I’m an attorney with a lot of election law experience and I’m personally committed to direct democracy. I’ve worked on and drafted statewide ballot measures, Public Utility District formation petitions, recall and referral petitions and local initiative drafting for 30 years.

Wipes out minor parties and citizen-sponsored candidates.

Altho I was the sponsor of the petition drive to form the Independent Party of Oregon, the IPO has taken no position on the so-called “open primary,” BM 65.
In fact, IPO is one of only 2 of the minor and emerging parties in Oregon which would survive the effects of BM 65, which will wipe out parties with fewer than 10,000 registered members who now maintain their legal status by running candidates who receive at least 1% of the vote in statewide general elections. I do not want to see the Constitution, Green, Working Families and Peace parties silenced.

I have absolutely no financial ties to BM 65, pro or con, and I am not being paid for this post–I am opposed to BM 65 because it’s poorly drafted. It will reduce meaningful citizen involvement in collective action and direct democracy. It was put on the ballot by big money interests which will get the candidates they “want” under BM 65.

BM 65 Makes Special Interests Even More Powerful in Picking Candidates.

Now, why would Oregon’s largest land speculators, industry lobbyists, and a smelter owner pay a lot of money to get BM 65 on the ballot?

OR has no campaign contribution limits at all–none. Most of you reading this live in the 45 states that actually limit money in state races, so you may not realize how totally corrupting unlimited money from special interests can be.

OR votes by mail exclusively. The May primary ballots go out to voters in April. The candidates can choose any party identifier they want (so long as the register or re-register with that party.) Parties will no be able to “nominate,” or may not even know these last-minute registrants, but they can “endorse” a person on the primary ballot. That means the money race for enough cash to make the top-two will start in the winter. The big funders will “anoint” the top-two and then “elect” the winner in the (even more) expensive November general election. The back room deals for party “endorsements” will take place outside of any public view.

Stifles all citizen voices.

Independent voters engage in personal democracy, they want their votes to count. But actual political strength and the power to change history come from the other great parts of the First Amendment–our freedoms of association and to collectively petition the government.

A vote is an individual act, but that private vote is not enough–concerted action is what brought about Abolition, women’s suffrage, trust busting, the social safety net, environmental protection, the end to the last tragic, pointless war.

A robust democracy needs more voices, often brought to prominence through political campaigns. Killing minor parties and wiping out citizen sponsored candidates (in Oregon candidates can now get on the ballot thru petition or through assemblies of 1000 voters) is bad for Oregon.

In practice, the need for insurgent and competitive candidates cannot be known until after the May primary. In Oregon, Julius Meier became a citizen-sponsored candidate for Governor in 1930 when the major parties put forth candidates hand-picked by the trusts and power companies despite the economic chaos in depression-hit Oregon. Meier won with 54% of the vote. Abraham Lincoln was a “minor” party candidate. Populists and later Progressives ran candidates who changed the debates of the larger parties.

Too many drafting flaws to describe in detail.

The Bill is poorly drafted. It fails to integrate dozens of current election law statutes. This is fairly technical, but nevertheless fatal to predicable results.

It deprives the existing parties of the right to “nominate” candidates at all, a federal First Amendment violation which caused the State of Virgina to alter its compulsory open primary system after losing at the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit (the appeals level just below the US Supreme Cout).

It does not harmonize with federal election law. This means that it will become unlawful for any party to coordinate or fundraise with its federal candidates (this is because the parties are deprived of the ability to “nominate” a candidate as defined in Federal Election Commission rules and applicable statutes).

Voting for a hastily designed measure in the hopes it will get “fixed” later is a bad idea. Do we want elected legislators to vote for any old thing and then promise to “fix” it somehow, sometime? As citizen legislators who vote of laws before us, we should hold ourselves to a high standard.

Read BM 65 and understand it before you vote. If it needs “a fix” to make it work, then vote “NO.”

I enjoy your “On the Road” pieces. Keep it up!

P.S. We are getting our coffee this week, come hell-or-high water.

I love it when you write like this!

For YEARS I knew (”I” being the operative word there) just what I wanted…..and I got it. And then everything fell apart. I’m picking up the pieces - some of them slowly, some of them quickly, some of them not at all - - but, the point is, for me at least, it’s all about God’s timing (as opposed to my timing) and the journey (as opposed to the destination). (Sidebar: Thus, the name of my blog.)

When I come out on the other side of all of this (and, most days anyway, I truly feel like I will come out on the other side of all of this), I am sure I’ll breathe a sigh of relief. I just hope I remember to thank God for all I’m learning and for the opportunity to learn it in the manner that I did. I think it’s kinda like what I’ve heard that cancer patients say a lot of the time: I didn’t ask for it, but I wouldn’t change a thing now. I am almost able to say that. Almost.
Anyway, thanks for your Oswald Chambers (one of my favorites, of course) thoughts this morning, both here and your comment on my blog. I’ve been absent from here a week or two - it was nice to catch up. Let’s try to do that in person soon.

Love you.