MOST INITIATIVES FUNDED BY A FEW

SALEM -- Sponsors of the slate of ballot measures submitted for the
November general election set new records for initiative campaign
fund-raising -- but it would be a mistake to assume the financial
showing indicates widespread support, an Oregon campaign finance
watchdog group says.

The Portland-based Money in Politics Research Action Project, which
released a new report this week, is cautioning voters to consider
where money is coming from before they cast their votes this fall.

Disclosures this week showed that seven active initiative campaigns
collected a record-setting $7.5 million by mid-July -- and that most
of that money came in big chunks from a handful of contributors.
Meanwhile, miscellaneous donations of $50 or less -- one measure of
the grassroots nature of a campaign -- made up less than 2 percent of
support for five of those measures.

The two measures that did rely on donations of $50 or less collected
the least money of the seven. Those are a proposed Constitutional ban
on same-sex marriage and an expansion of medical marijuana laws.

"With few exceptions, a small base of deep-pocketed donors pays
petitioners to put things on the ballot," said Sarah Wetherson, a
research and outreach associate with the nonprofit research center.

"Voters need to pay attention to who is paying to ask for their vote,"
she said.

In a recent press conference, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said the slate of
ballot initiatives is divisive and designed to benefit special
interests and he urged voters to reject the entire lot.

The prime example might be the effort to shutter scandal-ridden SAIF,
the state's quasi-government workers' compensation insurer.

That initiative campaign raised almost $1.6 million, and more than 99
percent of the money came from a single source: Liberty Northwest, a
rival insurance company.

But Lisa Gilliam, a spokeswoman for Oregonians for Accountability,
said the expense is necessary.

"The amount we have spent pales in comparison to what SAIF has spent
on lobbying and advertising over the past decade," she said.

"It will require tremendous resources to expose the truth," she
said.

The top money campaign so far is the effort to create caps on "pain
and suffering" damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice
lawsuits, which collected more than $4 million from health-care
interests and still has $3 million in the bank.

The state announced Friday that the anti-SAIF measure will be on the
Nov. 2 ballot, bringing the total to five of the seven measures to
qualify.

Only one of the seven, an effort to reinstate term limits for Oregon
legislators, has been rejected. State elections officials say that
campaign failed to submit sufficient valid signatures.

That initiative's chief petitioners are suing in federal court and are
seeking a recount.

That campaign collected roughly $364,000, with 97 percent of the money
coming from an out-of-state political organization that advocates for
term limits nationwide.

Verification results for the final measure, the gay marriage ban, will
be released this week, said John Lindback, director of the state
elections office. However, circulators turned in more than 240,000
signatures, so it seems certain to qualify.