NO on 90, AGAIN!

Carla Hanson

So this is what 1.5 million buys you - a nifty Mercedes Sprinter van with slogans and color schemes pandering to Portland Hipsters.

DUDE, where's your values?!

In the cacophony of political messaging, campaigners do their best to market the right message to the right folks. But sometimes it's so over the top it's just obnoxious. Enter the purveyors of Measure 90, a small but wealthy lot of investors, equity managers and CEOs that are 99.5 % of the financial support of this M 65 Redux. They take condescending to a new level as these hucksters try to tell you that M 90 is cool.

It's crap.

These fellas think if they drop in enough out-of-state dough, they can convince most Oregon voters that up is down, that green is red and that M. 90 is for the "Good of the People". It's for the good of their bottom line. The huge money they're investing will overwhelm us with well-polled & focused messages, and they hope their investment will rework the Oregon election system so dramatically that it will pay huge dividends in the form of friendly legislation for their business interests.

What, I don't believe that 90 would "empower voters" ? Nope, and it's not just because I am too old to be a hipster. Precise and well researched messaging may be appealing, but the truly empowered voter should be tuned into the real intentions behind a measure so heavily funded from out-of-state. Really, why would some rich Texan dump a million and 1/2 into lil' ol Orygun? Why are the funders of this thing all club members of the 1%? The intentions that bring you Measure 90 are clear as the $25,000, $30,000 and $50,000 donation chunks that are dropped into the YES coffers. These big spenders know the old saw - to make money, you've got to spend money. And if they succeed, not only will every election become the rich man's game in the rich man's playground, but their playground will become so exclusive that us regular people won't even see the yard.

Gone will be the good old party Primaries for Democratic and GOP voters, so the folks of like stripes can choose the candidate that best represents them in the General Election. Gone will be the nominating conventions and processes small parties can use to either name a unique nominee or get on board with the D or R candidate. Gone will be the the candidate from the masses, that regular guy who cares enough to run and can make a go of it without big money bending his ear for payback when in office. (Did I mention that the Texas investor is billionaire John Arnold, former Enron hedge fund manager & trader who specialized in natural gas derivatives?)

Do the quid-pro-quos happen now? Sure. But instead of eliminating them, passage of M90 will throw the money game into hyper-drive. Big money will be selecting and pushing candidates well before the filing deadline, and great potential candidates who don't jump through the hoops will either be also-rans or throw in the towel before they even file. M 90 proponents claim that passage of 90 will "end gridlock". Well, if a bunch of candidates are elected that have these funders as their masters, yeah, they will all be marching to the same tune.

Oh, and that chartreuse Mercedes van? Even that dang thing is from out-of-state. That should tell you all you need to know.

By Carla Hanson Oct. 14, 2014