Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2003)
OREGON LEGISLATURE GETS FAILING GRADE The Oregon Legislature earned a 39 per- cent score on environmental voting in the last session, marking a decade of retreat from Oregon’s legacy of environmental leadership, according to the 2003 Environmental Scorecard for the Oregon Legislature re- leased by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV) this week. “Oregon’s legislators put corporate pol- luters and developers ahead of the people of Oregon,” says Jonathan Poisner, executive di- rector of OLCV. “OLCV is appalled that so many legislators voted lock-step to sacrifice the quality of our water, air and land.” Local lawmakers scoring well were Sen. Vicki Walker and Rep. Floyd Prozanski (100 percent), Rep. Phil Barnhart (96 percent) and Sen. Bill Morrisette (89 percent). Getting mediocre reviews were Rep. Bob Ackerman (68 percent), Rep. Terry Beyer (52 percent) and Sen. Tony Corcoran (44 per- cent). Corcoran’s score was down from 83 percent in 2001, but OLCV’s Scorecard ses- sion summary credits Corcoran with helping stop many anti-environment bills from ever reaching the floor. At the bottom of the barrel for local lawmakers was Rep. Pat Farr (20 percent). “Many legislators claim they had to make tough choices. In reality, it was about corpo- rate special interests getting what they want,” says Poisner. “Clean water, healthy air, and farmland are basic values, not trading cards.” Poisner says the 2003 session “left the en- vironment battered” and Gov. Kulongoski “did many good things,” but “failed to make good on campaign promises to veto bills that threaten Oregon’s environment.” The 2003 Scorecard was based on 26 se- lected House votes and nine Senate votes. For details, visit www.olcv.org/scorecard. SON OF 7 PETITIONS NOW ON THE STREETS Oregonians in Action (www.oia.org) is fielding paid petitioners to get a new version of Measure 7 on the ballot in 2004. Initiative #36 is a statutory measure that, if passed, would require state and local governments to pay property owners whenever a “land use regulation” reduces a property’s value. “The end result would be to gut Oregon’s nationally acclaimed land use planning pro- gram, state farm and forest practices laws, local land use and zoning ordinances, and many other critical public protections,” says a statement in response from 1000 Friends of Oregon (www.friends.org). Nearly 750,000 voters in 2000 thought Measure 7 was a good idea and passed it, de- spite warnings from economists, land use ad- vocates and government officials. The mea- sure was invalidated by the Supreme Court on a technicality. If Initiative #36 qualifies for the ballot and is passed by voters, local elected officials, al- ready facing serious budget pressures, will face an impossible choice, says Evan Manvel of 1000 Friends. “Either pay landowners mil- lions or billions of dollars to comply with nu- merous existing laws that protect our neigh- borhoods, farmland, and environment; waive, or explicitly repeal, those laws; or fight costly compensation claims in court.” Manvel says the measure provides no funding sources, so that claims against tax- payers and associated legal costs would add to Oregon’s budget woes. “Moreover, its many says presenter Tom Tresser of Passionate legal uncertainties would certainly lead to ex- Strategies, with headquarters in Chicago. tensive litigation.” Tresser has an academic background in The Voter Education Project (VEP) has re- urban development, sociology and business ceived reports from the field that the paid peti- and is in residence at UO with the tioners are up to their “old tricks” again, Institute for Community Arts distorting the truth when collecting Studies.. signatures for both the “Son of 7” “A number of writers have initiative and the initiative to refer made the case that America’s the Legislature’s tax increase to current socio-political status as the voters. Citizens are being well as its continued economic asked to read all petitions care- success are both closely tied to fully before signing, and report any how well we foster and nourish cre- fraudulent activities to VEP at Tom Tresser ative thinking and creative people,” www.votereducationproject.org says Tresser. “Is there such a thing as the Petitions are also being circulated for two “Creative Class”? If there is a new social order initiatives that would reinstate term limits for stirring, what might its civic calling be?” legislative seats in Oregon. Term limits were Tresser says the Friday presentation will approved by voters in 1992, but were tossed combine elements of performance and lecture out by the Oregon Supreme Court in 2002 for to “examine the role creative workers might violating the “one subject” rule for ballot play in shaping the American civic agenda measures. — TJT going forward.” COLLABORATIVE VISION A community workshop on creativity as a driving economic force is planned for noon Friday, Oct. 24, at 249 Lawrence Hall at UO. The open public session will “solicit vision statements from participants on what a ‘creative Oregon’ looks like or would require in order to maximize the creative potential of her citizens,” Nordin, Mitzi Colbath, Max Grosbeck and Bonnie Bettman. • Who will fill Tony Corcoran’s Senate seat when he takes his state board appoint- ment in November? His district covers two counties, so Democratic Party precinct members in both counties will meet jointly and make their recommendations to the two county commissions. Lane con- stituents outnumber Douglas constituents by about 3-1 in Senate District 4, so com- missioners will vote proportionately. Rep. Floyd Prozanski would be an obvious ap- pointment, which would vacate his House seat. We hear Lane Commisioner Green is the key player in deciding who will take Corcoran’s seat. He should go for Floyd who is such a reasonable, decent and smart guy who knows his way around Salem and will serve Green’s constituents well. The list of local Dems who could end up in the House or Senate includes Don 8 OCTOBER 23, 2003 • Mayor Torrey’s term is up in 2004 and with Nancy Nathanson voicing her ambi- tions for the post, Torrey’s not likely to run (but we’ve said that before). Who would challenge Nathanson? Kitty Piercy and Jeff Miller might be contenders. If the progressives field a strong candidate this time (such as Piercy), conservatives will raise hundreds of thousands more than are needed for a reasonable small- town mayoral race. Our lack of meaning- ful campaign finance rules means we can look forward to another outrageously ex- pensive media blitz that will focus on per- sonalities and smears and do little to ad- vance important civic issues. • Kevin Mannix said last week that “tax- payers deserve the right to vote on this POOCH POLICY PUSHES PROBABLE CAUSE RULES Eugene police policy allows officers to use a drug detection dog to sniff the outside of a vehicle during a routine traffic stop even with- out probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the vehicle may contain drugs. massive tax increase” passed by the Legislature. “There was almost no public input on the tax plan during the legisla- tive session.” Well, maybe the details of the GOP-written plan were not hashed out in public, but public input to generate new revenues to slow Oregon’s slide into the 19th century was massive. And it took many forms, from letter-writing and hearing testimony to fasting on the steps of the Capitol. Unfortunately, Oregonians still buy into the tired old GOP rhetoric that taxes scare away business from lo- cating in Oregon. If anything scares away business, it’s an underfunded and failing education system. • Last week’s cover story on Eugene po- lice profiling blacks and Latinos only con- firmed what minorities have experienced here for generations. But people of color are not the only ones being selectively The Eugene city attorney expressed “some reservation” around the policy according to a staff report to the Police Commission. The le- gality of such a use of a drug dog without rea- sonable suspicion is “debatable,” the attorney noted. But the attorney knew of no cases es- tablishing precedents around the use of drug dogs in such a manner, and the EPD did not want use of the dog in traffic stops restricted. A city study of traffic stops by EPD last year shows that Eugene police stop and search blacks and Latinos at much higher rates. Police searched Latino drivers at a rate 2.6 times higher than whites and searched blacks at a one-third times higher rate. Police policy also allows the drug dog to be sent to community events for “public rela- tions purposes.” If the dog smells drug residue while at the community event, EPD policy specifies that the police handler will follow up as if the purpose of the dog’s visit had been to find drugs. The policy also allows the dog to sniff bags on an airport conveyor belt or other such luggage area in random checks for drugs without probable cause or reasonable suspi- cion. Eugene police got the drug dog for free from Gresham this summer after that city de- cided its limited money was better spent on police officer patrols. — Alan Pittman persecuted by local law enforcement. We’ll never have statistics to debate, but it’s no secret that traffic cops profile counterculture folks and poor people in beat-up vehicles. It’s an insidious form of discrimination based not on race, but on social status and intolerance, and it re- flects poorly on our police and sheriff’s departments. • Signature gatherers are on the streets with two initiative petitions intended to restore term limits in Oregon. Bad idea. We’ve had a decade of term limits that have contributed to our inept and ideo- logical Legislature. It takes a couple of terms for lawmakers to get over their petty agendas and learn how to work to- gether. It’s dangerous when lobbyists are the only ones who know how the system works. We already have term limits. It’s called the ballot.
