Archived
Measure 49 money is from old foes
Donor lists similar to Measure 37's; amounts larger
October 31 , 2007
PETER WONG
Statesman Journal
Measure 49 represents the latest chapter in Oregon's decades-old controversy about land use, but the big donors for and against the measure are not new, according to filings with the secretary of state.
Virtually all of the top contributors this time, with a few exceptions, were on opposite sides of a property-compensation law that voters passed in 2004 as Measure 37.
Measure 49 on Tuesday's ballot, backed by environmental interests and individuals, would scale back development under land-use claims filed as a result of the 2004 law. Some that filed claims seeking subdivisions of rural lands have given big to the anti-Measure 49 campaign.
"The pattern of giving mirrors what we saw in Measure 37," said Sarah Wetherson, a research and outreach associate with Democracy Reform Oregon, a campaign-finance watchdog group.
"Its original supporters were timber companies, which have given more than 60 percent of the total against Measure 49, and its opponents were largely those who are supporting the current measure."
The Yes on 49 campaign has raised about $4.7 million, compared with $2.3 million for the opposition, according to state reports.
Most of the money has been spent on television and direct-mail advertising.
The top donors for the measure are the Nature Conservancy in Oregon, based in Portland; Eric Lemelson, a winemaker in Yamhill County and the son of a wealthy inventor; his mother's trust; Environment Oregon, which was spun off from the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group; and John D. Gray, a retired Portland businessman and developer who has backed Oregon's land-use planning laws.
The top donors against the measure are three timber companies -- Stimson Lumber of Portland and Forest Grove, Seneca Jones Timber of Eugene and the Swanson Group in Glendale -- and A-dec, a manufacturer of dental equipment based in Newberg.
Stimson Lumber and Aaron Jones, the founder of Seneca Jones Timber, have filed Measure 37 claims to develop land. The personal claim by Jones is on family property near Bend.
The amounts raised by both sides of Measure 49 are dwarfed by the Measure 50 campaign, in which tobacco companies are breaking state records in an effort to defeat a cigarette-tax increase. Wetherson said that between the campaigns for both measures on Tuesday's ballot, more money has been raised than for all sides of the 10 ballot measures just a year ago.
"When you talk about recent campaigns, it's hard to approach the kind of money we are seeing here," Wetherson said. "It may be something about these two issues that brings out the money."
Link to the article
|
