Protect Oregon’s Campaign Finance Reform
Oregon legislators are shamelessly pretending that their new bill, HB 4018, protects and strengthens campaign finance reform, but don’t buy it. These changes were negotiated in secret with the biggest campaign spenders. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization that has participated in every major campaign finance case before the U.S. Supreme Court since its founding in 2002, testified that
“while HB 4018-6 has been described as a bill to implement technical fixes to improve and strengthen HB 4024, several of the proposed policies would undermine those historic reforms, fail to accomplish the bill’s stated goal, or introduce new ambiguities in the law.”
Dan Meek, Oregon’s foremost expert on campaign finance law, testified that this amendment comes “very close to repealing the contribution limits and disclosure requirements” that were initially part of HB 4024.
Will you speak up and remind Speaker Julie Fahey and Majority Leader Ben Bowman that any changes or delays to campaign finance reform should be negotiated with the good government groups who have been the main proponents for reform?
OPTION 1 – Click the link to send a prepared email (which you can edit) to Speaker Fahey and Majority Leader Bowman. https://act.commoncause.org/…/stop-big-money-attempts…
OPTION 2 – Email them directly at [email protected] and [email protected]
Below is sample text for your email. Feel free to amend it.
Sample text for email:
Speaker Fahey and Majority Leader Bowman,
Please don’t let the Legislature renege on the historic campaign finance reforms embodied in HB 4024. State and national experts in campaign finance law, including Dan Meek and the Campaign Legal Center, have testified that HB 4018-8 is both technically flawed and undoes much of what was in HB 4024. Listen to the experts and don’t let this bill move forward.
Further, oral testimony from Feb 12 and written testimony from Seth Woolley refute the Secretary of State’s claim that a $25 million dollar overhaul of ORESTAR and a 3 year delay of the disclosure requirements is needed. The woman who gave oral testimony helped develop the reporting system for the City of Portland. She noted that it was built with ORESTAR in mind and could be readily upscaled to meet the needs of HB 4024, and this could be done on time and for a fraction of the cost claimed by the SoS.
I recognize that the Legislature faces substantial pressure from various special interest groups who do not wish to see HB4024 implemented, or if it is enacted that it includes provisions favoring their particular interests. However, real, effective campaign finance reform doesn’t selectively favor one class of donors over another. Furthermore, such partisan provisions inevitably create loopholes that can be exploited by others. We’ve seen this time and again in other states.
The voters of Oregon who elected you and who have repeatedly, and by overwhelming majorities, voted for real, effective campaign finance reform, deserve better.