Issue Position: Chris Henry as Attorney General Will Return Integrity to Government in Oregon

Issue Position

The State Integrity Project (performed by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International, OPB and dozens of other public broadcasting stations) this year gave Oregon an overall C- grade on "Corruption Risk," with a well-deserved F on Access to Public Information and D- on Political Financing. Within that D- were Fs on the effectiveness of regulations governing the political financing of parties and individual candidates.

In November 2006, Oregon voters enacted Measure 47, which established the nation's most strict system of limits on political campaign contributions and expenditures. It also requires political ads to fully disclose the names, businesses, and amount contributed by each of the campaign's 5 largest donors, right in the ad itself. It also prohibits all corporate and union donations; imposes greater donor disclosure; and authorizes any entity to establish "small donor committees" for aggregate contributions of no more than $50 per individual.

When Oregon voters enacted limits on political contributions in 1994, Attorney General Ted Kulongoski enforced those limits and defended the law in court. But John Kroger refused to enforce Measure 47 and attacked it in court. Still, to this day, no court has found any part of Measure 47 to be unconstitutional. The Oregon Supreme Court merely concluded on October 4 that the constitutionality of its limits had not been presented in a justiciable manner. As Attorney General, I will present that issue in a justiciable manner.

I will also make my top priority the adoption of an amendment to the Oregon Constitution authorizing limits on political contributions, so that the validity of such limits under the Oregon Constitution can never again be an issue.

Due to the failure to enforce the Measure 47 limits, campaign spending in Oregon continues to skyrocket. Total spending on campaigns for state and local offices in Oregon increased from $4.2 million in 1996 to $57 million in 2010. Candidates for Governor in 2010 spent over $20 million. Winning a contested race for the Oregon Legislature now typically costs over $600,000, sometimes over $1 million. The Oregonian (4/6/2010) reports that spending on Oregon legislative races is the highest per capita of any state, except New Jersey.

As Attorney General, I will seek effective overhaul of Oregon's public records law. Oregon earned an F on "citizens receive responses to information requests within a reasonable time period," because the current law has no deadline for government agencies to respond to requests. The Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the public records law, but Oregon also rated F on enforcement of public records disclosure requirement. As Attorney General, I will change that.

Source