I nominate this as a priority opposition: SB 154
Dan Meek
The Senate Rules Committee has sent to the
Senate floor a horrendous bill to stifle the initiative
process, SB
154.
(10) An organization or entity that pays money or other valuable consideration to a person for obtaining signatures of electors on a state initiative, referendum or recall petition or a prospective petition for a state measure to be initiated shall register with the Secretary of State by:
(a) Submitting the name and address of the organization or entity;
(b) Selecting one or more individuals who represent the organization or entity to complete the training program prescribed in subsection (1) of this section; and
(c) Submitting a statement signed by each individual selected:
(A) Acknowledging that the individual has read and understands Oregon law applicable to the gathering of signatures on state initiative, referendum and recall petitions and prospective petitions for state measures to be initiated, as the law is summarized in the training program established by the secretary; and
(B) Affirming that the organization or entity operates in compliance with the law.
It even has an emergency clause so it would go into effect immediately upon enactment, and it cannot be subject to referendum.
This change has the major effect of transforming any violation of election law by an initiative, referendum, or recall campaign into the felony of false swearing. It requires any organization that pays circulators to swear that "the entity operates in compliance with the law." So, if it is later found that the entity did not operate in full compliance with all applicable laws, then the individuals who signed the statement can be charged with the felony of false swearing.
The penalty for false swearing is huge. ORS 260.715(1) states:
260.715 Prohibited conduct. (1) A person may not knowingly make a false statement, oath or affidavit when a statement, oath or affidavit is required under the election laws.
ORS 260.993 makes violation of 260.715 a Class C felony. A Class C felony is punishable by a fine of $125,000 and/or 5 years in prison. The Secretary of State's forms recite those penalties for making a false statement on a form.
Does this objection to SB 154 sound far-fetched? The testimony in the Robert Wolfe case in 2013 shows this strategy is exactly what the Secretary of State had in mind for Wolfe. Instead of notifying him about their investigation into the alleged payments per signature in the IP 24 campaign, the internal emails show that the Secretary of State's Elections Division (SOS ED) personnel deliberately waited for Wolfe to file his next monthly "accounting" for the IP 24 campaign. Every monthly "accounting" requires affirmation that the campaign was not paying per signature. The SOS ED personnel then referred Wolfe's next monthly accounting to the Attorney General for criminal prosecution (for false swearing).
The Attorney General declined to prosecute,
finding insufficient evidence of any violation of law. But the
Wolfe experience illustrates the danger in transforming every
election law violation, however minor, into the felony of
false swearing.
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Daniel Meek |
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