Belcastro enters race for Buckley House seat

July 2, 2008 By JOHN DARLING for the Medford Mail Tribune

Longtime Rogue Valley television personality Pete Belcastro will run as an independent against Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, he announced Tuesday.

If elected, he will work to develop green industry, increase funding for higher education and reform Oregon's tax system and spending, he said.

Belcastro, who worked for 19 years as director of Rogue Valley Community Television before leaving last year, said it's "irresponsible and unsustainable" that the Democratic majority in the House has increased spending by $620 million a biennium during a tight economy.

On June 19, the Oregonian's web site reported:

In fact, this year primary winners in 24 of the 75 state legislative races won the write-in vote of the other major party.

In the Senate, it occurred in districts 5, 21, 22, 28, 29 and 30.

In the House, it happened in districts 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 21, 25, 31, 40, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 55, 56 and 60.

In another twist, two Portland Democratic primary losers won the Republican write-in vote: Gordon Hillesland, in House District 42, and Cyreena Boston, in House District 45.

But Hamilton said neither Hillesland nor Boston will appear on the ballot because of Oregon's sore loser law, which prohibits primary losers from running in the general election under a different party banner.

So Oregon now has 24 one-candidate Soviet-style "mockracies." In the absence of these "2-sided winners," the other major party would have either (1) run a write-in winner who was not already running for the same office or (2) if that winner declined the nomination, would have been able to choose a candidate for that office using internal party processes for filling nomination "vacancies."

So, in 6 of the 15 State Senate races and in 18 of the 60 State House races, there will be no competition between major party candidates at all--not even a race between an overwhelming favorite v. a write-in for the other party. Why? Because the hyperpartisan Oregon Secretary of State, Bill Bradbury, gerrymandered electoral competition out of his map redrawing the legislative districts after the 2000 census.

Welcome to Oregonistan, USA, as elsewhere described at Oregon Independent.

For Release: June 9, 2008

The Independent Party of Oregon, the state's third largest political party, yesterday nominated one candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives and 2 candidates for county commissions.

• Oregon House of Representatives, District 4: Keith Wangle (www.votekeith.net)
• District 4 centers on Gold Hill and includes Central Point, part of Medford, and the outskirts around Grants Pass
• Wallowa County Commissioner #2: Ken Wick
• Curry County Commissioner #1: Stephen "Chip" Bradley

The Portland Tribune in GOP Skips Many Portland House Races notes how Oregon lacks competition in a great number of races for the Oregon Legislature. This year, there are no Republican candidates in 18 House races and no Democratic candidates in 6 House races. So 24 of the 60 races are not contested by the other major party. The Tribune fails to note that 8 of the 15 Oregon Senate races are also not contested. Nor does the Tribune even attempt to determine why this is happening. Gerrymandering, anyone?

Testimony of Sal Peralta on SB 1083 to the Senate Committee on elections and Ethics, (remarks as prepared for delivery)

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Madame chair,

Distinguished Senators, my name is Sal Peralta. I am speaking here today as chief petitioner on Initiative Petition 3 (2010), as the owner of a business that works on initiative petitioning, and as an Oregon elector.

I have been following the Secretary of State's implementation of the various rules and regulations that pertain to Oregon's Initiative and Referendum system.

The Independent Party of Oregon testified at a interim panel on campaign finance reform, convened by Senator Bill Morrisette.

Political action committees raised and spent more than $67 million on electioneering in Oregon 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, and 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 Republican Governor’s Association, the Oregon Education 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 $4600.

The ability of wealthy individuals and organizations to contribute unlimited amounts 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, and in federal elections.

In summary, we believe that the legislature should act expeditiously to implement Measure 47 by referring a constitutional amendment to allow contribution limits. Failing that, 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.

The Oregon Legislature has passed HB 2082 to restrict the initiative process and centralize power in the Legislature.

In 2005, the Oregon Legislature passed HB 2614, which made it far more difficult for any unaffiliated candidate to quality for the ballot in Oregon. Under HB 2614, any voter’s signature on a petition to place an unaffiliated candidate on the ballot is invalid, if the signer was a Republican or Democrat who votes in the Oregon primary election. This is by far the most restrictive system in America for unaffiliated candidates to qualify for the ballot.

Dan Meek and Linda Williams have filed an amicus brief filed in U.S. District Court of Oregon to challenge the constitutionality of HB 2614. The suit was filed by Greg Wasson, a political activist who lives in Salem. The opponents are the Secretary of State and the counter-amicus, the Democratic Party of Oregon.

The amicus brief is attached.