Measure 50 Opponents Lose Lawsuit
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Measure 50, aka Healthy Kids, was rejected yeterday. A Marion County Judge ruled against opponents of the measure who were attempting to block Healthy Kids from reaching the November 6 ballot.
From the Oregonian:
A proposal to increase the cigarette tax to pay for children's health insurance will remain on Oregon's fall ballot.A Marion County judge rejected arguments that Measure 50 violates the state constitution. If approved by voters in November, the cigarette tax would jump by 84.5 cents a pack. It would raise an estimated $153 million for the current two-year budget, with most of the money going toward health insurance for 100,000 Oregon children.
A lawsuit filed late last month argued that the measure makes three "unrelated" changes to the constitution with separate taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products such as smokeless tobacco.
But Judge Paul Lipscomb rejected their arguments, saying the challenge failed on each of its claims.
Healthy Kids Oregon also notes who exactly supported the lawsuit:
Tobacco giant Philip Morris paid the legal fees for the suit. Measure 50 is a constitutional amendment that would raise taxes on tobacco to boost children’s health insurance coverage. Tobacco companies have filed more than 35 suits in five other states since 2001 to block tobacco-related measures. To date none of those attempts had been successful.
Discuss.
|
Sept. 25, 2007
Posted in in the news 2007. |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
Sep 25, '07
Just another example of more underachieving by the lawyers at Oregon DOJ!
9:06 p.m.
Sep 25, '07
Wow, "evil twin". That troll was so lame it's completely incoherent. The Oregon DOJ wasn't even involved in this lawsuit. It was Phillip Morris vs the Secretary of State's office. And this time the Republican drug dealers lost.
Sep 25, '07
Lest anything be too subtle or assumed,
Steve Duin's column in the Sunday Oregonian essentially endorsed John Kroger in his bid for the Attorney General. Within that piece was this quote, "That office [referring to the AG's office or the Oregon Department of Justice] currently sports 289 attorneys, perhaps the state's greatest collection of underachievers."
When the Secretary of State, or most state government agencies for that matter, are sued it is the lawyers of the Oregon DOJ who represent them in trial and on appeal.
This great win was made possible by some fantastic advocacy on the part of folks at Oregon DOJ. Folks Steve Duin would happily label as "underachievers".
Get it?
Sep 25, '07
Hey twin,
Thanks for the explanation, since it was way too subtle for my old brain (plus I don't catch everything Duin writes).
Not sure we can remove the scarlet troll from you just yet. We may have to escalate this to the Grand Master of Troll designations for a review of the videotape in the replay booth. Up to you, Kari.
Sep 26, '07
And you wonder were all the money goes, wow 135k a year is = to $11,250 per month. 166k a year is $13,833 per month PLUS...PLUS Full benefits to boot. This state will need to increase taxes to keep up with this budget increase over the next couple of years so look for your taxes to go UP...UP...UP!!! A Marion County judge rejected arguments that Measure 50 violates the state constitution. If approved by voters in November, the cigarette tax would jump by 84.5 cents a pack. It would raise an estimated $153 million for the current two-year budget, with most of the money going toward health insurance for 100,000 Oregon children Large pay increases MOST OF THE MONEY? the rest of it goes to the state workers for the HUGE pay increases, the kids will see very little of this money...
The governor's compensation isn't changing, but his top managers will see large increases. Corrections Director Max Williams, who oversees 5,000 employees and a $3.5 billion budget, will get a raise from $135,000 to $166,000. Administrative Services Director Lindsay Ball, in charge of nearly 1,000 employees and a $1 billion budget, will see the same pay hike.
Dr. Bruce Goldberg, who heads up a $12 billion budget and a staff of 10,000 at the Department of Human Services, will see his salary rise from $135,000 to $158,000.
And Matt Garrett's salary at the Oregon Department of Transportation will see the same increase, for handling 5,000 workers and a $1.4 billion budget.
Some local governments pay more. Midpay to run the city of Portland's transportation office is $146,000 with the salary topping at $172,000.
"I think the general public is going to want an explanation,"
Sep 26, '07
Anybody have a pointer to the actual text of the ruling? It's always hilarious when folks who otherwise criticize the O for poor reporting use the O's third hand report of the issue as the basis for arguing anything. And we know the Measure 50 folks willingly forfeited their claim to be being trusted to give factually accurate information about anything when they made the political decision to make their entire campaign an attack on the source of the opposition funding, rather than the merits of the constitutional amendment and the very poor health care options they are using the money to offer to the working poor.