[EL] Oregon Top Two Primary Loses Badly

Wed Nov 5 06:45:44 PST 2014

All I want to know is, which side bought the election?

Sean Parnell

President

Impact Policy Management, LLC

6411 Caleb Court

Alexandria, VA  22315

571-289-1374 (c)

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Meek
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2014 1:23 AM
To: Paul Gronke; Election Law
Subject: Re: [EL] Oregon Top Two Primary Loses Badly

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 

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> wrote:

 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68022> Oregon Top Two Primary Initiative
Loses Badly

Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68022> November 4, 2014 9:50 pm by
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen

<http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/11/oregon-top-two-initiative-defeated-2-1
/> Very interesting.

<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F
%3Fp%3D68022&title=Oregon%20Top%20Two%20Primary%20Initiative%20Loses%20Badly
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Posted in  <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25> political parties,
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> political polarization,
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32> primaries

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