Oregon needs campaign finance reform

Political campaigns in Oregon are out of control.

Candidates and pacs raised and spent more than $67 million on electioneering during the 2006 election cycle. $38 million, more than 60 percent of total contributions to political campaigns, came from contributions of $10,000 or more. More than $28 million came from just 360 contributions of $25,000 or more.

Oregon’s lack of contribution limits allowed organizations such as the Oregon Education Association, Republican Governor’s Association and others to contribute more than $1 million to individual campaigns in the Governor's race. Several individuals gave between $100,000 and $1,000,000 to candidates in the Governor’s race, when in Federal races, they would have been limited to just $4,600.

The ability of wealthy individuals and organizations to contribute unlimited amounts of money to political candidates exposes our legislative process and our system of elections to corruption and the appearance of corruption in a way that is not possible in most other states, or in federal elections.

Oregon is currently only one of 4 states in the United States with no limits on campaign contributions, but for most of this state's history, Oregon has operated under statutory limits. These limits were repealed by the legislature in 1972.

In 1994, a coalition of citizen activists from Common Cause, the League of Women's voters, and other organizations passed some of the strictest limits on campaign contributions in the United States. Those limits were struck down as unconstitutional, on the grounds that the definition of elections, as articulated in Article II, section 8 of the Oregon Constitution, does not include modern political campaigns.
In 2006, citizens again passed strong statutory limits and strict rules on public disclosure, but the Attorney General's office, taking on the judicial function of interpreting the court's ruling, has refused to enforce the Measure 47 statute.

We disagree with this decision by the attorney general, and believe that the legislature should take immediate action to ensure that the limits passed by Oregon voters in 2006 are implemented.
We believe that the legislature should act expeditiously to secure the victory won by the citizens when they passed Measure 47, defeating a well-funded coalition of interests backed by labor and industry, by referring a constitutional amendment to allow contribution limits.

Alternately, we would like to see a dialogue begin with the goal of establishing bipartisan support for a system of contribution limits to be paired with a constitutional referral that firmly establishes the legality of limiting contributions to political campaigns.