Frohnmayer adds new dimension to U.S. Senate candidate forum

Posted by Harry Esteve
April 30, 2008

It wasn't much of a crowd at today's U.S. Senate candidate forum, but those who attended got a glimpse of the future of the race -- the third-party bid by John Frohnmayer.

Steve Novick is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Oregon who has so far won every poll over his opponents in the Democratic primary. In the most recent poll, SurveyUSA found Novick beating the candidate funded by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jeff Merkley, by 23 to 11 percent, with 12 percent captured by previously-unknown peace activist Candy Neville and 40 percent undecided.

Novick is apparently not very impressed by his Democratic colleagues. The Oregonian article below does not really capture the content of Novick's comments. Here is a verbatim transcript of the Willamette Week joint interview of the 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination:

Minor parties, nonaffiliated voters to play larger role in future elections nonaffiliated and minor party voters may determine who wins in Oregon

By Mark Brown
March 28, 2008

Although Oregon’s political leanings haven’t made a major shift in the past four years, a small gust of party-affiliation change has blown across the state.

A decline in the overall percentage of voters registered as Republicans in the state over a four-year span has been nearly equaled by an increase in the percentage of Oregonians registered as nonaffiliated and minor party voters.

Willamette Week writes on March 27, 2008:

But Independent candidate John Frohnmayer has the support of Funk Shui—and all the other 675 members of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 99 (a union that includes Storm Large.)

Bruce Fife, the local's president, says the decision to endorse Frohnmayer reflects musicians' distaste for typical party politics. "They're mad at the Democrats," Fife says. (Meanwhile, they didn't have an official chance to be mad at the Republicans, or, more specifically, one money-bags Republican; U.S. Senate Gordon Smith (R-Ore), whose seat is up for grabs, declined an interview with the local.)

John Henry Bourke, a guitarist with Funk Shui, said Frohnmayer's experience with the National Endowment for the Arts during the first Bush administration swayed him. "He has such a specific orientation to the arts," Bourke says. "He seemed most in tune with helping artists and musicians."

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?

Jim Torrey, former 2-term Mayor of Eugene, has filed to run again for that office in the upcoming non-partisan May Primary against incumbent Mayor, Kitty Piercy.

Torrey is the first member of the Independent Party of Oregon to run for local office. The office of Mayor is nonpartisan, so none of the candidates run as representatives of their political parties. Mr. Torrey has not sought the endorsement of the Independent Party for any office.

From the Register Guard:

Torrey said he wants to become mayor because the city must do more to fight crime, create jobs, fix streets and improve transportation. He faulted Piercy, who is seeking re-election for a second term, for not providing leadership in those areas.

Eugene is Oregon's second-largest city.

According to voter registration statistics released by the Secretary of State on Friday, the Independent Party of Oregon now has more than 12,500 members, becoming the 4th largest political party in Oregon. The growth of the party, which is just year old, is unprecedented for an Oregon-based minor political party. The Independent Party will almost certainly become Oregon's third largest party (and largest minor party) by the end of March 2008, if not sooner.

January '08 Minor party registration

Libertarians.......14,285
Independents.......12,597
Pacific Greens.....11,104
Constitution....... 2,967
Working Families... 1,588

The Independent Party remains the only political party to gain members in Oregon during the last 12 months.

Lawsuit Sparks Petition Signature Reform Bill

Oregon Public Broadcasting
By Chris Lehman
Salem, OR February 8, 2008 8:38 a.m.

Some people are calling for reform after a recent federal lawsuit over the way Oregon verifies signatures on initiative petitions. Salem correspondent Chris Lehman has more.

Opponents of a gay rights bill sued in federal court saying signatures on a petition to overturn the law were improperly rejected.

The judge threw out the suit but said it raised significant questions about Oregon’s citizen initiative process.

Members of the Independent Party testified on behalf of initiative rights at two hearings before the Senate Committee on Elections and Ethics last week. The bill they testified on will bring signature verification for initiative petitions that is currently being conducted by Oregon's County Clerks into the Secretary of State's office. Their testimony focussed on the rights of valid electors whose names are wrongly excluded during the state's signature verification process and on allowing petitioners to remove duplicate names from petition sheets prior to turn-in to the Secretary of State.

Although the bill moved forward without the amendments offered by Independents, one of the two issues was resolved when the Secretary of State pledged to allow petitioners to remove duplicates and invalid addresses, reversing an earlier position taken by that office.

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.