NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Groups push limits on Oregon
campaign contributions
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — As one of several
states that doesn’t limit how
much individuals, businesses
or unions can contribute to
candidates, parties or causes,
Oregon has earned an “A plus”
rating from a Virginia-based
group founded by an advocate of
deregulating campaign finance.
The rating comes as
supporters of campaign finance
reform are renewing efforts to
amend the Oregon Constitution
to allow such limits.
Oregon, Alabama, Nebraska,
Utah and Virginia each got a
perfect score in rankings released
this week by the Institute for Free
Speech.
“When people want to change
government, they donate to and
volunteer for candidates, parties
and groups,” the institute’s
leaders wrote in a foreword to the
rankings. “Restrictions on these
contributions protect incumbents
and result in less speech.”
The Institute for Free
Speech was founded in 2005 by
Bradley Smith, a proponent of
deregulating campaign finance
and a former commissioner and
chairman of the Federal Election
Commission under Presidents
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
The organization has filed
amicus briefs and pursued litiga-
tion involving campaign finance
limits and provided co-counsel
in the case SpeechNow.org v.
Federal Election Commission.
The outcome of that case
allowed so-called “super PACs”
to flourish. Super PACS are a
type of political action committee
that can raise unlimited amounts
of money, but can’t contribute
to or coordinate directly with
parties or candidates.
As of March 25, Super PACs
have raised $259 million and
spent about $58 million in the
current election cycle, according
to the Center for Responsive
Politics.
David Delk, chair of the
Oregon Progressive Party, says
unlimited political contributions
can reduce voters’ faith in the
democratic process.
The Oregon Progressive
Party is one of several groups
collecting signatures for a citizen
initiative petition to amend the
state’s constitution to allow limits
on campaign contributions and
File photo
Effort to impose limits on
campaign
contributions
comes as a group gives Or-
egon an “A plus” rating for
allowing unlimited contribu-
tions to candidates, parties
and campaigns.
expenditures. If supporters get
enough signatures, the measure
would be on the statewide ballot
in 2020.
Delk points to a $250,000
contribution from Nike founder
Phil Knight to the campaign
of then-Gov. John Kitzhaber, a
Democrat seeking reelection, in
2014. In late 2012 Knight had
lobbied Kitzhaber for assurances
the company’s tax structure
wouldn’t change as it made a
planned expansion. The Legisla-
ture passed a measure in special
session giving Kitzhaber the
power to grant such certainty as
long as the company met certain
benchmarks.
For Delk, that scenario created
the appearance of a quid pro quo.
“It gives credence to the view
that the system is rigged,” Delk
said.
Delk disagrees that limits on
campaign contributions consti-
tute restrictions on free speech.
“Money is property,” Delk
said. “And when you spend it, it
should be subject to regulation.”
Neither the Democratic Party
of Oregon or the Oregon Repub-
lican Party have taken a position
on the proposed initiative, the
parties confirmed Tuesday.
Daniel Weiner, senior counsel
for the Brennan Center for
Justice’s Democracy Program,
says unlimited political contribu-
tions create the risk of corruption.
“It can contribute to a negative
climate in terms of ethics, but
that doesn’t mean it necessarily
will,” Weiner said.
Other factors can mitigate
unlimited campaign donations,
Weiner said. For example,
Oregon also encourages popular
political participation by virtue of
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
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Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
Breezy with clouds
and sun
Clouds and sun
58° 37°
60° 42°
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Intervals of clouds
and sun
Partly sunny
62° 41°
Clouds and
occasional sunshine
59° 40°
60° 42°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
65° 44°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
56°
57°
76° (1952)
39°
37°
23° (1975)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Trace
1.38"
1.24"
3.71"
6.19"
3.75"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
60°
61°
78° (2015)
42°
37°
15° (1944)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.75"
0.78"
2.38"
4.84"
3.02"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
Mar 31
Apr 8
64° 43°
65° 46°
Seattle
53/41
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
67° 40°
New
6:43 a.m.
7:18 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
5:32 a.m.
First
Apr 15
Apr 22
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Today
SUNDAY
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
63° 39°
Correction
Gwen Fjeld is the president of the Pendleton Rotary Club. An incorrect title
was attributed in the article “Fireworks show ready to re-ignite,” Page 1A,
March 27.
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any
errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/32
57/37
Tacoma
Moses
54/37
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 60/34
51/35
52/40
55/36
63/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
54/37
58/41 Lewiston
64/37
Astoria
58/39
52/39
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
57/40
Pendleton 51/32
The Dalles 63/39
58/37
60/41
La Grande
Salem
55/34
59/37
Albany
Corvallis 60/36
59/35
John Day
56/34
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
64/38
58/35
58/32
Caldwell
Burns
62/35
57/29
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
52
58
58
63
57
51
58
56
63
56
61
55
51
67
52
56
64
63
58
57
61
59
52
51
56
58
63
Lo
39
31
32
46
29
32
35
37
39
34
30
34
32
39
38
40
38
35
37
40
31
37
32
30
38
41
37
W
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c
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Thu.
Hi
53
59
62
65
59
54
60
61
65
59
65
58
55
71
55
59
64
64
60
59
66
61
51
56
58
60
65
Lo
40
32
34
46
29
35
37
42
44
34
32
36
35
41
41
43
38
39
42
43
33
39
37
34
40
45
39
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
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WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
77
79
77
47
81
30
55
61
64
81
69
Lo
45
70
56
35
52
11
37
51
49
67
53
W
pc
s
pc
r
pc
pc
r
pc
s
s
s
Thu.
Hi
68
78
61
50
81
32
54
64
65
81
69
Lo
39
69
48
42
53
15
40
53
45
68
50
W
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s
WINDS
Medford
67/39
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
61/30
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Clouds and sun today,
but low clouds across the north; pleasant
in the south.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Clouds and
sun today, except cloudy near the Cascades.
Partly cloudy tonight.
Western Washington: Cloudy today and
tonight. Low clouds tomorrow; a passing
shower at the coast.
Eastern Washington: Mostly cloudy today.
Today
Thursday
WSW 7-14
WSW 10-20
WSW 7-14
WSW 8-16
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
1
3
4
3
3
1
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
Cascades: Variable cloudiness today. Partly
cloudy tonight. Clouds and limited sun
tomorrow.
Northern California: Sunshine today; pleas-
ant in central parts. A moonlit sky tonight.
EUGENE (AP) — An Oregon
teenager who sued her father and a lawn
mower manufacturer after she lost her
left leg when she was a toddler has been
awarded more than $12 million.
The Lane County jury sided with
14-year-old Isabelle Norton in Monday’s
verdict, finding her father Kirk Norton
and Deere & Co. at fault, The Register-
Guard reports.
Kirk Norton had backed over his
daughter with a riding lawn mower
outside their Springfield home in May
2006. Lawyers for the teen had argued
that the father was negligent and the
lawn mower had inadequate safety
features.
The manufacturer was ordered to pay
$9.5 million. Kirk Norton was order to
pay about $2.7 million.
“It’s been a long nine years of
waiting for this verdict,” Isabelle Norton
said. “I’m very grateful to the jury and
for my attorneys for all the hard work
they did. Now I just hope that John
Deere and other manufacturers will
change the design so that no one else
will have to go through what I’ve been
through.”
Deere attorney James Brogan told
jurors that the mower that Norton
bought and used in his backyard had met
all applicable standards and contained
no manufacturing defects. “It was
designed with everything necessary to
make it safe,” Brogan said.
The teen’s lawyer Don Corson said
the case could drag on for several more
years should Deere seek an appeal.
Deere initially won the case in 2009, but
that verdict was appealed, leading to this
trial.
Kirk Norton, meanwhile, was
arrested for child molestation in 2010,
and he pleaded guilty in the case one
year later. He’s now serving a 17-year
prison sentence. Norton’s criminal case
was unrelated to Isabelle, according to
one of her lawyers.
PORTLAND (AP) — A Portland
man has sued the city and Mayor Ted
Wheeler, claiming the mayor’s office
has improperly kept secret records about
a homeless shelter project.
Tyler Bechtel, who works as an
Oregon State Police detective, filed
a public records request for city and
county emails related to the shelter
plan. Bechtel claims Wheeler’s office
acknowledged it had some records, but
a city paralegal withheld an email and
attachment, saying state law allows
it to keep the records secret because
they contain exempt financial and
personal information and because the
records contain “internal advisory
communications,” according to records.
Bechtel claims the city erred on
procedural grounds because it should
have given him copies of the records
with confidential portions blacked-out.
The city disagreed in its own filings.
Wheeler’s office declined to
comment, The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported.
Bechtel and other critics of the shelter
say it would be too close to a school and
too far from the offices of social services
agencies, and may pose a public safety
problem.
“We believe that a shelter might be
the right idea but not in this location,”
Circulation Manager:
Marcy Rosenberg • 541-966-0828 • mrosenberg@eastoregonian.com
Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group
Teen who lost leg
from lawn mower
awarded $12M
Man sues Portland,
mayor for records on
homeless shelter project
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East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and
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Bechtel said, who has banded together
with other east Portland residents as an
organization called Southeast Allied
Communities, which bills itself as
opposed to the shelter.
The proposed shelter, which county
commissioners approved in January,
would be at Foster Road and Southeast
61st Avenue in Portland and plans to
shelter up to 120 people.
EUGENE (AP) — It’s spring break
at the University of Oregon, but not for
its police department.
The Register-Guard reports the
university has increased patrols
as officers look for the criminals
responsible for four robberies and two
holdup attempts on or near campus in
recent weeks.
Those crimes are among the dozen
robberies that have taken place in
Eugene and Springfield over the past
month. The latest robbery happened
Friday night, when a man with a gun
robbed an employee at a pizza place in
west Eugene.
The crime spree has put UO students
on alert and their parents on edge.
In addition to having more officers
on nightly patrol, the university has
extended the hours of its shuttle service.
being a vote-by-mail state with
an automatic voter registration
law.
Weiner is skeptical of the
argument that incumbents
benefit more from campaign
contribution limits.
While very low limits on
contributions can “create a
system where it’s hard to amass
that critical amount of seed
money you need to launch a
campaign,” incumbents typically
have more to offer wealthy
donors, Weiner said.
The latest initiative petition
is not the first effort to create
limits on political contributions
in Oregon.
In 2006, Oregon voters
approved Ballot Measure 47,
which created limits on indi-
vidual donations to state and
local elected office, and unions,
corporations or other entities
from payments called “indepen-
dent expenditures” supporting or
opposing a candidate or political
party.
However,
Measure
46,
which went before voters in the
same election and would have
amended the state’s constitution
to allow the limits in Measure 47,
was defeated.
Supporters had initially
wanted to get the constitutional
amendment on the ballot this
year, but ran out of time to
collect enough signatures after
the Oregon Supreme Court
reviewed public comments on
the proposed measure, Delk said.
On the local level, Multnomah
County and other supporters
are currently appealing a March
6 circuit court ruling that held
county limits on campaign
contributions are unconstitu-
tional.
Weiner says Americans are
witnessing the effects of political
giving on both politics and public
policy — he points to the recent
passage of sweeping federal tax
reforms as an example of donors’
political influence.
The role of money in politics
also contributed to a sense of
“disempowerment,” Weiner said,
that drove the rise of candidates
with populist appeal such as
now-President Donald Trump
and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“What we’re seeing right now
in our country is that campaign
finance rules and how we deal
with money in politics matters,”
Weiner said.
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THURSDAY
Eugene, and Springfield
crime spree puts University
of Oregon on alert
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— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: As spotty snow affects the North Central states, drenching rain is in
store from Texas to Pennsylvania with showers for the rest of the Northeast today. Severe
storms will erupt near the Gulf coast.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 92° in McAllen, Texas
Low -3° in Lake Yellowstone, Wyo.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
60
78
51
56
44
80
58
51
77
63
58
51
66
50
56
70
31
40
81
79
60
80
55
77
67
78
Lo
38
58
44
48
30
64
36
40
60
56
41
44
53
26
40
50
16
20
67
64
47
58
38
58
56
56
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Thur.
Hi
64
72
56
71
48
72
59
52
79
71
48
55
68
53
51
75
33
38
83
85
56
83
51
79
69
79
Lo
40
57
51
59
31
52
39
45
62
50
31
35
49
29
30
50
15
17
69
59
36
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32
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Today
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
64
67
78
52
54
70
83
52
56
60
55
80
49
54
74
48
65
78
56
57
71
72
53
74
62
55
Lo
56
59
70
37
27
59
68
46
43
32
48
59
32
40
56
25
40
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46
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53
40
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Thur.
Hi
66
67
81
45
43
67
75
54
54
48
67
85
49
57
78
42
69
80
51
59
72
73
55
81
77
55
Lo
44
45
71
29
28
47
59
49
34
33
58
61
41
48
60
22
39
49
36
44
56
52
45
54
60
32
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
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