PAGE 6 | November 18 , 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
...Portland City Council looks at public campaign finance
From Page 1
campaign contributions. And
the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citi-
zens United decision in 2010
took the lid off campaign contri-
butions in federal races.
“When a wealthy corporation
can call the Oregon Legislature
into session for a special tax
deal, you know we have an in-
fluence problem,” said Jeff An-
derson at the Nov. 3 Portland
City Council hearing. Anderson
is president of the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council, AFL-
CIO, and secretary-treasurer of
United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555, the state’s
largest private sector union. He
was referring to a one-day spe-
cial session called at Nike’s re-
quest in 2012 in which state
lawmakers gave agreed to guar-
antee Nike a preferential corpo-
rate income tax formula for the
next 30 years.
“[Nike founder] Phil Knight’s
recent contribution of $380,000
to some Oregon legislative can-
didates dwarfs the largest private
sector union in Oregon. … I find
it incredible that thousands of
my members can pool their dol-
lars together only to have that
amount be offset by a single
large donor,” Anderson said.
UFCW, Service Employees,
Communications Workers of
America, and the Oregon Work-
ing Families Party worked with
“Many Portlanders don’t trust their
elected representatives to do the right
thing for the right reasons, in part be-
cause of the perceived influence of cam-
paign contributions in elections.”
— Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz
Common Cause, OSPIRG,
NAACP, and other non-profit
groups in a coalition to develop
the Open and Fair Elections pro-
posal.
In City of Portland elections,
it’s not uncommon for union po-
litical action committees (PACs)
to contribute $1,000, $10,000 or
even more. Candidates who opt
into the Open and Fair Elections
program wouldn’t be allowed to
accept money from union PACs
or any other kind of PACs. Yet
the program would likely play
to union strengths, because it
would eliminate opposing big
contributors while multiplying
the influence of small donors.
Imagine a fundraiser for a
union-endorsed candidate:
Thirty rank-and-file members or
officers each willing to chip in
$50 would end up generating
$10,500 for a city council can-
didate’s campaign. The Open
and Fair ordinance limits “in-
kind” contributions such as of-
fice space to $20,000 per elec-
BUY UNION
Washington farmworkers union
ends boycott of Driscolls, Sakuma
A three-year union boycott
against Sakuma and Driscoll
berries and Häagen Dazs straw-
berry ice cream is over. In Sep-
tember, Skagit Valley agri-giant
Sakuma Berries agreed to allow
a union election and recognize
and bargain a contract with the
union, Familias Unidas por la
Justicia (FUJ), if it won. FUJ is
a local farmworker union affili-
ated with Washington State La-
bor Council, AFL-CIO. Workers
voted 195-58 on Sept. 12 to join
FUJ; 377 workers were eligible
to vote, and the now-union-rep-
resented workforce swells to
about 500 at the height of berry-
picking season. No state law in
Washington governs farm-
worker unionization, and farm-
workers aren’t covered by the
National Labor Relations Act,
so Richard Ahearn, former re-
gional director of the National
Labor Relations Board, agreed
to oversee the privately con-
ducted vote count.
Now, negotiations are under
way for a first union contract,
and FUJ is being assisted in bar-
gaining by Jason Holland, labor
attorney with Washington Pub-
lic Employees Association/
United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 365. If the two
sides fail to reach agreement,
Ahearn will also serve as arbi-
trator, picking whichever side’s
final offer is most reasonable.
In 2014, the company paid
$850,000 in the largest-ever fed-
eral wage and hour lawsuit set-
tlement in Washington. But the
boycott was called earlier when
the company refused to recog-
nize the union. Most Sakuma
Brothers berries are sold and
marketed by Driscoll’s, based in
Watsonville, California.
tion, but donations of staff time
to supervise volunteers wouldn’t
count toward that limit. And the
ordinance places no restraint on
unions’ ability to communicate
with their own members.
Commissioner Amanda Fritz,
who introduced the ordinance,
said Open and Accountable Elec-
tions is as important to her as the
City’s paid sick leave ordinance,
which she helped pass in 2013.
“The Open and Accountable
elections system will address
one of the most fundamental
challenges we face, which is
that many Portlanders don’t
trust their elected representa-
tives to do the right thing for the
right reasons, in part because of
the perceived influence of cam-
paign contributions in elec-
tions,” Fritz said introducing the
ordinance.
Fritz is the only person on the
five-member city council who
came to office thanks to Port-
land’s previous public campaign
finance system. Known as
“When a wealthy corporation can call
the Oregon Legislature into session for a
special tax deal, you know we have an
influence problem.”
— Jeff Anderson, UFCW Local 555
secretary-treasurer
Voter-Owned Elections, it was
enacted in 2005, but had its rep-
utation damaged by several in-
stances of fraud. When it went
before voters for approval in
2010, it lost by 1,600 votes out
of 210,000 cast.
“I read that vote as Port-
landers saying ‘Not now, and
not this system,’ rather than
‘Nothing like this ever again,’”
Fritz said.
The Open and Fair Elections
proposal differs from Voter-
Owned Elections in that public
funding matches — but doesn’t
replace — private campaign
contributions.
Should it go before voters for
approval? Fritz said no, arguing
that City Council allocates over
$400 million in discretionary
funds every year, and doesn’t
ask voters to approve each of
those appropriations. Also, if
Portland residents don’t agree
with this or any other action of
City Council, Fritz said there’s a
process by which they can col-
lect signatures to refer it to vot-
ers, as they did with the decision
to fluoridate the City’s water.
But Commissioner Nick Fish
countered that this proposal
could be perceived as directly
benefiting City Council mem-
bers, so maybe it should be ap-
proved by voters first.
Both the floor and second
floor gallery of City Council
chambers were packed with sup-
porters of the ordinance, and dur-
ing several hours of public testi-
mony, no council members said
they oppose it. Fritz said Mayor
Charlie Hales is supportive of the
measure. Fish said he has ques-
tions about it. Commissioner
Steve Novick raised concerns
about the cost of the ordinance
while also saying he thinks it
might not be generous enough.
Fritz and supporters of the or-
dinance are soliciting feedback
and proposed modifications to
the ordinance, and aim to bring
it to further hearings and a vote
by the end of the year.