Unions in Oregon have long enjoyed a great deal of political clout, thanks to their significant financial resources, long-standing Democratic majorities in the legislature, and Oregon’s lack of limits on campaign contributions. Now they have filed an initiative petition seeking to increase that clout exponentially under the guise of campaign finance reform, supercharging their efforts by grabbing millions of taxpayer dollars along the way.

Voters  overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in 2020 that removed the last impediment to enacting comprehensive campaign finance reform. Three legislative sessions later, politicians, pressured by special interests, have still failed to act. Oregon remains one of only five states with no limits on campaign contributions, and spending has soared to new records.

This year voters finally will get a chance to correct the legislature’s failure. But voters will have to choose carefully between competing ballot measures to avoid handing unions unprecedented power.

The union-backed measure, Initiative Petition 42 filed by the group Our Oregon, is nothing but a taxpayer-supported power grab masquerading as campaign finance reform.

The measure would allow small contributions from individuals to be aggregated and flow to candidates without limits. With well over 150,000 members in Oregon, unions can marshal a very large number of these small contributions. Just $50 each from 150,000 union members creates a $7.5 million campaign war chest.

Our Oregon spokespersons describe this as “leveling the playing field” for the little guy. But union rivals, such as businesses and wealthy individuals, would be banned from making large contributions, and would likely find it highly impractical to organize many thousands of motivated small contributors like the unions can.

That’s not “leveling the playing field”. It’s preventing the other team from playing at all.

But that’s not the worst of it. The union petition establishes a colossal taxpayer-funded system for matching small contributions ten to one on the first $50. That turns each $50 contribution into $550 courtesy of Oregon taxpayers.

The matching fund would be created by setting aside .0025 of each biennium’s total appropriations. Today, that translates to a whopping $75 million going from taxpayers to political campaigns every two years.

Despite caps on the public match, the ten to one match causes very small contributions from 150,000 union members to balloon the total amount going to candidates to very high levels.

It would take only $30 from each union member to produce $8.8 million for a governor candidate and $550,000 for every legislative race on the ballot. Union-backed candidates for these offices could receive tens of millions of dollars in total contributions, far greater than unions can contribute now, with most of it coming from the taxpayer.

With their opponents financially strangled, unions would own state government.

This isn’t campaign finance reform. It’s a cynical weaponization of campaign fundraising, immense in scope, and corrupt in purpose. Reject Petition 42. Don’t sign it if asked. Vote no if it’s on the ballot.

Honest Elections Oregon, labeled a good government group by the Oregonian/OregonLive, is offering a sensible alternative to the unions’ extreme petition.

Initiative Petition 9 is an even-handed measure that limits campaign contributions fairly and establish robust disclosure requirements. It makes everyone play by the same rules and does not take a penny from the taxpayer. It’s real reform, devoid of the shenanigans in the unions’ petition. It’s long overdue in Oregon and deserves your support.