October 17, 2004 in Region

Anti-tax activist in Oregon to test initiative

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ROSEBURG, Ore. – Bill Sizemore is back. Sort of.

The anti-tax activist has chosen Douglas County to test a tweaked version of his unsuccessful 1998 statewide initiative, which would have prohibited public employees from voluntarily having their union dues deducted from their paychecks.

Ballot Measure 10-48 has generated little attention, and organized labor, which fought past Oregon Taxpayers Union measures, has chosen not to spend any money defeating this one.

“You can’t pre-empt state law and affect constitutional rights via a local initiative,” said Tim Nesbitt, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO.

“We decided it would have no practical or legal effect, so we decided to ignore it,” Nesbitt said.

Oregon labor organizations in 2002 won a $2.5 million jury verdict in their anti-racketeering lawsuit against Sizemore’s Oregon Taxpayers United, which led to a judge’s ruling that Sizemore had illegally funneled money from his group’s education foundation into a political action committee and a private corporation he created.

Sizemore has appealed those decisions.

Meanwhile, two teachers’ unions have filed a lawsuit seeking to hold him personally responsible for the verdicts against his former organization.

Sizemore, whose new group has done little active campaigning on the Douglas County measure, disagreed that the measure is likely to fail a legal challenge.

“Before we filed it, we consulted with two attorneys on that specific question, and they both concluded that it probably was legal,” he said.

Like the rejected statewide measure, the Douglas County version prohibits any payroll deductions to any entities that “use or commingle any portion of the money collected for most political purposes.”

But Sizemore said it specifically exempts lobbying from those purposes.

“It would apply only to money donated to candidates,” he said.

County labor activists, including local Oregon Education Association spokeswoman Karen Allen, are advising a “no” vote, calling the measure flawed and extreme.

Its passage could impinge on employee rights not only to have union dues automatically deducted, but also transfers to financial institutions, 401(k) funds or charities that might donate money to candidates, Allen said.

It would also unfairly single out Douglas County public employees, she said.

“We should have the same rights that employees have in the rest of the state,” she said.

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