If Measure 97 were the panacea for Oregon’s economy and public services its supporters claim it is, it would be financed by a broad coalition of interests on all sides of the political occupational spectrum.
But it isn’t.
In fact, more than 99 percent of the funding for Measure 97 comes from one source – government employee unions.
Collectively, SEIU 503 and the Oregon Education Association have invested more than $1.5 million in the measure – and with good reason. If Measure 97 passes, anywhere from 17,700 to 30,000 new state employees will be added to Oregon’s already bloated public workforce.
And because Oregon lacks right-to-work protections, every single one of those new employees will have no choice but to let the unions confiscate hundreds of dollars every month from their paychecks.
That’s a great deal for the unions, who get a multi-million-dollar return on a $1.5 million investment. It’s also a nice little bump for the greedy politicians who get paid to do their bidding in the Legislature.
But it’s a lousy bargain for Oregon residents, who’ll get stuck with the tab for the biggest tax increase in state history.
It’s also a bad idea for Oregon’s employers, many of whom will opt to relocate their operations to states that don’t impose confiscatory taxes – taking with them many thousands of private-sector jobs and blowing a huge hole in the state’s economy.
The unions don’t care, nor do the politicians whose palms have already been greased with dues money taken from workers who didn’t want to give it.
But the people of Oregon care, and so does the Freedom Foundation.
The Freedom Foundation, which expanded into Oregon last summer after spending a quarter century fighting for free markets and limited, accountable government in Washington, hosted a press conference Monday to expose the unions’ lies about Measure 97 and unveil a new study explaining why every Oregonian should oppose it in the November general election.
