Sizemore files three more anti-union measures for 2004

SALEM - The dust barely settled on the Nov. 5 general election before Bill Sizemore, executive director of the anti-union Oregon Taxpayers United (OTU), took another swipe at Oregon workers and their unions by filing two draft initiatives for 2004 that would restrict unions' ability to use payroll-deducted funds for representing their members in the political arena, and a third that would outlaw unions in the public sector, the Oregon AFL-CIO reported.

Prior to the filings, Sizemore sent a letter to his supporters comparing himself to George Washington at Valley Forge and asking if he should fight on.

"I have concluded that if I quit now, they (the unions) win," Sizemore's letter read. "We need to pick up our swords and wade back into the battle. We need to go right back on the offensive and make the unions play defense."

Tim Nesbitt, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, said that the fundraising letter was more than enough evidence to show that Sizemore "views the initiative process as his weapon in a political war against working people."

"We use the initiative process for things that matter to working people, like raising the minimum wage," Nesbitt said. "He uses it for a grudge match against workers and their unions."

Sizemore apparently hasn't come to terms with a jury verdict Sept. 27 that found Oregon Taxpayers United and several of its tax-exempt non-profit-related organizations guilty of fraud and forgery in qualifying several similar anti-union ballot measures during the 1990s.

The State of Oregon has joined the two unions that sued OTU last fall -the Oregon Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-Oregon - in requesting that Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Jerome LaBarre dissolve Oregon Taxpayers United Education Foundation and restrict Sizemore's ability to open up a similar operation under a new name.

The jury awarded the two labor groups restitution of $842,000. Under racketeering statutes that amount can be tripled to $2.52 million. The teachers unions should know by the end of the year the exact amount of damages to be awarded The unions say they also plan to sue Sizemore personally for his part in the racketeering schemes.

Sizemore says he will appeal the verdict.

Meantime, a labor-sponsored initiative aimed at curbing abuses in the buying and selling of signatures for initiative petitions by banning payment for each signature collected, was the top vote-getter on last November's general election ballot in Oregon with 898,000 votes, the AFL-CIO reported.

Sizemore says he plans to file lawsuits in federal and state courts to overturn Measure 26, claiming it is unconstitutional. The measure took effect Dec. 5, but no lawsuits had been filed as this issue went to press.

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