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Oregon
Funding in Support of Oregon's Measure 49 Coming Largely from In-State Contributors
Since Oregon voters passed property-rights Measure 37 in November 2004, eager applicants have filed 7,500 claims for public compensation of their land value losses or for rule waivers to build homes, subdivisions, malls and commercial or industrial projects on a total of 750,000 acres in development-restricted rural and forest areas, a retroactive process whose continuation would erode the state's growth management and its green ''look and feel,'' with an unusual number of local residents, businesses and advocacy groups committing their money to remedial Measure 49 on a state ballot next month.
Measure 49, report Oregonian writers Eric Mortenson and Dave Hogan, would entitle claimants to fast-track construction of one to three homes or between four and ten in cases of a proven property value loss, while banning commercial and industrial development.
The Yes on 49 campaign has raised $2.7 million and spent almost $1.5 million so far, while the opposing Oregonians in Action group, successful with its Measure 37 three years ago, has now gotten about $340,000 and spent $133,000.
The top Yes on 49 contributor, Carlton area winemaker Eric Lemelson, gave $725,000 and another $101,000 from his mother's trust, worried not only that prospective development near his vineyards threatens his ability to farm and his access to groundwater, but also that the state's future is at risk.
''I think the impacts of Measure 37, if it's not amended, will be disastrous, long-term, for Oregon,'' he told the writers. ''Filling up the Willamette Valley with subdivisions all over the place, even over 15 or 20 years, I think, is nuts.''
Similarly motivated former Portland businessmen Edmund ''Ned'' Hayes Jr. and John D. Gray donated $100,000 each, while the Nature Conservancy, its local chapter standing for some 25,000 households, invested $769,000.
''We truly feel we're at a crossroads in Oregon,'' stressed chapter director Russell Hoeflich. ''Can we protect our land and water resources that represent our future? The integrity of the state is really at stake.''
Measure 49 foes dramatize a potential property-rights setback, and its impact on business operations, prices and jobs, without matching the other side's contributions.
''This is about timber for us; it's about keeping our doors open,'' said Seneca Jones Timber senior vice president of legal affairs Dale Riddle, whose company gave Oregonians in Action $50,000.
The milling Swanson Group put in the same amount, its president and CEO Steve Swanson saying, ''When you take away our assets, it takes away our ability to make a profit. It will affect everybody over time, as the employment base shrinks as a result of Measure 49.''
The A-dec dental equipment company contributed another $50,000 and RSG Forest Products added $25,000.
Observers agree that the massive local donations for Yes on 49 signal its advantage in the upcoming referendum.
''I think Oregonian voters differentiate based on whether something is funded out of state or not,'' said the national Common Cause watchdog group's state board chairman David Buchanan. ''If our local people are paying for advertising, that's our business. If it's from out of the state, then there's resentment.'' -- Oregonian 10/1/2007
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