Secretary of State

Robert Wolfe

Progressive

Occupation: Selling Oregon wines worldwide (25 years)

Occupational Background: Journalist, with investigative reporting awards

Educational Background: College

Prior Governmental Experience: None (enough)

RECLAIM THE INITIATIVE PROCESS

Kate Brown’s policies stop normal citizens from using Oregon’s initiative process. Her arbitrary and hyper-technical requirements discard over 40% of all voter signatures, so only big corporations and unions can afford to use the system.

2000-02 saw 13 progressive measures on the Oregon ballot, including guaranteed school funding, single-payer health care, and the nation’s highest minimum wage.

2008-10, with Kate Brown’s bad rules, saw only ONE progressive measure on the Oregon ballot (medical marijuana dispensaries).

GET BIG MONEY OUT OF OREGON POLITICS

In 2006, Oregon voters enacted Measure 47 the nation’s strictest limits on campaign contributions, while requiring political ads to disclose their funding sources and amounts.

Kate Brown refuses to enforce Measure 47, so campaign spending on Oregon races has continued to skyrocket from $4 million in 1996 to $57 million in 2010 (not including Congress). Individual Legislative candidates spend up to $1 million and more. Oregon politicians spend more on legislative races, per capita, than in any state except New Jersey. (Oregonian (4/6/2010))

Kate Brown “has been silent on campaign finance reform and otherwise largely invisible,” says Willamette Week (5/25/2012). In 2008 she smashed the record for Secretary of State campaign spending ($1.2 million), taking contributions as high as $135,000 from a single union and over $116,000 from lawyers and lobbyists.

STOP GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE

As “Auditor in Chief,” Kate Brown’s accountants “audited” the Oregon Department of Revenue 3 times in the past 2 years but failed to detect huge fraudulent tax refunds, including a $2.1 million refund in 2012 to a woman who had never reported significant income. TurboTax discovered this fraud that Kate Brown missed. What else is out there?

SAVE THE STATE FORESTS FROM CLEAR-CUTTING

Kate Brown approved a 65% increase in clear-cutting in Oregon’s largest state forest (Elliott).

(This information furnished by Robert Wolfe.)