Trashy art inspires
Love the art by Randy and its a great article. I especially like the description of the process in finding stuff and getting ideas to put it together. Fun!
- Rebecca at Kidsart, Silverton Arts           Association

Marion County Commissioner count
In regards to an article published in Salem Monthly's September issue : I fully agree that it is essential that we think about the county structure. Simply adding more superfluous bodies to the meaningless panel is not the answer, however. The county, itself, is an anachronism; a holdover from a medieval world that, today, is merely an expensive, inefficient lump dabbling in the affairs of the surrounding citizens. There isn't a single task assigned the county that couldn't be better run, and more cheaply, by the state, municipalities, or special districts. What we have now is a body of three community activists who spend their time playing a bizarre game of Monopoly with the land use laws. In an age of rapid communications, and versatile technology, let's get rid of this hanger-on unit of government.
    - Anonymous

It is common for those lamenting the current state of Oregon's initiative process to hearken back to the days when initiatives were pure expressions of home-grown populist yearnings, circulated by volunteers, and, uncontaminated by national politics and money.

Only problem is, those days never existed.  

The call for the initiative system itself was a national issue as early as 1892; Oregonians initially used the initiative to become the first voters in America to choose their federal senators at the ballot box, a demand debated nationally for decades; Oregon's law prohibiting the payment of petition peddlers dates back only to 1935;  and, big out-of-state money supported Oregon initiative campaigns almost from the beginning.

The direct election of U.S. Senators deserves further comment.  

According to the late Oregon Senator Richard Neuberger, this electoral (r)evolution means Oregon's contribution to American Democracy is as great as any other state, even the original thirteen.

But, the Father of Oregon's petition process, Oregon City lawyer William S. U'Ren, wasn't interested in working with the elected government.  

His initiative system - which has never been substantially amended - allowed a small group of men to thwart and manipulate the elected government, amending the Oregon Constitution at will and without consulting, or even considering, the elected legislature.

It is a testament to U'Ren's cleverness that over a century later his populist tools still allow a small group of people to have their way, at least temporarily, with the elected government.

But, rather than working with the people to fix the flaws in the initiative process - if flaws there be - the 2007 Legislature enacted the union-drafted and Secretary-of-State-approved law, ORS 260.262, making it harder to initiate law.

This statute imposes an onerous, technical and overreaching reporting scheme on those paying people to collect signatures.  The attack is obviously aimed at people like Bill Sizemore, Loren Parks and Kevin Mannix.

But, this should concern Oregonians of ALL political stripes.

Laws that make it harder for Bill Sizemore to use the initiative, make it harder for you, me, and, my mother to use the initiative, as well.

Actually, it probably hits us even harder.

People who make a living from the initiative process keep abreast of the bureaucratic balderdash, while those who take to the streets only once - say, to prevent construction of another nuclear plant - are more likely to run afoul of regulations aimed at the big-money initiative crowd.

Statutes like ORS 260.262 imposing needless chores on those paying for signatures has at least two problems:
(1) Legally, our supreme courts, both state and federal, have announced that profligate political spending is protected "speech;" and,
(2) Politically, sometimes even progressives feel compelled to grease a few palms.

Collecting 120,000 signatures is a monumental task.  Unless a public groundswell produces a flood of volunteers, or, there's a huge organization involved, sometimes the successful initiative campaign is forced to turn to professional petition peddlers.

Moreover, even if your initiative effort is entirely volunteer-based, once the legislature succeeds in silencing one group of citizens, who do they go after next?

Reference was made above to the 1978 initiative that stopped Oregon's second nuclear complex planned for Pebble Springs.  

Salemites can look to a closer case.  If not for the initiative power, and the efforts of activist Ellen Penny, the late governor Bob Straub, and others, river-front park would be off-limits to most people.

If there are problems with the initiative system, there are ways to fix it.  Placing needless and cumbersome requirements on those mounting initiative drives isn't one of them.

    - Greg Wasson