Sizemore measures go down in flames

SALEM - An intensive union-member-to-union-member education campaign coupled with an unprecedented turnout of union voters in Oregon's all-mail ballot resulted in a resounding defeat of Bill Sizemore and his anti-union slate of ballot measures - including Measures 92 and 98, which would have limited unions' ability to use payroll deductions to collect money for political purposes.

Labor also helped elect worker-friendly Bill Bradbury secretary of state; Hardy Myers attorney general; Randall Edwards treasurer, Paul DeMuniz to the Oregon Supreme Court, and all four Democratic congressional representatives - Earl Blumenauer, Darlene Hooley, David Wu and Peter DeFazio.

And it was labor's vote that allowed Al Gore to carry Oregon in the presidential election. The vote was 702,218 for Gore to 696,462 for George W. Bush.

At the State Legislature, labor fell short of electing more worker-friendly politicians, but they were able to close the gap. Republicans maintained a 16-14 majority in the Senate and a 33-27 advantage in the House.

But it was the two ballot measures that Sizemore directed smack at organized labor that were the critical focus of labor in this election.

Measure 98 was written to prohibit the use of public funds, including payroll deductions of public employees, for political purposes; and Measure 92 would have required that public and private workers give written permission every year to have their payroll deductions used for any political advocacy.

Voters rejected Measure 98 by a 53-47 percent margin and Measure 92 was defeated by a 55-45 percent margin.

"This vote is an affirmation of the voters' commitment to fairness, their ability to see through a misleading ballot title and their support for the rightful role of working people in the political process," said Tim Nesbitt, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO and co-chair of the Labor 2000 campaign that helped defeat those and other measures. "But, most of all, it's a testament to the hard work of our affiliates and their Labor 2000 coordinators and volunteers."

More than 1,000 union volunteers made 245,000 phone calls, visited 19,940 union members at home and distributed more than 300,000 flyers at worksites throughout Oregon as part of the Labor 2000 campaign.

The final votes on 92 and 98 were remarkable for several reasons, Nesbitt explained. Sizemore had managed to secure highly misleading ballot titles for both measures - which, on a crowded ballot, were hard to overcome, he said. In fact, polling showed Sizemore's Measure 92 passing by a 2 to 1 margin in August, because of the strength of its ballot title. Also, this was a presidential election, where the impact of the union vote was likely to be diluted by high voter turnout and voters distracted by higher-profile races, Nesbitt said.

Nonetheless, union voters made the difference in this election, based on tracking polls and daily counts by the state labor federation of union voter turnout.

* Union household voters turned out at a rate 10 percent above that of the general public. And Labor 2000 increased union voter turnout in this election by 44 percent over its turnout in 1998 - from 236,000 to 340,000 union household votes.

* And, union household voters rejected Measures 92 and 98 by 70 to 30 percent, producing a margin of 136,000 "No" votes for the two measures. With the public split 50/50 on Measure 92 and slightly favoring Measure 98, union voters clearly produced the margin of victory on both measures, Nesbitt said.

The list of union victories doesn't stop there. Labor joined business groups to defeat Sizemore's tax reduction and tax limitation Measures 91 and 93. The Oregon Education Association and its labor allies clobbered his teacher pay initiative, Measure 95. And voters, with little prompting from any campaign, rejected Sizemore's attempt to insulate the initiative process from reform by the Legislature (Measure 96).

To cap it off, Sizemore's attorney, Greg Byrne, was defeated in his bid for the Oregon Supreme Court. Sizemore was clearly stung by the across-the-board defeat, Nesbitt said. A week prior to the election he had predicted that five of his six ballot measures would win voter approval. Then, in comments Election Day to an Associated Press reporter, he lashed out at labor, saying he'd put 12 measures on the ballot in 2002 if that's what it takes to beat the public employee unions.

Over the years Sizemore has created a political machine that includes a tax-exempt foundation, a for-profit signature gathering company and a political action committee. He also hosts a morning radio talk show in which he constantly promotes his ballot measures and candidates.

But based on the thrashing that Measure 96 took (it was defeated 62 percent to 38 percent), Nesbitt believes a mandate has been placed before lawmakers to reform the initiative process.

The Sizemore initiative would have prevented the Legislature from passing laws or placing on the ballot any measure that would make the initiative process more difficult or more expensive. Such changes would have to be proposed by the people themselves by - you guessed it - collecting signatures and placing the changes on the ballot.

"Voters want lawmakers to look at the process and correct abuses in the system that have occurred in areas like signature gathering and ballot-title shopping," Nesbitt said. "These are some of the misuses of the system that can be corrected with support from labor, business, Democrats and Republicans."

In another victory for labor, Oregon's 13,000 home-care workers won the right to collective bargaining and the establishment of a commission to standardize and improve home care for elderly and disabled citizens.

Measure 99, sponsored by the Oregon Public Employees Union, Local 503 of the Service Employees, was approved by a 62 to 38 percent margin. It is the first time in the U.S. that workers have won collective bargaining rights through the initiative process, Nesbitt reported.

Several union activists were re-elected to the House of Representatives, including Dan Gardner of Electrical Workers Local 48, Diane Rosenbaum of Communications Workers Local 7901, Gary Hansen of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, and Randy Leonard of Fire Fighters Local 43.

Two other union-linked candidates in House races weren't so fortunate. Former Oregon AFL-CIO President Irv Fletcher lost to Republican newcomer Cliff Zauner in North Willamette Valley's District 38, and Lon Holston of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers was defeated by Republican Cherryl Walker in District 51, representing Jackson and Josephine counties.

In other House races, the Oregon AFL-CIO backed Democratic winners Betsy Johnson, Elaine Hopson, Charlie Ringo, Mark Haas, Mary Nolan, Chris Beck, Steve March, Jeff Merkley, Deborah Kafoury, Jo Ann Bowman, Laurie Monnes Anderson, Richard Devlin, Carolyn Tomei, Kathy Lowe, Kelley Wirth, Robert Ackerman, Phil Barnhart, Vicki Walker, Bill Morrisette, Al King, Joanne Verger, Alan Bates, and Republicans Bob Jenson and Lane Shetterly.

In Senate races, the AFL-CIO backed Democratic winners Terry Thompson, Ryan Deckert, Ginny Burdick, Kate Brown, Margaret Carter and Avel Gordly.

Ironically, union member and former president of the Eastern Oregon Central Labor Council, Mark Simmons, R-Elgin, will be House Speaker in 2001.

Simmons was endorsed for re-election by the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council, but not by the Oregon AFL-CIO, because he had a zero percent labor voting record as tracked by the Committee on Political Education (COPE).

Simmons, 43, is a member of the Western Council of Industrial Workers, a division of the Carpenters Union. He is in his third and final term in the House.

After the election IBEW's Gardner told reporters that he had a good relationship with Simmons during the 1999 legislative session and that he hopes to work with him on workers' compensation and health issues in 2001.

On the Senate side, labor will have to deal with Republican Gene Defler of Salem. Last session Derfler, 76, introduced a right-to-work (for less) bill and he has a history of conflict with public employee unions. His AFL-CIO COPE voting record also was a zero.

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