Despite state ethics rules, Treasury officials golf regularly on duty

by Les Zaitz and Ted Sickinger
April 11, 2010

For years, the Oregon State Treasurer's office has had a laissez faire policy on staff participation in golf outings while on duty and traveling on state business.

Ron Schmitz, Treasury's chief investment officer, said such outings had been approved by the agency's senior executives and vetted by agency attorneys, despite state law that in some circumstances prohibits taking free outings.

The Progressive Party Oregon, the state's newest political party, has endorsed State Senator Rick Metsger for the office of State Treasurer.

The endorsement was based on Senator Metsger's long history of standing up to powerful interests and looking out for the average person.

Rick Metsger was the chief co-sponsor (along with Senator Vicki Walker) of SB 408 (2005), which stopped the private utilities from charging Oregon ratepayers for "income taxes" that the utilities actually never paid. These charges had amounted to over $1 billion since 1997. "The result was a rate reduction of $37 million for PGE customers due to their tax overpayments to PGE in 2006 and additional reductions since then," said Dan Meek, press secretary for the Progressive Party.

Oregon Treasury employees wined and dined by investment firms they oversee
The Oregonian
April 11, 2010
by Les Zaitz and Ted Sickinger
The Pebble Beach Golf Links, with Carmel beach in the background, is one of many luxury locations private investment companies use when they host investment officers from the Oregon Treasury.A limousine was waiting for John Hershey, an Oregon state investment officer, when he flew into New York for a meeting just before Thanksgiving.

So was a $495-a-night room at The Pierre Hotel, which purrs online that "even in a city where exclusive luxuries are the norm, there is one hotel that is far more rare and special."

Following an afternoon meeting, Hershey was offered cocktails and dinner at Guastavino's, which boasts "the highest staff-to-guest ratio in the city."

Hershey was in town to monitor an investment firm, and it picked up his tab for the flight, the limo, two nights at The Pierre and dinner.

That wasn't a rare occurrence among the 13 employees at the Oregon State Treasurer's office responsible for watching over $67 billion in state investments.

Oregon Treasurer curbs investment travel, calls for review
The Oregonian
April 07, 2010
by Ted Sickinger and Les Zaitz

In response to an ongoing investigation by The Oregonian, Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler on Wednesday announced measures to clamp down on travel by the agency's investment officers, ending free golf and first-class airfare they enjoyed while monitoring $67 billion in state money.

Only a few ballot initiatives look to qualify for Oregon ballot this November
Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
April 03, 2010

For once, it doesn't look as if Oregon's tax structure will be decided by a ballot measure.

Despite Oregon's long history of turning to direct Democracy to settle political fights, the state's ballot looks to be the most uncrowded in years. With the exception of a measure to expand medical marijuana, the handful of petitions being circulated are mostly minor measures unlikely to set off expensive, multimillion-dollar campaigns.

Oregon's expensive legislative campaigns
By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
April 06, 2010

The National Institute on Money in State Politics has a new report confirming what I've heard several times before: Oregon has among the most expensive legislative races in the country.

The non-partisan group issued a new report on the 2008 elections around the country, where fundraising for the first time topped $1 billion for legislative races. Oregon legislative candidates raised an average of nearly $250,000 - almost three times the national average of about $87,000.

Even that figure is deceptively low. Oregon didn't have any real competitive Senate races in 2008, so races in that chamber were unusually inexpensive that year.

If you just look at the House races, candidates in Oregon overall raised more than their counterparts in all but six much larger states: California, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.

When you figure the cost of a House campaign per resident, Oregon is second in the nation. Here's my back-of-the-envelope calculations based on the report:

1. New Jersey.....$4.41 per resident
2. Oregon...........$4.16 per resident
3. Virginia...........$4.00 per resident
4. Illinois.............$3.06 per resident
5. Nevada...........$2.97 per resident
6. Ohio...............$2.88 per resident

It's no mystery why Oregon legislative campaigns are so much more expensive than most states. Oregon is one of just six states with no limits on contributions - and no limits on direct corporate and union giving to campaigns.

© 2010 OregonLive.com. All rights reserved.

A Tea Party Without Nuts
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
March 24, 2010

President Obama’s winning passage of national health care is both exhilarating and sobering. Covering so many uninsured Americans is a historic achievement. But the president had to postpone trips, buy off companies and cut every conceivable side deal to just barely make it happen, without a single Republican vote. If the Democrats now lose seats in the midterm elections, we’re headed for even worse gridlock, even though we still have so much more nation-building for America to do — from education to energy to environment to innovation to tax policy. That is why I want my own Tea Party. I want a Tea Party of the radical center.

One way to track the viability of a campaign is to track how much money is being raised.

So without further adieu, here are the cash balances of the campaigns as of March 12, 2010:

CANDIDATE
-----------------------------
Dudley     $ 516,277
Kitzhaber  $ 333,000
Bradbury   $ 109,196
Alley      $  35,970

Note that these are cash balances only and do not reflect the debt of each campaign. For example, the Alley campaign owes about $220,000 to the candidate's wife.

The Oregon Attorney General is not enforcing any of the limits on campaign contributions enacted by the voters as Measure 47 (2006), so a labor union, corporation, or wealthy individual can wipe out any advantage with a single large contribution. Contributions of $100,000 by individuals and $300,000 or more from OEA and SEIU would not be out of the ordinary in an Oregon Governor's race. In 2006, the Republican Governor's Association spent more than $4 million for the Republican candidate for Governor in Oregon.

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On-going Events.
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The Kinton Grange is sponsoring a Film Series on Agriculture and Food starting Wednesday, Jan 20 and continuing on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday through April.
The Kinton Grange is part of a national organization created for the benefit of farmers and eaters in 1868, a time of national crisis and recovery following the War Between the States.

You can put an Oregon constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot to ensure that the political contribution limits we Oregon voters passed in 2006 will get enforced. [Learn More]

The Committee on Rules of the Oregon House of Representatives on April 17, 2009, conducted a short hearing on HB 3009, a bill to establish some limits on political campaign contributions in Oregon candidate races.

GET BIG MONEY OUT OF OREGON POLITICS

By downloading and signing this Petition, you can help put a Constitutional Amendment to reform political campaign finance in Oregon on the 2010 ballot.

Already a supporter? Scroll down to help.
To help get signatures in Portland this weekend (April 18), contact

Philip Kauffman at 503-250-0327 or pmkauffman@gmail.com or check at www.fairelections.net/now

The full press release is attached

Attached below is the full text of the complaint filed yesterday in Marion County Circuit Court. Also attached is the letter from the Secretary of State’s office stating an intent not to enforce Measure 47. Also attached is the full text of Measure 47 from the 2006 Oregon General Election Voters’ Pamphlet.

Below are comments contributed by the plaintiffs in the case.

Contribute your thoughts here on where we go from here. In addition to the lawsuit for enforcement of Measure 47, should we ask the Legislature to refer to voters a CFR constitutional amendment? Should we be surprised if the Legislature repeals all of Measure 47, despite its enactment by voters?

Below is progressive events calendar for March and April. If you know of an event you think should be listed please send me the details at davidafd1@hotmail.com.

Last night at the David Cobb/Riki Ott event at the 1st UU Church, we begin the event with a musical number by Dave Edwards and David Lyles, titled We the People Solumnly. They have a YTube video of it and is worth seeing. Link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohlj4OpVgeM. I think it should be called A Railroad is not a Person.