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.