Tax foes, advocates ready their messages.Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard SALEM - Although Oregon's tax referendum isn't yet on the ballot, both sides are looking beyond Tuesday's signature turn-in deadline to sharpen sharp·en tr. & intr.v. sharp·ened, sharp·en·ing, sharp·ens To make or become sharp or sharper. sharp strategies for a probable ballot measure campaign. Opponents of the Legislature's $800 million revenue package must submit at least 50,420 valid signatures to place what would be Ballot Measure 30 on the Feb. 3 ballot. If they meet that requirement, voters will be asked to decide the fate of a three-year income tax surcharge An overcharge or additional cost. A surcharge is an added liability imposed on something that is already due, such as a tax on tax. It also refers to the penalty a court can impose on a fiduciary for breaching a duty. and an array of other tax increases passed by the Legislature in August. Even as the petition drive got under way in September, both sides acknowledged that the odds were good that petitioners would come up with enough signatures. And now, with the anti-tax forces saying they will submit at least twice the number of signatures needed - possibly as early as today - it seems all but certain that Oregon voters will decide the fate of the Legislature's tax package. Advocates for rolling back the tax increases have said their biggest challenge would be getting enough signatures. But now that they're about to clear that hurdle HURDLE, Eng. law. A species of sledge, used to draw traitors to execution. , campaign director Russ Walker Russ Walker was a second-row forward for Barrow and Hull. Walker, who scored the second try as Hull beat Widnes 14-4 in 1991 Premiership final, was a tough tackler who combined his career with a job as a mechanic. Now works in the petrochemical industry in Barrow. References said his group, Citizens for a Sound Economy Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) is a conservative political group operating in the United States, whose self-described mission is "to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation. , and others in the anti-tax campaign coalition were prepared for a big-money media campaign - but only if it was deemed necessary to combat a similarly high-powered campaign from the other side. "We are in the process of evaluating what we think is needed to win this campaign," he said. "It could be $10,000. It could be $1 million, and a lot of that is dependent on what the other side does." Walker said he had his doubts that the unions and other groups supporting the budget-balancing revenue package would want to sink millions of dollars into TV and radio ads and mass mailings to wage an unwinable campaign war. "If I was in their shoes, I would look at this and say, `We can't win this,' ' Walker said. `All the polls pretty much show that Oregonians are opposed to this tax.' Our Oregon Coalition's Chip Terhune said he and other organizers on the pro-tax side of the debate planned to make the case to voters for approving the tax increase through an "extensive grass-roots, Oregonian-to-Oregonian" campaign, which he said would be more effective than engaging in a battle of media sound bites sound bite n. A brief statement, as by a politician, taken from an audiotape or videotape and broadcast especially during a news report: "The box has been spitting forth maddening nine-second sound bites" . But Terhune didn't rule out a multimillion-dollar media campaign, as well. "There may be other elements, but we're starting with that and going from there," he said. "This is really going to have to be a conversation at the dinner tables and the water coolers where people live and people work." Tim Nesbitt, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO The Oregon AFL-CIO is a federation of labor unions in the U.S. state of Oregon that promotes the rights of working people in the electoral and legislative arenas on the local, state and national level. It is an affiliate of the national AFL-CIO. , said it would be up to his labor group's elected leaders to decide whether to contribute to a big-spending campaign. And that decision hasn't been made. Another factor that could shape the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. ballot measure debate is the role that politicians will play. They held center stage last summer when the debate raged during what became the longest legislative session in Oregon history. In the end, Gov. Ted Kulongoski Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski (born November 5 1940, in rural Missouri[1]) is an American Democratic politician. Since 2003, he has served as the Governor of Oregon. He was re-elected in 2006. and legislative Democrats coalesced co·a·lesce intr.v. co·a·lesced, co·a·lesc·ing, co·a·lesc·es 1. To grow together; fuse. 2. To come together so as to form one whole; unite: with moderate Republicans to pass the three-year income tax surcharge, reduce a property tax discount, raise taxes on businesses, and impose a bevy bevy a flock of birds. of other revenue increases. Kulongoski urged lawmakers to pass the revenue package and signed it into law. Since then, he has advised voters not to sign petitions so the tax revenue will be available to maintain education and human services. But it's not yet clear how high profile a role the governor will play in making the case to voters during a ballot measure campaign. "I think he will play some role in it, certainly," said spokeswoman Mary Ellen Glynn. WHAT'S NEXT Some key dates for a possible referendum vote on the Legislature's tax package Tuesday: Deadline for petitioners to submit signatures necessary to trigger a referendum on tax increase Dec. 9: Secretary of state's deadline to verify that enough valid signatures were submitted to force a referendum vote Jan. 16: Elections offices begin mailing ballots to voters Feb. 3: Election Day |
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