[EL] Oregon Top Two Primary Loses Badly

[Smith, Brad]

They both did, but "no" voters were cheap dates.


Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Sean Parnell [sean at impactpolicymanagement.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2014 9:45 AM
To: 'Dan Meek'; 'Paul Gronke'; 'Election Law'
Subject: Re: [EL] Oregon Top Two Primary Loses Badly

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<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 on November 4, 2014 9:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68022> by Rick 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 in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>, primaries<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>





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