'KIDS AND COPS' FLOPS

Salem voters overwhelmingly rejected the "Kids and Cops" ballot
measure Tuesday, shocking the coalition of community leaders that had
formed to campaign for the proposal.

In the "Kids and Cops" measure, votes ran nearly two-to-one against
it, despite a well-funded and organized effort to pass it.

"I am completely surprised," Mayor Janet Taylor said. "I thought our
community would step up and address an issue that will not go away,
crime and drugs. I don't know what else to say."

The "Kids and Cops" measure would have instituted a monthly support
fee on all Salem businesses and residents to pay for after-school
programs and additional police officers.

Opponents argued against the way the fee would be gathered, largely
through people's water and sewer bills.

They also criticized the fact that the measure combined funding for
two very different programs.

"The voters picked up on the fact this was a flawed plan," said Mike
Mathisen, a local businessman who became one of the measure's most
outspoken critics. "Voters aren't stupid."

Karen Franke of northeast Salem voted no, calling the proposal "a
baby-sitting program."

"Parents should be responsible for their kids, not others in the
community," she said as she dropped off her ballot at the S Commercial
Street elections office on Tuesday.

"We don't need more government; we need less government, less social
services and less taxes."

The "Kids and Cops" measure enjoyed the campaign support of a large
and diverse network of businesses, child activists, educators and
local leaders.

More than $60,000 in donations flooded into the campaign supporting
the measure.

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce threw its weight behind the "Kids
and Cops" measure, and the entire city council endorsed it.

The Salem-Keizer School Board also endorsed the measure, although not
until last week.

Most of the major supporters of the "Kids and Cops" measure gathered
Tuesday evening in the basement of the First Congregational Church at
Cottage and Marion streets.

A loud groan rushed through the room when school board member Krina
Lemons announced the results, followed by a deep silence as the news
sunk in.

"There were no big organized negatives. Why?" Taylor asked Councilor
Jim Randall and Mike McLaran, director of the chamber of commerce.

"We figured out how to get the leadership together," Randall said. "We
just can't figure out how to get the rest of the city to come along."

The $3.6 million raised each year would have been split evenly between
after-school programs for middle-school students and for up to 24
additional police officers.

South Salem resident Matt Dockery voted for the proposal, saying
proponents had convinced him the money would not be squandered.

"It sounded like it was more of a direct funnel of money to these
programs, without being filtered through anyone else," Dockery said.

Allison de la Torre of Northeast Salem was ambivalent about the
measure as she approached the elections office.

"I think the hysteria over the meth problem is a little bit much," she
said, adding that she probably would vote for the measure despite her
misgivings. "And any program for kids would be a good thing for Oregon."

A task force of civic and business leaders crafted the ballot measure,
which replaced an earlier after-school program initiated by the prior
city council.

That council, led by former Mayor Mike Swaim, passed a 1-percent meals
tax and a 5-percent amusement tax to pay for after-school programs.
Those two taxes were repealed by the current council before they went
into effect.

No open and organized opposition to the measure coalesced, although
Mathisen and about a dozen friends took part in a high-tech, no-cost
e-mail campaign against it.

"This was a tribute to the political power of the Internet, as far as
I'm concerned," Mathisen said.

However, the defeat of the "Kids and Cops" measure did not fill
Mathisen with outright cheer.

"I believe no one in this race won," he said. "We still have the same
issue out there. If we would have spent more time coming up with a
good plan and been in less of a rush to put it on the ballot, we would
have been better off."