member of the AF-
SCME Local 3997 Executive Board
and past member of Operating Engi-
neers Local 701 — is running as a De-
mocrat for Oregon Senate District 27
in Bend. She faces former Republican
state Senate majority leader Tim
Knopp, who defeated Republican in-
cumbent Chris Telfer in the primary.
• State Rep. Arnie Roblan, (D-Coos
Bay) is leaving the House to run for an
open seat in Senate District 5, where in-
cumbent Democrat Joanne Verger is re-
tiring. Roblan is a former teacher and
member of the Oregon Education As-
sociation (OEA).
• Journeyman electrician Claudia
Kyle, a member of International Broth-
erhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
Local 48, is challenging, for the second
time, incumbent State Rep. Kevin
Cameron (R-Salem).
• Paul Holman, a firefighter and
paramedic for the City of Newberg, is a
member of International Association of
Fire Fighters (IAFF). He’s running
against incumbent Kim Thatcher (R-
Keizer) and Libertarian Ryan Haffner.
• Jeff Reardon was a member of
(Turn to Page 5)