BACKERS HAVE SIGNATURES FOR INITIATIVE CURBING POWER OF POLICE TO SEIZE
PROPERTY

Supporters, who got George Soros funds, say they'll turn 100,000 in on
Thursday

SALEM -- With a little help from billionaire philanthropist George Soros,
backers of an initiative that would limit police agencies' powers to seize
property have quietly rounded up signatures to force a statewide vote on the
issue this fall.

Supporters plan to turn in 100,000 signatures Thursday and another 30,000
before the July 7 deadline in hopes of toughening controls on forfeiture of
cash and property during drug arrests.

Campaign spokesman Geoff Sugerman said the signature-gathering effort was
financed by $250,000 in contributions from Soros and two other businessmen
who have been working to liberalize drug laws across the country. They also
helped bankroll a 1998 measure approved by Oregon voters legalizing the
medicinal use of marijuana.

Sugerman said supporters of the new property forfeiture initiative purposely
kept a low profile while paid petitioners quietly went about gathering
signatures to qualify the proposal for the November ballot. Their proposed
constitutional amendment needs 89,048 valid signatures to qualify.

Oregon law allows government agencies to seize and keep property from people
based on a determination of "probable cause" of wrongdoing.

The initiative would require a conviction before authorities could dispose
of seized property. Further, if no charges are filed and no conviction
occurs, the cash or property would have to be returned to the accused
person.

"There are hundreds of cases of people losing their property when they
haven't been charged with a crime and they never get their property back,"
Sugerman said. "It's just wrong."

"There are virtually no criminal consequences to dealing or selling drugs in
Oregon," Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said. "The whole
purpose of forfeiture is to create a disincentive to deal drugs by putting
their property at risk."