Northwest Oregon Labor Council
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
Governor: Kate Brown
OREGON STATEWIDE:
LABOR
PRESS
STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURES
SUPPORT: Measure 102: Constitutional amendment to make affordable housing
bond dollars go farther by allowing local governments to partner with non-profit and
private housing providers.
OPPOSE: Measure 103: Constitutional amendment that would allow a tax carve out for cor-
porations that want to avoid paying their fair share. Blocks the ability of voters and local govern-
ments to make their own decisions about local issues and address public health crises.
OPPOSE: Measure 104: Constitutional amendment that would make it harder to eliminate
tax loopholes or hold corporations and the wealthy accountable for paying their fair share.
OPPOSE: Measure 105: Constitutional amendment to repeal 30-year sanctuary state law.
OPPOSE: Measure 106: Constitutional amendment to prohibit public funds from being spent
on abortions in Oregon, which could impact public employees and people on Medicaid.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY:
COLUMBIA COUNTY:
Clerk: Pamela White
Commissioner: Pos. 2: Henry Heimuller
CITY OF GLADSTONE:
Mayor: Tammy Stempel
CITY OF GRESHAM
Councilor: Position 2: Eddy Morales
Councilor: Position 4: Mario Palmero
CITY OF HILLSBORO:
Commissioner, Ward 2, Position A: Kyle Allen
Commissioner, Ward 3, Position A: Olivia Alcaire
Councilor: Emma Burke
Councilor: Daniel Nguyen
VOLUME 119, NUMBER 19
IN THIS ISSUE
TEAMSTERS’ UPS CONTRACT Deal signed
despite member vote to reject it. | Page 3
AMERICA’S TOP POINTER A local
bricklayer outcaulks the competition. | Page 5
Meetings p. 4
PORTLAND, OREGON
75 years in the union p. 5
OCTOBER 19, 2018
POLITICS
Making sense of the ballot measures
By Don McIntosh
In the next three weeks, Orego-
nians will vote on whether to
give giant grocery companies a
special immunity from taxes,
whether to make it harder for
lawmakers to end wasteful tax
loopholes, and whether to over-
turn a 30-year-old law that lim-
its racial profiling. Washingtoni-
ans, meanwhile, will vote on
whether to make the state a na-
tional clean energy leader, and
whether to reform rules around
police use of deadly force. For
the following statewide ballot
measures, unions are lined up on
just one side.
OREGON MEASURES
YES: Measure 102, referred to voters by
a near-unanimous legislature, has no
opposition. It would stretch public
investments in affordable housing
farther by letting local governments
partner with private housing providers
when they spend bond money.
NO: Measure 103 is pitched as banning
taxes on groceries, but Oregon has no
taxes on groceries, nor any plans to add
them. So what’s it really about? Why
did America’s grocery and soda giants
spend $2.4 million on paid petitioners
to get it on the ballot and another $2.5
million since then to carpet-bomb
Oregon with campaign ads? Two
reasons. One, in other states, some
local jurisdictions have passed ”sin”
taxes on sugary drinks, which may
prove to be a bigger killer than tobacco.
Measure 103 would bar voters and
elected leaders in Oregon from doing
that. But that’s not all. If the Oregon
Legislature one day passes a business
gross receipts tax – like the one the
state of Washington has had for
decades, or the one the union-backed
Measure 97 tried to establish in 2016 –
grocery companies would be exempt.
In fact, the measure’s critics say it’s
written so broadly it would exempt just
the industry from a whole range of
possible taxes.
Turn to Page 2
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO:
Councilor: Jackie Manz
METRO:
Councilor, District 2: Christine Lewis
Support Measure 26-199: A regional bond to fund affordable housing for
low-income families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.
CITY OF MILWAUKIE:
Mayor: Mark Gamba
MULTNOMAH COUNTY:
Auditor: Jennifer McGuirk
Circuit Court Judge, Pos. 30: Ben Souede
CITY OF PORTLAND:
Commissioner, Pos. 2: Loretta Smith
WASHINGTON COUNTY: Chair:
Oregon Senate
Kathryn Harrington
(Within Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s jurisdiction)
Dist. 13: Sarah Grider; Dist. 15: Chuck Riley; Dist. 16: Betsy Johnson; Dist. 17: Elizabeth
Steiner Hayward; Dist. 19: Rob Wagner; Dist. 20: Charles Gallia; Dist. 24: Shemia Fagan
Oregon House
Questions for Kate Brown
Oregon Governor Kate Brown is
up for re-election against a can-
didate backed by billionaire Phil
Knight. I spoke with her about
some of the issues that matter
most to working people.
By Don McIntosh
If Bend Republican Knute
Buehler had been Oregon’s gov-
ernor instead of Democrat Kate
Brown, none of the landmark la-
bor-backed legislation of the last
four legislative sessions would
be law today. No minimum wage
increase. No workers’ right to
paid sick leave. No first-in-the-
nation “fair scheduling” law. And
no transportation infrastructure
investment package. As state rep,
Buehler voted against every one
of those things. But as governor,
Brown signed them into law.
Now Buehler is running a
campaign fueled by magical
thinking: He says he wants to
catapult Oregon schools into the
Turn to Page 7
(Within Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s jurisdiction)
Dist. 27: Sheri Malstrom; Dist. 28: Jeff Barker; Dist. 29: Susan McLain; Dist. 30: Janeen Sollman;
A COMPREHENSIVE UNION GUIDE TO THE
Dist. 31: Brad Witt; Dist. 32: Tiffiny Mitchell; Dist. 33: Mitch Greenlick; Dist. 34: Ken Helm; Dist. 35:
NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION
Margaret Doherty; Dist. 36: Jennifer Williamson; Dist. 37: Rache Prusak; Dist. 38: Andrea Salinas;
Dist. 40: Mark Meek; Dist. 41: Karin Power; Dist. 42: Rob Nosse; Dist. 44: Tina Kotek; Dist. 45: Bar-
bara Smith Warner; Dist. 46: Alissa Keny-Guyner; Dist. 47: Diego Hernandez; Dist. 48: Jeff Reardon;
Dist. 49: Chris Gorsek; Dist. 50: Carla Piluso; Dist. 51: Janelle Bynum; Dist. 52: Anna Williams
Authorized by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 9955 SE Washington, St., Suite 305, Portland, OR
OREGON BALLOT
See nwlaborpress.org/2018/OregonElection
WASHINGTON BALLOT
See nwlaborpress.org/2018/WashingtonElection