STATE
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
A7
Lawmakers come and go, but the lobby remains a powerful constant
By Claire Withycombe, Aubrey
Wieber and Paris Achen
Oregon Capital Bureau
By Claire Withycombe, Au-
brey Wieber and Paris Achen
Oregon Capital Bureau
Top 10 donors to state political campaigns in the past two election c)cles
()ears 2015-2018), courtes) the National Institute on Mone) in Politics:
GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CAMPAIGN DONATIONS
Oregon Public Employees Local 503 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $976197574
Oregon Education Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $874857912
Stand for Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $574767942
AFSCME Council 75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $372777841
Oregon Association of Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $276897299
Oregon Nurses Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $176317648
Oregon Health Care Association/Oregon Center for Assisted Living . . $172297104
Electrical Workers Local 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170367009
Oregon Trial Lawyers Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$8727829
Our Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$8657350
$10,000,000
$9,000,000
$8,000,000
As the 2019 Legislature steams
ahead, an army of 1,000 lobbyists
is at work to gain political favors
from the state’s 90 legislators.
Two years ago, special interests
reported to the state that they spent
$39 million on that effort.
The most expensive lobbying
effort in 2017 was staged by the
Oregon Association of Realtors,
followed by Western States Petro-
leum Association and the Oregon
Nurses Association, according to
spending reports required by the
state.
Oregon law requires anyone
who hires a lobbyist to report what
they spend to try to bend the Leg-
islature to their will.
That transparency is intended
to hold legislators and lobbyists
accountable, providing the public a
way to judge who’s serving whom.
Housing advocates and hospi-
tals have already secured big wins
with a fi rst-of-its-kind rent control
bill signed into law Thursday and
a Medicaid bill awaiting signature
by Gov. Kate Brown.
Still to come are signifi cant pro-
posals such as carbon pricing, cam-
paign fi nance reform and education
spending, as well as a tobacco tax
and pharmaceutical pricing bills.
To date, more than 2,000 bills have
been introduced.
Lobbyists will have a say in
which ones make it and which ones
get nothing more than an introduc-
tion followed by a quiet political
burial. The 1,079 lobbyists regis-
tered with the state are beholden
only to the 1,150 clients who pay
them. Employers can have several
lobbyists. The labor union SEIU
Local 503 and sportswear giant
Nike, for instance, each has nine
registered lobbyists.
The lobbyists return year after
year, some decade after decade. In
contrast, some legislators last only
a term, serving two years in the
House and four in the Senate.
“In a Legislature that has
extremely high turnover, there are
different institutional forces that
have impact on the outcomes of
legislation,” said Rep. Dan Ray-
fi eld, D-Corvallis. “And some of
the people that are institutional
forces are legislators that have
been around for a while, that have
a historical knowledge of things.
But the one constant in Salem is
gonna be the lobby.”
In 2017, interest groups spent
$12 million more on lobbying than
$7,000,000
$6,000,000
$5,000,000
$4,000,000
$3,000,000
$2,000,000
$1,000,000
$0
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they did a decade earlier, according
to the Oregon Government Ethics
Commission.
That spending on lobbying is
only part of the cost of doing polit-
ical business in Oregon. Donat-
ing to legislators’ campaigns and
other political operations is rou-
tine. Interest groups sank $25 mil-
lion into last year’s state elections.
But now the focus is on trying to
shape the laws and state spending
that will touch every Oregonian.
Hasina Wittenberg is an inde-
pendent lobbyist who has worked
in the Capitol since 1995.
She mostly represents businesses
such as Schnitzer Steel Industries
and pharmaceutical companies.
“Everyone has a lobbyist,
whether or not they are some high-
paid, power-wielding person who
has notable wins or losses,” Witten-
berg said. “Basic associations have
lobbyists, like AARP, the Humane
Society. The food bank has a lobby-
ist because they want to feed more
people.”
For that money, interest groups
expect to have infl uence, raising
the question of whether lawmak-
ers are voting on behalf of their
constituents back home or for the
interest groups fi lling their sched-
ules and campaign coffers.
“At its least harmful, it creates a
signifi cant bias in what stories leg-
islators hear,” said John Wonder-
lich, executive director of the Sun-
light Foundation, a Washington,
D.C., group that advocates nation-
ally for open government.
“Beyond that, it can certainly
become much more harmful,”
Wonderlich said. “Especially when
there’s a quid pro quo, or an offer
of either supporting on the basis of
a decision, or withholding support
in order to prevent a decision from
happening.”
Common Cause Oregon, a non-
partisan public interest group, has
studied lobbying at the Capitol in
the past, but in recent years has
turned its focus to expanding vot-
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ing access and campaign fi nance
reform, said Executive Director
Kate Titus.
A review of lobby expenditure
reports from 2017 showed that the
top spender was the Oregon Asso-
ciation of Realtors at $864,500.
The Realtors had two top priori-
ties at the 2017 Legislature, accord-
ing to lobbyist Shawn Cleave.
They fought legislation that
would have allowed cities and
counties to cap rent increases
while supporting legislation cre-
ating a tax deduction and savings
program for Oregonians buying
their fi rst homes.
That local rent cap idea didn’t
pass, after a defi ning vote in the
Senate in which four Democrats
joined Republicans in opposition.
The most vocal Democratic oppo-
nent was then-Sen. Rod Monroe of
Portland.
“Rent
control
ultimately
reduces the supply of low-income
housing and will actually make the
problem worse than better,” Mon-
roe said in an interview explaining
his stand.
Last year, the Realtors stuck
with Monroe as he sought re-elec-
tion, donating $19,000 to Monroe’s
campaign and spending another
$200,000 to fend off a primary
challenge from Shemia Fagan. She
won.
“He stuck his neck out on an
issue that was important to us,”
Cleave said. “He understands the
economic concerns that come
along with rent control, and we
wanted to demonstrate to him
that we support his position, and
we support his re-election. Unfor-
tunately, we weren’t successful
there.”
Just this week, the Legisla-
ture approved statewide rent con-
trols that were signed into law by
Brown.
Not all lobbying is about back-
ing or fi ghting a proposal. Often,
the political work focuses on
amending legislation in detailed
ways that often escape public
attention.
“I think the effect on legisla-
tors is more subtle than some peo-
ple think,” said Sen. Jeff Golden,
D-Ashland. “People don’t walk in
here with big bags of money and
say, ‘Here’s how you gotta vote.’ I
think it’s more subtle than that.”
Golden said at times it can be
hard for lawmakers to not consider
campaign donors’ interests before
casting a vote.
Associations increasingly rec-
ognize the importance of being
active at the Capitol, such as
the Oregon Nurses Associa-
tion. Between 2007 and 2017, the
amount the association spent on
lobbying more than doubled, pub-
lic reports show.
The group ranked third in lob-
bying spending in 2017, shelling
out $416,362. A decade earlier, it
ranked 19th, spending $194,412.
Kevin Mealy, spokesman for
the Oregon Nurses Association,
said in the past decade member-
ship rose from 11,000 to 15,000.
Those members have increasingly
taken on new roles such as nurse
practitioners, home care nurses
and school nurses.
Mealy said that in 2015 the
association decided to expand its
political interests beyond direct
health care to livability issues such
as education, housing and clean air
and water.
Groups such as the nurses asso-
ciation also deploy their members
as a lobbying force, picking one
day for members to fl ood the Cap-
itol, shake hands and make their
points with legislators. In recent
days, the advocacy days were con-
ducted by the Oregon School Based
Health Alliance and the Northwest
Credit Union Association.
Some bring hundreds, others
thousands, armed with signs and
matching T-shirts. They set up
shop in the Capitol hallway, giv-
ing out everything from cookies to
scarves.
The nurses association reim-
burses its members for travel costs
to get to Salem, said Martin Taylor,
the organization’s executive direc-
tor. Earlier this month, 125 nurses
showed up to lobby for the day.
When such one-day advocates
go home, the paid lobbyists stay
behind to tend to legislation and
legislators.
Lobbyists are considered by
legislators and their staff as vital
sources of information to explain
what legislation would do — or
not do.
A good lobbyist shares their cli-
ent’s perspective — and the oppo-
sition’s, Wittenberg said.
“We have this wealth of infor-
mation and a tremendous amount
of knowledge based upon longev-
ity,” said Wittenberg.
“A reputation is the only thing
you can protect as a lobbyist,” Wit-
tenberg said. “If you are dishon-
est, unethical and don’t tell the full
story, people will eventually see
through that.”
“To be a lobbyist is not to do
evil,” said Phil Keisling, director
of the Center for Public Service at
the Mark Hatfi eld School of Gov-
ernment at Portland State Univer-
sity. “It’s an advocacy process.”
Some are infl uential because
they’re persuasive.
Keisling worked in the Legisla-
ture as an assistant to then-Speaker
Vera Katz in the late 1980s, served
one term in the House and was sec-
retary of state from 1991 to 1999.
In his experience, the most
effective lobbyists provided law-
makers the best argument against
their own position and then refute
it.
According to Wonderlich, state
lawmakers generally have fewer
staff to evaluate legislation.
Legislators in Oregon receive
about $61,000 per session for staff,
services and supplies. Legislative
assistants make $2,806 to $4,727
per month, depending on experi-
ence. Most lawmakers have one to
three staff members.
Wonderlich said having fewer
staff to vet proposals can make
state lawmakers easier targets for
lobbyists.
“Each state’s decisions have
a massive impact on the amount
of profi ts they have,” Wonderlich
said. “That fact is not lost on inter-
ests that are behind lobbying.”
Lobbyists testify in commit-
tee hearings on behalf of their cli-
ents, but they also work to infl u-
ence decisions behind the scenes,
whether it’s a meeting in a law-
maker’s offi ce or grabbing a quick
chat in a hallway as a legislator
goes from meeting to meeting.
Two years ago, Rayfi eld pushed
to make lobbying more transparent.
House Bill 2577 would have
required lobbyists to disclose
which bills they were lobbying,
their positions on the bills and
what topics they were lobbying.
The effort “set the building on
fi re,” Rayfi eld said.
Nonetheless, he rounded up 34
representatives to co-sponsor the
proposal, which passed the House
with 51 votes.
But when legislators adjourned
July 7, 2017, the bill sat on the
desk of Senate President Peter
Courtney, no vote ever taken in
that chamber.
“There’s a lot of things that
could have gone on, so I don’t
want to speculate as to ill will,”
Rayfi eld said.
Hundreds turn out for heated, emotional testimony on vaccination bill
Bill would remove
religious, philosophical
exemptions
By Aubrey Wieber
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Capitol swelled with a sea
of red Thursday as hundreds came
to Salem to testify on legislation
that would remove parents’ abil-
ity to decide whether to vaccinate
their child and keep them in public
or private school.
The proposal, House Bill 3063,
would remove religious and philo-
sophical exemptions for Oregon’s
required vaccines, leaving in place
only a medical reason for a child
to avoid vaccinations. The House
Committee on Health Care held
the fi rst hearing on the bill, which
was introduced last Friday.
Safety and harassment was
at issue as much as public pol-
icy. Many witnesses favoring the
change noted the threats they and
others have received from vaccine
skeptics. Opponents who want
autonomy on whether to vaccinate,
most wearing red shirts to signal
opposition, pushed back on being
called “anti-vaxxers” or crazy.
Multnomah County Commis-
sioner Sharon Meieran, in sup-
port, said she was nervous to tes-
tify because of death threats some
have received.
“The tenor of this debate has
gotten unhealthy, and frankly, dan-
gerous,” she said.
Hours before the hearing, House
Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
told reporters of how heated the
issue has become, and that some
people feel they can’t safely tes-
tify. She said some have received
threats at their workplace.
“If you want to testify and
someone shows up at your work-
place, that’s harassment,” Kotek
said. “That’s not a free speech
issue, that’s harassment.”
Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Lake
Oswego, chair of the committee,
opened the hearing warning that
anyone being disruptive or harass-
ing would be removed by state
police.
About 75 people testifi ed while
another 180 were left waiting to do
so despite the hearing going three
hours. Hundreds more were there
to listen.
If the bill becomes law, parents
who receive a medical exemp-
tion could still keep their children
in school. Those unable to get a
medical exemption and who still
didn’t want to vaccinate their chil-
dren would have to home school
them.
The vaccine debate is always
heated and provokes accusations of
government overreach and some-
times conspiracy theories about
ill will on behalf of public health
offi cials. But with the backdrop of
the largest measles outbreak in the
region in decades — 66 confi rmed
cases, all but one being in south-
west Washington — the debate has
become especially charged.
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A line to sign up to testify
stretching half the building formed,
many holding small children and
wearing a sticker identifying them
as opposed to the legislation.
Capitol employees had to open
two overfl ow rooms, including
one in the basement that holds
around 100 people. That room was
closed as staff told the still-grow-
ing crowd that it could listen to the
hearing from speakers in the Capi-
tol’s concourse.
Legislators from both parties
have lined up in favor and against
the bill. Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ash-
land, testifi ed against the bill only
to be reminded by the bill’s spon-
sor, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Port-
land, that only half the children in
a school in Golden’s district have
been vaccinated. He wondered
what would happen if there was an
outbreak at that school.
Golden declined to engage,
saying Greenlick is the public
health expert, but said he thinks
the proposed legislation is an
overreaction.
Greenlick disagreed, and said
the measles outbreak should
prompt lawmakers to act where
they have failed in the past.
“It turns out, no, it’s not a theo-
retical discussion,” he said. “It’s a
very practical discussion.”
Language in testimony often
turned dramatic. Sen. Kim
Thatcher, R-Keizer, said the bill
would take medical decisions from
parents and give them to Oregon
Health Authority offi cials.
“Our children are not lab rats,”
she said, garnering a loud applause.
Sen.
Dennis
Linthicum,
R-Klamath Falls, said the proposal
was the “Russian roulette” of pub-
lic policy.
Several public health offi -
cials and medical doctors testifi ed
that diseases like polio have been
essentially eradicated through vac-
cines. They talked about children
with immune defi ciencies scared
to go to school because of low vac-
cination rates.
Grant SWCD Weed Control Dept.
Working for You in 2019
Thanks to the Grant County Court and Northeast Oregon Forests Resource
Advisory Committee, Grant Weed Control is able to offer a 25% Cost
share program for Noxious Weed Control on Private Grazing Lands,
through a Title II funded Grant Project. This program will provide a
maximum $5,000 of noxious weed control services with a $1,250 maximum
landowner contribution to qualifying participants. To be eligible for
participation, the treatment property must not be actively irrigated and must
be primarily managed for livestock grazing, minimum of 20 acres in size,
located within Grant County, and must contain priority noxious weed
species. Applications for this limited weed control assistance opportunity
will be ranked and funded according to a priority noxious weed list..
Contact the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District Office at (541)
575-1554 or visit 721 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845 for
applications and additional information.
The application deadline for this program is April 12th, 2019. 107997