Let me add to this thread what I know about grass roots fundraising from
Oregon state politics.
As in other places, monied donors can easily write $1,000 checks and more
for a rubber chicken dinner and another $500 for a "shake and grin" photo op
with the candidate or big name celebrity flown in for a dress-up occasion.
Average voters, who might manage $125, cannot afford these opportunities for
personal introductions and networking. Thus, the unions and PACs serve to
represent collective voices, either through annual membership dues like the
Sierra Club or AARP or $5 donations pooled. That's essentially grass roots
fund raising, or the clean side of it.
Although the local news loves to showcase the few and far between success
stories of shoestring candidacies, the vast majority depend on large
donations, massive organization and corporate underwriters.
Active democracy requires grass roots participation, of course, and the
initiative and referendum systems are usually good venues for the average
voter. In Oregon, during the past decade, this has been increasingly abused
by some vested interests. David Broder, who writes a national political
column for the Washington Post, has covered this topic frequently and
highlighted the process here in Oregon as an example of a good idea gone
nearly bad.
A local anti-tax campaigner named Sizemore has been the state's most
prolific author of initiatives on statewide ballots for at least a decade
and wielded enormous power re: what got said and what didn't. He also owns
a business that collects signatures. It's been disclosed he has been
heavily underwritten by a big donor businessman named Loren Parks who by
virtue of the fact Oregon has a small philanthropy pool, has influenced
government in the state with big checks. Sizemore has fronted Parks
efforts, and others, to eliminate the power of unions to collect $5 dues
from their membership (even though union members can de-authorize this), and
recently lost a key court case brought by the state and national teacher's
unions. After voters were alerted to signatures being forged from one
petition to another (courtesy of hidden cameras) an initiative last week
passed with sound margins prohibiting paying signature-gatherers per
signature.
Furthermore, outside donors can influence what gets on the ballot just by
paying for it. Business interests in Idaho and elsewhere in this region
have underwritten campaigns that benefited their business opportunities in
Oregon. Sizemore also has a radio talk show, another effective medium.
We have to minimize special interests getting the biggest voice in
government, and the perfect solution still eludes us, but the process is
gaining support, and more critically, gradual awareness of its intrusive
nature. When a lobbyist can tell a politician that $30,000 and more in
campaign debts can be eliminated in one night, that tends to be very
tempting.
Sizemore, incidentally, was recently convicted of repeated tax evasion, the
victim of greed and a former employee who turned state's witness. The state
AG is now moving to put him out of his initiative business, and requiring
signed affidavits that similar businesses do not receive funds from 3rd
parties, thus removing another chapter in the state's history of one special
interest dominating the debate. Please don't rely on my wordy summary, see
the Oregonian article at
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_stand
ard.xsl?/base/front_page/1036768564270181.xml.
We'll see what happens next.
Karen Watters Cole
East of Portland, West of Mt Hood
Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV 2002
Harry you said: Several weeks ago I made the statement the that a greater
proportion of corporate money goes to the Democratic treasure chest than
goes to its Republican equivalent.
REH said: Not according to the NYTimes last year. They said that 70% of
all corporate donations went to the Republicans.
