Oregon measure emerges in tax debate

WASHINGTON – An Oregon ballot measure entered the national debate over taxes and spending Tuesday as President Bush said the defeat of Measure 50 showed voters are sick of overspending by Democrats.

“We had some interesting results at the ballot box last week. In the state of Oregon, voters rejected the plan to raise tobacco taxes to further enlarge a government health program,” Bush said at a speech in Louisville, Ky. “In other words, when the voters were given a chance, they voted such a plan down in the state of Oregon.”

Oregon voters decisively rejected Measure 50, which would have raised the state’s cigarette tax by 84.5 cents per pack to pay for an expansion of children’s health care and other programs.

The 59-41 margin of defeat was a stinging setback for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and other backers of the effort to extend health care to more than 100,000 uninsured Oregon children.

Kulongoski and other Democrats say most Oregonians support an expansion of children’s health care but were heavily influenced by a record-breaking $12 million TV blitz financed by the tobacco industry.

Tobacco companies, led by Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, slammed the measure in a series of TV ads that said the measure would write a tax increase into the state Constitution and provide funding for a variety of programs unrelated to children’s health.

“The defeat of Measure 50 was not about children’s health care – it was about the power of money,” said Democatic Rep. David Wu, of Oregon.

“Big tobacco companies spent $12 million – $24 dollars per vote – to change the subject,” Wu said at a Capitol news conference Tuesday. “It was enough money to convince voters that it is bad to change a state constitution, and that the money would not be spent on health care.”

“Oregonians and Americans overwhelmingly support health care for kids,” Wu said. “Simply said, it’s the right thing to do.”

After the Nov. 6, vote, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden and other Republicans said the vote bodes well for their showdown with Democrats over expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.

“The question I have is, if voters were opposed to Measure 50, why would they like its twin sister that we’re considering here?” Walden said.

Bush vetoed a bill last month that would have increased spending for the children’s health program by $35 billion over five years.

He said the bill cost too much – he has proposed increasing the funding by only $5 billion. He also said it would encourage too many middle-income families to substitute government-subsidized insurance for private insurance.

The bill would have given states incentives to cover families with incomes up to three times the federal poverty level – $61,950 for a family of four.