Protecting the Initiative Process
In Oregon, the power to legislate – the power to create new laws – is shared equally between the Legislative Assembly and the people of the State of Oregon. The reason why the people amended their constitution in 1902 to guarantee that legislative power would be shared equally between the people and the legislative assembly, is because at the time, the Oregon Legislature had become captured by special interests who helped get legislators elected to their office.
Today, Oregon State government has returned to the same point as the government that existed over 100 years ago. The powerful special interests who are the main contributors to the political campaigns of the last two Oregon State Governors and Oregon Secretarys of State are also the main campaign contributors to the controlling parties of the Oregon State Legislature.
Since 1990, these special interest groups have been on the defensive side of many ballot measures in Oregon, forcing these groups to spend millions of dollars that would have otherwise gone into the campaign coughers of the candidates they support.
As a result, a conflict of interest has arisen in which the current leadership the Oregon House and the Oregon Senate, the Governor of the State of Oregon, and the past and present Oregon Secretarys of State have invested interest in making it as difficult as possible for grassroots organizations to qualify measures for the ballot.
Under the guise of “initiative reform”, these groups have managed to get laws passed that have imposed draconian restrictions and regulations on the citizens of Oregon initiative process. The past Oregon Secretary of State used these new laws and regulations to (in the opinion of many observers) persecute the political enemies of these powerful special interests.
The sum total of all of the new restrictions and regulations imposed on Oregon’s initiative and referendum process is a system that is far more difficult for the average person to navigate and far more expensive for the average grassroots organization to utilize. Today, sadly, Oregon initiative and referendum process is only available to well-heeled groups which can afford as much as a half a million dollars to qualify a measure for the ballot.
Common Sense For Oregon is committed to restoring Oregon’s cherished initiative and referendum process to its roots – where it is available to the average citizen, not just the average millionaire.