A few days ago we learned that the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office is considering using an obscure interpretation to block any chance for getting big money out of Oregon politics in 2022 and we need your help to put pressure on Secretary Fagan to do the right thing.Can you contact Secretary Fagan's office and tell her the importance of allowing Initiative Petitions 43, 44, and 45 to move forward?
Call: 503-986-1523 (leaving a voicemail is ok)
Email: oregon.sos@sos. oregon.gov
On Thursday we were alerted that Secretary Fagan was considering rejecting Petitions 43, 44, and 45 (three different versions we have been working on to bring sensible limits to money in Oregon politics) on the basis that they do not include the “full text” of the law being amended. In fact all three petitions follow the longstanding precedent of including the full text of the subsections that are being amended, but not the text of the subsections that will not be changed.
As far as we can tell, no other Secretary of State has ever rejected a petition for this reason, despite many following the same standard of only including the subsections being amended. In fact, Initiative Petition 3 is currently collecting signatures and was approved in October of 2020 with exactly this same issue. Ballot initiatives certified under the last several Secretaries of State, both Democrat and Republican, have used this longstanding interpretation. Changing the standard now, with no advance notice, beginning with these petitions to get big money out of Oregon politics, reeks of elected officials applying different standards based on what is favored by the politically connected. During the comment period on these petitions only one party raised this specific concern: the United Food and Commercial Workers, who also donated $50,000 to the Secretary’s 2020 campaign.
An official determination from Secretary Fagan’s Office is expected in the next few days, and hearing from Oregonians now asking her to do the right thing could make a real difference.
Please call or email Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and tell her that you want to see real campaign finance reform on your 2022 ballot and that she should not reinterpret the Oregon constitution to keep Oregonians from being able to weigh in on sensible limits to money in politics.
Call: 503-986-1523 (leaving a voicemail is ok)
Email: oregon.sos@sos. oregon.gov
Some talking points you might use:
- Oregon voters overwhelming passed Measure 107 in 2020 paving the way for real campaign finance reform and now they deserve to be able to vote on actually changing the role of money in Oregon politics.
- Our legal research indicates that no other Oregon Secretary of State has used the "full text" reason to disqualify initiative petitions.
- Secretary Fagan's unprecedented rationale is that "full text" means must reprint every section of Oregon Revised Statutes that the measure affects, not just the subsections it affects. This interpretation overturns longstanding practice exercised by Secretary Bev Clarno and others. Secretary Clarno in the 2022 election cycle approved Initiative Petition #3, which does exactly what IP 43-45 do--shows changes to a subsection without reprinting the other subsections which the measure does not change.
- Any change to interpretations, should be neutrally applied and messaged to the public, not decided in secret and applied only to petitions disfavored by the politically powerful.
- Secretary Fagan should reverse this tentative decision, do the right thing, and allow Oregon voters to have a chance to have a voice on campaign finance reform in the November 2022 election.
A more comprehensive Oregonian article is here Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan plans to kill effort to set campaign contribution limits in 2022.
Please help us put positive pressure on the Secretary Fagan and allow these transformational initiatives to move forward and ultimately allow Oregon voters to decide the role we want big money to play in our democracy.
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