3 initiatives make ballot; fund raising sets records.Byline: David Steves The Register-GuardSALEM - Voters won't decide whether to restore term limits for legislators, but will face initiatives in November capping malpractice malpractice, failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. awards, expanding medical-marijuana policy and setting conservation rules for the Tillamook National Forest, elections officials announced Monday. State and county elections workers completed their signature-verification work on those four of the seven initiative petitions submitted by the July 2 deadline. The state has until the end of July to determine whether enough valid signatures were submitted for the three remaining proposed initiatives. One would impose a gay-marriage ban; another proposes to sell off SAIF, the state-owned workers compensation insurer; and the third requires the government to compensate landowners who face legal barriers to development, or to waive To intentionally or voluntarily relinquish a known right or engage in conduct warranting an inference that a right has been surrendered. For example, an individual is said to waive the right to bring a tort action when he or she renounces the remedy provided by law for such those restrictions. The first round of signature-verification announcements came on the same day the campaigns for initiatives were required to disclose their campaign fund-raising and spending activities for the signature-gathering phase. Two of the measures set what appear to be records as the costliest ever to qualify for the ballot. The SAIF and the medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. initiatives' dollar totals are at least records for the period dating to 1996, when the Oregon Elections Division's database first recorded such figures. In all, this year's initiative backers spent $4.12 million for signature-gathering operations for the seven measures submitted before the July 2 deadline. That included the $1.59 million contributed by Liberty Northwest Insurance's campaign to force the sale of SAIF, and the $952,661 spent by the health care industry for caps on the amount that can be awarded to patients who win malpractice lawsuits. The previous record was set in 1998 when unions spent $633,594 to put a set of election reforms on the ballot; it was approved by voters and struck down by the courts. Lisa Gilliam, spokeswoman for the anti-SAIF measure, defended the big-spending campaign, which included a first-ever television and radio advertising component urging voters to request and sign initiative petitions. "It was important to us to get out early with our message," she said. "We recognize that it's going to take time and money to counter more than a decade of SAIF's propaganda, and we wanted to give ourselves a head start." Her campaign received nearly all of the $1.59 million it raised from Liberty Northwest, a private insurer that competes with state-owned SAIF Corp. for workers compensation insurance business. Likewise, nearly all the $4 million raised by proponents of the malpractice measure came from the medical industry, including $797,263 from the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems, and dozens of individual doctors and nurses. The Lane Individual Practice Association contributed $20,000. Among the other five measures: The term-limits campaign raised $373,977 and spent $353,291. Nearly all of its money came from U.S. Term Limits U.S. Term Limits (or USTL) is a non-profit organization that lobbies for term limits for elected officials at every level of government in the United States. Among other activities, USTL supports ballot initiatives in numerous states. , based in Washington, D.C., which contributed $364,639. The campaign for the measure that would ensure that at least half of the Tillamook State Forest The Tillamook State Forest is a 364,000 acres (0 km) forest located 40 miles (64 km) west of Portland, Oregon in the Northern Oregon Coast Range. be set aside from logging raised $417,501 and spent $448,454. Its biggest donor was The Wild Salmon Center in Portland, which contributed $159,973. The campaign for a measure to allow qualifying patients to possess larger quantities of medical marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. raised $65,673 and spent $87,355. It's biggest donor: The Foundation for Constitutional Protection, based in Austin, Texas, with $8,000. The land use compensation measure drew $756,492 in contributions, $491,500 of which was spent on the signature-gathering campaign. Most of the money - $275,000 - came from 10 contributors who gave $10,000 or more apiece a·piece adv. To or for each one; each: There is enough bread for everyone to have two slices apiece. [Middle English a pece : a, a; see a . They included ATR ATR Achilles tendon reflex, see Ankle reflex Services Inc. in Veneta ($25,000) and Seneca Jones Timber Co. in Eugene ($23,000). The measure to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage Noun 1. same-sex marriage - two people of the same sex who live together as a family; "the legal status of same-sex marriages has been hotly debated" couple, twosome, duet, duo - a pair who associate with one another; "the engaged couple"; "an inseparable was put on the ballot after a campaign that raised $232,302 and spent $208,155. The biggest donations were from the Portland-based Defense of Marriage Coalition, $29,266; and the Oregon Family Council PAC ($35,000), both of which are run by the measure's political director, Tim Nashif. Paul Farago, a petitioner for the term-limits measure, said he is confident that the courts will force the secretary of state's elections division to place that measure on the ballot. He is part of a federal lawsuit filed by petitioners for several measures, who are contesting the methods used by the state to disqualify To deprive of eligibility or render unfit; to disable or incapacitate. To be disqualified is to be stripped of legal capacity. A wife would be disqualified as a juror in her husband's trial for murder due to the nature of their relationship. signatures. "This process is fatally fa·tal·ly adv. 1. So as to cause death; mortally: fatally injured. 2. So as to result in disaster or ruin. 3. According to the decree of fate; inevitably. Adv. 1. tainted taint v. taint·ed, taint·ing, taints v.tr. 1. To affect with or as if with a disease. 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate. 3. by their verification method, and the secretary of state's misconduct MISCONDUCT. Unlawful behaviour by a person entrusted in any degree: with the administration of justice, by which the rights of the parties and the justice of the, case may have been affected. 2. ," he said. The state elections chief, John Lindback, said the measure would not have qualified even if all 5,649 disqualified dis·qual·i·fy tr.v. dis·qual·i·fied, dis·qual·i·fy·ing, dis·qual·i·fies 1. a. To render unqualified or unfit. b. To declare unqualified or ineligible. 2. signatures had been counted. "They just didn't turn in enough signatures to give themselves a comfortable margin," he said. MEASURE STATUS Where the seven submitted initiatives stand in the signatures verification process, which must be finished by Aug. 1: Term limits: Failed to qualify for the ballot Medical marijuana: Qualified for the ballot Cap on malpractice awards: Qualified for the ballot Tillamook State Forest protection: Qualified for the ballot Same-sex marriage ban: Pending signature verification Land use compensation: Pending signature verification SAIF Corp. sell-off: Pending signature verification |
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