Saturday, March 28, 2009
EDITORIAL: Restoring Confidence in Oregon’s Initiative
The Oregonian: Three important bills involving Oregon's initiative system are being considered in Salem, and one thing about them needs to be made clear right away: All three legislative proposals would strengthen, not weaken, the state's cherished process of direct democracy. The system needs shoring up because it is being abused. When Oregon voters adopted the initiative by an overwhelming margin in 1902, they couldn't have envisioned that a century later the system would be hijacked by professionals, wealthy hobbyists and out-of-state special interests pushing narrow ideologies and pet projects. Because Oregon's initiative system is one of the nation's least restrictive, it has become a cottage industry for a handful of these parties. Foremost among them is Bill Sizemore, who used the initiative to place a raft of measures on last fall's ballot, even though the Oregon Supreme Court had unanimously upheld lower court verdicts that organizations controlled by Sizemore violated anti-racketeering laws by forging signatures and filing false financial reports.
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