Pubdate: Wed, 9 Jul 2008
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2008 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Edward Walsh, The Oregonian Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kevin+Mannix
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

PETITIONS SLIDE THROUGH LEGAL LOOPHOLE

Labor Groups' Complaints Are Stymied by the Timing of a New Oregon Law

A coalition of labor groups says it has found evidence of widespread 
use of illegal practices to gather signatures for several 
conservative initiatives aimed for the November general election ballot.

But the practices in question, including the use of carbon paper to 
duplicate printed names and addresses on multiple signature sheets 
for different initiatives, were not illegal until Jan. 1, when a new 
law governing Oregon's initiative system went into effect. The 
signature sheets examined by the labor coalition were all dated before Jan. 1.

As a result, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who has scheduled a 
news conference on the subject today, has concluded that no action 
can be taken against the petition sponsors.

"We have not seen any examples of the law being broken at the time 
these signatures were gathered," said Don Hamilton, a Bradbury 
spokesman. "If these practices were used today, they would be illegal 
and (the sponsors) would be subject to criminal sanctions. If you 
follow the law, there's nothing for us to do."

Nine of the 10 initiatives that appear to have qualified for the Nov. 
4 ballot were sponsored by three veteran conservative activists: Bill 
Sizemore, Russ Walker and Kevin Mannix. Aware of the new law's more 
stringent requirements and its effective date, they rushed to gather 
voter signatures on petitions before Jan. 1.

About two weeks ago, representatives of Our Oregon, a labor-backed 
activist group, and several labor unions, met with Bradbury to show 
him the results of their research into the conservative 
signature-gathering operation. Hamilton said Bradbury agreed that the 
evidence showed the use of practices, such as the changing of dates 
on signature sheets, that are now outlawed, but that they all 
occurred before Jan. 1.

"Bradbury is absolutely right," said Kevin Looper, executive director 
of Our Oregon. "But a large part of this is about forgery and fraud 
that have always been illegal."

Looper said the signature sheets examined by Our Oregon indicated 
instances of outright forgery, including the same person signing as 
two different petition circulators, the same person signing all the 
names of voters on a signature sheet and the same handwriting in two 
different names.

He said he believes but cannot prove that many of the signatures were 
generated by a handful of people known as a "writing circle."

"We have circumstantial evidence that makes us highly suspicious," 
Looper said. "What we've got is smoke pouring from the house and a 
high suspicion of fire."

The signatures were gathered by employees of Democracy Direct, the 
main signature-gathering firm for conservative causes in the state. 
Tim Trickey, the head of the company, said his employees used carbon 
paper with permission from Bradbury's office before Jan. 1.

"There is none of that practice in anything gathered after the first 
of the year," he said.

Trickey said if dates were changed on signature sheets that was the 
fault of the initiative circulator and was not noticed by his 
company. He also denied using writing circles or other methods to 
forge voter signatures on initiative petitions.

Trickey said that over the years he has turned in about 25 cases of 
suspected forgery to Oregon authorities, but that none of those cases 
resulted in a prosecution.

Among the initiatives sponsored by Sizemore, Walker and Mannix are 
measures that would slash state tax revenues, remove seniority as a 
factor in calculating public school teachers' salaries, limit 
contingency fees collected by lawyers and impose mandatory minimum 
sentences for some first-time drug offenses and property crimes. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake