[EL] Oregon Top Two Primary Loses Badly

[Dan Meek]

The unions spent $1.3 million on the NO side (and the campaign reported 
having about $200,000 still on hand at the end).  But the out-of-state 
billionaires spent $4.7 million on the YES side, aided by about $1.2 
million from Oregon corporations, wealthy executives, and heirs to 
various fortunes.

Best information about Measure 90 is at http://saveoregonsdemocracy.org.

Dan Meek

	503-293-9021 	dan at meek.net <mailto:dan at meek.net>	866-926-9646 fax



On 11/4/2014 10:10 PM, Paul Gronke wrote:
> It's not that surprising.  Oregon is not just a blue state, but it's 
> dominated by a relatively small number of very well organized and 
> allied interests, mainly the Democratic Party and public service 
> unions.  They poured a lot of money and personnel into opposing the 
> measure.  Add to that Oregon's traditional aversion to organized 
> interests (I know, it runs contrary to the previous sentence) and 
> desire not to affiliate with a party (now over half the registered 
> voters) or cast a ballot for a third party, and top two was in trouble 
> for a long time.
>
> It didn't help that an overwhelming proportion of contributions 
> supporting the measure came from two out of state billionaires and 
> business interests.
>
> It's surprising because half of the Oregon electorate is now refusing 
> to affiliate with a political party and Oregon continues to be one of 
> only 12 states that shuts all unaffiliated voters out of the primary. 
>  I don't think this is the last word for primary reform in Oregon, but 
> the open primary + top two is dead for now.
>
> ---
> Paul Gronke
>
> Professor, Reed College and
> Daniel B. German Endowed Visiting Professor, Appalachian State University
>
> Director, Early Voting Information Center
> 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
> Portland OR 97202
>
> EVIC: http://earlyvoting.net
>
> On Nov 4, 2014, at 10:02 PM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu 
> <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
>
>>
>>     Oregon Top Two Primary Initiative Loses Badly
>>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68022>
>>
>> Posted onNovember 4, 2014 9:50 pm 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68022>byRick Hasen 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>
>> Very interesting 
>> <http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/11/oregon-top-two-initiative-defeated-2-1/>.
>>
>> <share_save_171_16.png> 
>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D68022&title=Oregon%20Top%20Two%20Primary%20Initiative%20Loses%20Badly&description=>
>> Posted inpolitical parties 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,political polarization 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>,primaries 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>
>>
>
>
>
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