Gore opposes anti-union Measures 92 and 98

Working families celebrated the first Labor Day of the new millennium with a huge picnic at Oaks Park in Portland and several smaller gatherings at various locations throughout Oregon and Washington.

More than 15,000 people attended the Northwest Oregon Labor Council's picnic at Oaks Amusement Park in southeast Portland. Among the throng were national AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, and U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Darlene Hooley and David Wu. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and Attorney General Hardy Myers were there, too.

A host of other politicians and judicial candidates worked the union crowd for promises of support, handing out buttons and campaign flyers to whoever would take them, and munching on hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and beef, cookies and ice cream. In a keynote speech at the picnic, Trumka presented a scathing indictment of Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush's anti-labor record as governor of Texas and for his support of "paycheck deception" measures, similar to those that Oregonians will face this November in Ballot Measures 92 and 98.

"Paycheck deception" was coined by organized labor several years ago to counter the so-called "paycheck protection" initiatives filed by anti-union groups throughout the country that were aimed at crippling labor unions by requiring them to obtain annual written approval from members if any of the money was used for political purposes.

Oregon Measures 92 and 98 are constitutional amendments sponsored by anti-union Oregon Taxpayer United's Bill Sizemore. Measure 98 would unfairly restrict the right of working people to participate in the political process by banning their unions from participating in the political arena (including lobbying) unless they receive annual authorization. Measure 92 would ban all political participation if members' dues are collected automatically from their paychecks.

Trumka then delivered a personal message from Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore officially announcing his opposition to both Oregon ballot measures. Trumka said Sizemore's paycheck deception measures are part of a continuing national campaign by right-wing organizations to silence organized labor.

"It's pure retaliation for the success we've been having," he told union leaders at a Labor Day breakfast at Oaks Park. "These measures unfairly target payroll deductions that working people use to make their voices heard," he said, "while leaving completely unfettered the cash, checks and jets that corporations use to influence the political process."

Oregon is the only state in the nation that will be voting on paycheck deception measures this November, although similar measures have been debated in many states the past. Some of those measures were voted down (such as Proposition 226 in California) while others passed but later were ruled unconstitutional.

"They know organized labor is the only thing that has stopped the corporation of America," Trumka said. "We're the only thing standing in their way."

Secretary of State Bradbury told the picnic crowd that "a wealthy cabal of extremists" involving Sizemore and House Speaker Lynn Snodgrass, Bradbury's Republican opponent in November, "are trying to strangle all of our voices" through Measures 92 and 98.

Bradbury said that Measure 98 would not only strangle the voices of union members and some non-profit organizations, but it will also "eliminate the Voters' Pamphlet as we know it" by restricting or eliminating candidate statements and arguments in the popular guide.

Later, Bradbury and Sean Smith of the Coalition Against Unnecessary and Unfair Constitutional Amendments Committee, told the Northwest Labor Press that the way Measure 98 is written, "no state time or resources can be used for political purposes." Because the fees charged to publish statements in the Voters' Pamphlet don't cover the entire cost of printing and mailing, state time and money would be required to offset the costs of the publication, which this year will be the size of a phone book.

According to financial impact estimate conducted by the state, Measure 98 would reduce state expenditures for the Voters' Pamphlet publication by $2.4 million in even-numbered years. State revenues from filing fees are estimated to decrease by $464,000 in even-numbered years.

Local government expenditures for Voters' Pamphlet publications are estimated to decrease by $434,000 in even-numbered years.

These reductions, according to the fiscal impact statement, result from eliminating candidates' statements and arguments in state and local voters' pamphlets. "The goal of Measure 98 is to get us to shut up," Bradbury said.

Measure 98 is a clone of 1998's Ballot Measure 59, also sponsored by Sizemore. A key argument in defeating that measure (51 to 49 percent) was that it would eliminate the Voters' Pamphlet.

In rewriting the measure for this year Sizemore tried to exempt fees paid to cover Voters' Pamphlet statements from the definition of public funds.

"According to the state we have the exact same debate we did with Measure 59," Smith told the Labor Press. "The state says the Voters' Pamphlet under Measure 98 would basically consist of a list of names and measures, with no candidate statements or arguments pro or con."

Trumka said working families have a tough job ahead of them - especially so in Oregon.

In addition to the two paycheck deception measures, Oregon faces two dozen other ballot measures, plus a full slate of legislative and statewide races. On top of that, it is the first time in history that a general election is conducted completely by mail-in ballot.

"We don't know what to expect because no one has ever done it before and no one knows how it works," Trumka said. "What we do know is that there isn't a lot of time between now and Election Day to get your members registered to vote and then get members to mail in their ballots."

Good crowds also were reported at labor-sponsored picnics across the state - including the Longshore and Warehouse Union/Clatsop-Tillamook Central Labor Council picnic in Warrenton; the Lane County Labor Council picnic in Springfield, where union members distributed school supplies to all children in attendance; the Southwest Oregon Labor Council picnic in Coquille; and the Umatilla-Morrow County Labor Council gathering in Pendleton. In Washington State the King County Labor Council picnic in Seattle was a big hit, as was an event in Centralia sponsored by the Thurston-Lewis Counties Central Labor Council.

Home | About