• Portland attorney Dan Meek was at
Eugene City Club last week to talk
about one of our favorite topics, cam-
paign finance reform. Penalties for
duplicate signatures killed the 2002
attempt to get a spending-limits consti-
tutional amendment on the ballot, but
Meek, Lloyd Marbet and other die-hard
reformers are a persistent bunch. Meek
reminds us that campaign spending in
Oregon has increased by a factor of 12
over the past six years and it’s only
going to get worse. Oregon is one of six
states without spending limits, so more
and more national money will likely be
pumped into Oregon congressional
races. “The candidate who spends the
most wins 91 percent of the time,” Meek
says. The new initiative is called Petition
53 and it bans corporations, labor
unions and other entities from con-
tributing to candidate campaigns.
Individuals can contribute up to $500 in
statewide partisan races. We’ll revisit
this campaign later since the signature
deadline is not until July 2. The website
is www.voters.net and the Eugene con-
tact is Pam Driscoll at 343-5628 or
PamelaCypress@yahoo.com
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• Wal-Mart in west Eugene applied in
February to become a “supercenter,”
expanding by 68,000 sq. ft. to include a
huge grocery store. Fed up California cit-
izens are fighting Wal-Mart supercenters
with ballot measures, recognizing that
these big stores swallow up small busi-
nesses and living wage jobs, and foster a
culture of concrete. Eugene’s antiquated
development regulations permit (and
even encourage) such monsters, but the
rules can be changed. Ashland, Corvallis
and other communities have managed
to keep out big box stores. The Eugene
City Council has mega-retailers on its
May 24 work session agenda, and labor
groups are protesting Wal-Mart’s expan-
sion plans at a rally at 5 pm April 22 at
West 11th and Commerce. Meanwhile, we
can vote with our dollars by shopping at
locally owned businesses.
• Word on the digital street is that
Arianna Huffington is coming to Eugene
next month on tour with her 10th book,
Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan For
Winning Back America. She plans to
speak at the McDonald Theatre the
evening of May 6. Stay tuned for
details. Two days later on May 8, Amy
Goodman of the Democracy Now! public
radio program is expected to stop here
on her national tour marking the launch
of her first book, The Exception to the
Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War
Profiteers, and the Media That Love
Them. Time is 7 pm and venue is 150
Columbia on Campus.
• The track record of County
Commissioner Anna Morrison is being
carefully documented on a new website
www.annamorrison.org, which is linked
to www.annawatch.com This collection
of votes, statements and media reports
will come in handy if Morrison chooses
to run again for the County Commission
or any public office.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations
and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff.
Heard any good rumors lately?
Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, or email
editor@eugeneweekly.com
APRIL 15, 2004 9