Campaign Finance Bill Is Not Reform
Nothing focuses the mind of a politician like the prospect of less money coming in to finance their campaigns.
With ballot measures on the horizon, legislators now urgently want to pass campaign finance reform with only days left in the session after ignoring the issue since 2020 when voters overwhelmingly demanded reform.
Whom did legislators turn to for help? Their contributors, of course. Business interests and labor unions have now negotiated what they call a “compromise”, resulting in a bill that is receiving initial support in the legislature.
Both sides agreed to let the other have ways to make large or even unlimited contributions as long as they didn’t step on each other’s toes. Sort of like the wolves and the cougars dividing up the sheep. The problem is the sheep still get eaten.
The spectacle of allowing special interests to write the bill that purports to limit their own influence underscores more than ever the toxic effects of big money on Oregon politics.
I seriously doubt that is what the voters had in mind in 2020.
Nor is that what the good government group Honest Elections had in mind when they crafted their campaign finance ballot measure, Initiative Petition 9. This measure is real reform, limiting campaign contributions across the board and not playing favorites.
Voters must approve Petition 9 in November. It’s the reform they asked for and the reform Oregon needs.
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