Portland resident Ronald Buel today filed a formal complaint with the Multnomah County Director of Elections against the campaign of Lori Stegmann for County Commissioner (District 4).

The complaint details $9,152 in contributions received by the Lori Stegmann campaign, which the complaint identifies as exceeding the limits placed into the Multnomah County Charter by Measure 26-184. For violations of that magnitude, the maximum penalty provided by Measure 26-184 would be approximately $183,000.

In November 2016, Measure 26-184 was adopted citywide with a 89% "yes" vote.  It was placed on the ballot by the Multnomah County Charter Review Committee, at the urging of Honest Elections Multnomah County, Portland Forward, and other organizations.

The complaint charges that Lori Stegmann's campaign has accepted 11 donations from corporations and other business entities.  Measure 26-184 prohibits such contributions.  The complaint also lists 5 contributions from individuals that exceed the limit of $500 per individual and one contribution from a political committee that exceeds the applicable $500 limit.

No court has enjoined Measure 26-184, which has been in effect since September 1, 2017.

Mr. Buel's complaint requests that the Director of Elections apply the penalties against the Lori Stegmann campaign specified in the County Charter of "not less than two nor more than 20 times" any unlawful contribution.

The complaint is available here:
http://bit.ly/he-mult. Click on the "enforcement" folder.

For more information:
 

The Oregon Progressive Party has begun actively collecting signatures on a new statewide initiative petition (IP1 for 2020). This petition would:

• allow Oregon to join the ranks of 46 other states with limits on money in the political process,
• protect campaign finance reform measures adopted by initiative from being gutted by the sitting Legislature, as has happened in Massachusetts, Missouri, and South Dakota.

Oregon is the only state whose constitution has been interpreted to prohibit limits on contributions and expenditures to influence the outcome of elections, be they candidate elections or initiatives/referenda. As a result, Oregon elections are among the most expensive in the nation. The Oregonian reports Oregon is second only to New Jersey in per capita spending on state legislature races.
 
The chief petitioners are:

• Liz Trojan, State Council, Oregon Progressive Party
• Ron Buel, founder of Willamette Week

We Need Your Help ASAP
We need to collect 1,000 valid Oregon voter signatures in order to get a ballot title for the initiative. You can help us with this effort. Please contact David e. Delk, Co-Chair of the Oregon Progressive Party, for instructions and petition sheets. David can be contacted at davidafd@ymail.com or 503.232.5495.

How the Petition Reads
It is a model of simplicity.  It reads:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon, there is added an Article II, Section 25, of the Constitution of Oregon:
Oregon laws consistent with the freedom of speech guarantee of the United States Constitution may: regulate contributions and expenditures, of any type or description, to influence the outcomes of any election; provided that such laws are adopted or amended by an elected legislative body by a three-fourths vote of each chamber or by initiative.

This op-ed was submitted to The Oregonian 1/6/18

Oregon Progressive Party encourages a Yes vote on Measure 101. The hole in the state health care budget which would be created by its defeat would mean too many individuals being denied health insurance and being forced to use the all-too expense emergency room. That is not a tolerable situation.

However, we also recommend that everyone read the voter pamphlet arguments against passage. When you do, you will find many of the same arguments that we, as progressives, usually make ourselves of government policy and process.

First is that we are taxing the wrong people and organizations. Progressives were strong supporters of Measure 97 to tax the largest of the large national and multi-national corporations in order to fund our shared governmental expenses. Measure 101 abandons that approach completely. Instead those corporations will not pay these increased tax “assessments” at all. The tax increase instead will be paid by people like you and I and small businesses and school districts. As one opponent wrote in the voter’s pamphlet: “And it’s absolutely indefeasible that big corporations and insurance companies were exempted from sharing the burden to pay for Medicaid.” Or a small business owner wrote, “Asking families like ours to shoulder the burden of paying for Medicaid while big corporations contribute nothing to help provide health care to Oregon’s most needy citizens is outrageous.”

This op-ed was submitted to The Oregonian 1/6/18

Oregon Progressive Party encourages a Yes vote on Measure 101. The hole in the state health care budget which would be created by its defeat would mean too many individuals being denied health insurance and being forced to use the all-too expense emergency room. That is not a tolerable situation.

However, we also recommend that everyone read the voter pamphlet arguments against passage. When you do, you will find many of the same arguments that we, as progressives, usually make ourselves of government policy and process.

First is that we are taxing the wrong people and organizations. Progressives were strong supporters of Measure 97 to tax the largest of the large national and multi-national corporations in order to fund our shared governmental expenses. Measure 101 abandons that approach completely. Instead those corporations will not pay these increased tax “assessments” at all. The tax increase instead will be paid by people like you and I and small businesses and school districts. As one opponent wrote in the voter’s pamphlet: “And it’s absolutely indefeasible that big corporations and insurance companies were exempted from sharing the burden to pay for Medicaid.” Or a small business owner wrote, “Asking families like ours to shoulder the burden of paying for Medicaid while big corporations contribute nothing to help provide health care to Oregon’s most needy citizens is outrageous.”

After hearing from dozens of concerned citizens on April 13, the Multnomah County Commission decided instead to defend Measure 26-184 in court.

We congratulate the Commissioners for making this new decision.

HONEST ELECTIONS MULTNOMAH COUNTY

For immediate release:
April 06, 2017

For more information, contact:

Multnomah County Commission votes to throw voter-enacted campaign finance reform measure into the courts, without defending it

Today the Multnomah County Commission voted to throw the voter-enacted campaign finance reform Charter Amendment (Measure 26-184) into the courts, without defending it from any claims that is it not valid or constitutional.

Voters enacted Measure 26-184 by a count of 89% to 11%.

"Throwing the measure into court, without defending its validity or constitutionality, is certainly not implementing the will of the voters, who clearly demanded campaign finance reform," said David Delk of the Alliance for Democracy and Honest Elections Multnomah County, the group that spearheaded the campaign for Measure 26-184.

"The corporations and other donors can now challenge Measure 26-184 and not face a defense from the Multnomah County Attorney," noted Dan Meek, volunteer attorney for Honest Elections Multnomah County.

The measure amended the Multnomah County Charter to:

1. Requires that each Communication (defined) to voters related to a Multnomah County Candidate Election prominently disclose the five largest true original sources of funding (in excess of $500) for the Communication.

2. Limits contributions to support or oppose candidates for public office in Multnomah County elections to $500 per person or political committee.

3. Requires any entity that spends more than $750 per election cycle on independent expenditures to register as a political committee, which requires reporting of the sources of its funding.

4. Limits independent expenditures in any Multnomah County candidate race to:

• $5,000 per individual
• $10,000 per political committee, but only from contributions by individuals of $500 or less per year.

For more information: honest-elections.com info@honest-elections.com

In the midst of the disaster of Trump triumph, our measures and candidates have done well.

A top priority was Multnomah County Measure 26-184, the campaign finance reform measure that passed by 89-11%. Chris Henry so far has 72,000 votes for State Treasurer (5% of the vote). His performance was needed for the Oregon Progressive Party to maintain its status as a recognized political party in Oregon for the next 4 years.

David Delk earned 7.3% of vote against Earl Blumenauer in Congressional District 3.
James Ofsink earned 14% in Oregon Senate District 21.
Sami Al-AbdRabhun earned 15% in Oregon House District 16.
Cynthia Hyatt earned 16% in Oregon House District 15.
Fergus McLean earned 10% in Oregon House District 7.

The above are all record high numbers for candidates of the Oregon Progressive Party.

We also cross-nominated some candidates who are affiliated with other parties.
Peter DeFazio (D) won easily in Congressional District 4.
Joe Rowe (PGP) earned 18% in Oregon House District 44.
Jill Stein (PGP) earned 2% for President.
Brad Avakian (D) earned 43% for Secretary of State but is 4 points behind Dennis Richardson (R) there.

Measure would limit campaign contributions in Multnomah County candidate races and require that political ads disclose their largest funders

#DemocracySpring marchers protested voter suppression and big money in politics. ???? https://t.co/1y1B5aHJdo

— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 13, 2016

Click here or the cartoon to the right for a much larger version.

The Oregon Progressive Party has begun actively collecting signatures on a new statewide initiative petition (IP 77). This petition would:

• allow Oregon to join the ranks of 46 other states with limits on money in the political process, and
   
• ensure that the actual sources of that money are disclosed to the public.

Oregon is the only state whose constitution has been interpreted to prohibit limits on contributions and expenditures to influence the outcome of elections, be they candidate elections or initiatives/referenda. As a result, Oregon elections are among the most expensive in the nation. The Oregonian reports that only New Jersey campaigns are more expensive on a per capita basis.
 
The chief petitioners are:

• Liz Trojan, State Council, Oregon Progressive Party
• Rob Harris, IPO Caucus, Independent Party of Oregon
• Seth Woolley, Member, Coordinating Committee, Pacific Green Party

We Need Your Help

We need to collect 1,000 valid Oregon voter signatures in order to get a ballot title for the initiative. You can help us with this effort. Please contact David e. Delk, Co-Chair of the Oregon Progressive Party, for instructions and petition sheets. David can be contacted at davidafd@ymail.com or 503.232.5495.

How the Petition Reads

It is a model of simplicity.  It reads:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon, there is added an Article II, Section 25, of the Constitution of Oregon:

Oregon laws consistent with the freedom of speech guarantee of the United States Constitution may:

1. limit contributions and expenditures (including transfers of money or resources) to influence the outcome of any election; and

2. require disclosure of the true sources and amounts of such contributions or expenditures (a)to the public and (b) in the communications they fund.