Opinion ID: 3036329
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect Of Measure 26 On The Pool of

Text: Petition Circulators in Oregon Plaintiffs presented affidavits from William Arno of Arno Political Consultants (“APC”), a California petition circulation firm, and Tracy Taylor of Taylor Petition Management, LLC, a Washington state petition circulation firm (under contract with APC). Arno averred Measure 26 “make[s] it less likely that companies such as APC will continue to do business in Oregon” and stated he had “personal knowledge that at least three of [his] chief competitors will not do business in Oregon” because of Measure 26. Yet Arno later testified that his “personal knowledge” of those companies came only from Taylor. Taylor averred that several professional petition circulators he knew were not interested in working in Oregon on an hourly wage basis when they could work in other states on a per-signature basis. Yet he did not identify those circulators, nor state whether they would work in Oregon absent Measure 26. Indeed, both Arno and Taylor conceded that other factors might cause petition circulators to leave or not to work in Oregon. For example, Arno noted that access to private property for petition circulators was particularly strict in Oregon. Both Arno and Taylor also noted that “harassment” of paid petition circulators by the Voter Education Project20 discour20 The Voter Education Project (“VEP”) bills itself as an “educational watchdog organization” organized to protect the integrity of the initiative system. It researches potential fraud and forgery committed by paid signature gatherers. It makes direct contact with voters through its “Think Before You Ink” program, which informs voters that petition circulators paid by the signature use devious tactics and commit fraud and forgery during the collection of signatures. The record also includes a news article that VEP also engages in harassment of paid petition circulators, “yelling at them, threatening them, even following them in cars.” The article also states VEP has links to the AFL-CIO. Other than the news article, plaintiffs presented no evidence that the VEP (or the Oregon AFL-CIO) supported Measure 26 to weaken in some manner the initiative process in Oregon. 1886 PRETE v. BRADBURY aged some companies from working in Oregon. Last, Arno also suggested that Measure 26 makes it more difficult for petition circulation companies to operate because those companies have to treat petition circulators as employees rather than independent contractors. Yet Oregon employment law requires that petition circulators must be treated as employees rather than independent contractors; Measure 26 does not itself mandate such treatment. See Canvasser Services, Inc. v. Employment Dep’t, 987 P.2d 562, 568 (Or. Ct. App. 1999) (holding, under Oregon law, petition circulators are employees rather than independent contractors). The district court rejected Arno and Taylor’s averments of circulators leaving or refusing to work in Oregon as “unsupported speculation” because Arno received his information from Taylor, Taylor only repeated the basic claim that paid circulators would not work in Oregon because of Measure 26, and several factors other than Measure 26 could explain the alleged reluctance of petition circulators to work in Oregon. The district court’s factual conclusion is supported by the record and is not clearly erroneous. Plaintiffs also presented affidavits from David Rubin of Universal Petitions, a southern California petition circulating firm; Lura Lucille Cordes, who employs initiative-petition circulators to gather signatures in California; and Angelo Paparella of Progressive Campaigns, Inc., a national signature gathering firm. Rubin averred that because—in his opinion— payment by signature is more efficient than payment by the hour, and Measure 26 would thus make signature gathering more difficult in Oregon, he is “sure I would never be asked to go to Oregon to coordinate a petition drive with Measure 26 restrictions in effect.” Similarly, Cordes stated because of the burdens imposed by Measure 26, she would “not come to Oregon to circulate petitions/gather signatures.” Paparella also stated that because of Measure 26, his company “will not circulate petitions in Oregon because the cost of hiring and maintaining a workforce of hourly wage workers is very, very PRETE v. BRADBURY 1887 high when compared to using petition circulators who are independent contractors.” Yet none of these affiants stated they had ever circulated petitions in Oregon or would do so in the absence of Measure 26. Further, Paparella’s averment suggests he would not come to Oregon because he would have to treat petition circulators as employees rather than as independent contractors, which is the law in Oregon notwithstanding Measure 26. Therefore, the district court’s conclusion that plaintiffs did not prove Measure 26 “caused a reduction in the number of available circulators or otherwise limit[ed] the size of plaintiff’s audience” is supported by the record and is not clearly erroneous.