The Senate Rules Committee has sent to the
Senate floor a horrendous bill to stifle the initiative
process, SB
154.
SB 154 adds these provisions to ORS 250.048:
(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.
Daniel Meek
Attorney
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10949 S.W. 4th
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Portland, OR 97219
503-293-9021 phone
866-926-9646 fax
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