Opinion ID: 3036329
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Severe” or “Lesser” Burden

Text: Plaintiffs contend Measure 26 imposes a severe burden on the circulation of initiative petitions because the measure makes paid signature gathering prohibitively expensive, inefficient, and results in a higher rate of invalid signatures. Plaintiffs thus contend that strict scrutiny should apply and Measure 26 is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest. The district court rejected this argument, finding plaintiffs did not prove that Measure 26 imposed severe burdens on the circulation of initiative petitions, and any lesser burdens imposed by Measure 26 were reasonably related to and justified by the state’s interest in preventing fraud in the initiative process. In reaching that conclusion, the district court assessed plaintiffs’ claims that: (1) Measure 26 eliminates an avenue of signature-gathering and decreases the available pool of petition circulators; (2) Measure 26 increases the costs of gathering signatures, making it more difficult to circulate petitions and qualify initiative or referendum measures for the ballot; and (3) Measure 26 resulted in a significant decrease in the number of valid signatures collected by signature gatherers. Because these are claims of historical fact, we review the district court’s findings regarding these claims for clear error. See Planned Parenthood, 290 F.3d at 1070. Because the district court did not clearly err in rejecting each of these claims, we affirm the district court’s holding that Measure 26 imposes only a lesser burden on the circulation of initiative petitions. PRETE v. BRADBURY 1885
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.
Signature Gathering in Oregon Arno averred that Measure 26 would increase the cost of signature collection by 35-45 percent. Taylor similarly averred Measure 26 would increase the cost of gathering signatures in Oregon. Yet both Arno and Taylor based their predictions on the misapprehended fact that Measure 26 converted circulators from independent contractors into employees, resulting in increased payroll costs. As noted above, Oregon law recognizes petition circulators as employees, rather than independent contractors, notwithstanding Measure 26. Further, Arno and Taylor had little, if any, experience in initiative-petition circulation in Oregon before Measure 26 was passed. Arno testified he had worked on one initiative campaign in Oregon “around 1992,” but that campaign “ended up folding prior to turning in signatures.” Arno had not worked on any other initiative campaigns in Oregon. Similarly, Taylor testified that apart from an unrelated petition (Referendum Petition 401 placed on the November 2004 ballot), he had never worked on any initiative campaigns in Oregon before or after Measure 26 was passed. Thus, as noted by the district court, neither Arno nor Taylor could “offer a reli1888 PRETE v. BRADBURY able comparison on the added costs, if any, imposed by Measure 26.” Plaintiffs submitted several other affidavits which they contend support their claim that Measure 26 poses a severe burden by increasing costs. Jason Williams (one of the plaintiffs) averred he did not circulate an initiative petition “due in large part to the fact that the cost of circulating the petition, using paid signature gatherers, has increased significantly.” Yet Williams does not aver that Measure 26 is responsible for any such price increase. R. Russell Walker, chief petitioner for an unrelated initiative (initiative petition 59), averred that he did not circulate that petition “due in large part to the fact that the cost of circulating the petition, using paid signature gatherers, has increased significantly.” Similarly, he makes no averment that Measure 26 is to blame. The district court ultimately concluded “Measure 26 imposes no appreciable burden in terms of costs for an initiative or referendum campaign.”21 Implicit in this finding is the 21 In making that finding, the district court also looked to an affidavit by Ted Blaszak of Democracy Resources of Oregon, Inc., a signature gathering firm. The Blaszak affidavit was submitted by intervenor-defendants. Blaszak had run the signature gathering campaign for Measure 26, during which the petition circulators were paid by the hour, not per-signature. Blaszak averred that he had worked on about ten other initiative campaigns in Oregon, and “the requirement to pay employees by the hour rather than by the signature has not significantly increased my costs or decreased productivity.” As noted in Section I, although the district court erred in granting intervenor-defendants’ motion to intervene, that error was harmless. The Blaszak affidavit supports defendant’s position that Measure 26 does not increase the costs of initiative petition circulation, yet the district court largely found that plaintiffs, through their own offer of proof, did not prove that Measure 26 would impose such a burden. According to its amended opinion and order, the district court did not rely upon any other evidence submitted by intervenor-defendants. Thus, the district court’s consideration of the Blaszak affidavit does not make it more probable than not that the district court’s error in granting intervention tainted the verdict. Furthermore, there is no evidence that defendant would not have obtained and submitted the Blaszak affidavit if Nesbitt and the Oregon AFL-CIO had not intervened. PRETE v. BRADBURY 1889 conclusion that Measure 26 does not substantially increase the cost of initiative-petition circulation. This finding is supported by the record and is not clearly erroneous. 3. The Effect of Measure 26 On The Invalidity Rate of Signatures Gathered for Initiatives in Oregon Arno averred he “noticed a significant decrease in the number of valid signatures collected by signature gatherers since Measure 26 became law.” Taylor similarly averred he “discovered a disproportionate number of signatures to be invalid [in Oregon], as opposed to the validity rates I am encountering in Washington and Ohio [which states do not prohibit payment by signature].” Yet Taylor does not attribute the higher invalidity rate to Measure 26 or suggest any reason for the higher invalidity rate. He stated, however, that signature gatherers paid by the hour “have more of an incentive to defraud me [compared to signature gatherers paid per signature] because they know that regardless of whether I think the signatures are valid, the signature gatherer must still be paid an hourly wage.” As the district court noted, however, both Arno and Taylor testified they had limited to no experience in initiative and referendum processes in Oregon. Thus, their assertions that paying petition circulators by the hour, instead of per signature, results in higher signature invalidity rates carry little weight. Both Williams and Walker also averred Oregon had a higher signature invalidity rate post-Measure 26. Yet neither affiant attributed the higher invalidity rate directly to Measure 26. In contrast, defendant submitted an affidavit from Richard J. Ellis, Ph.D., a political science professor at Willamette University in Oregon. Ellis averred that “the available evidence— though limited—suggests that circulators paid by the hour also have a higher validity rate than those paid by the signature.” For example, in Oregon’s 2002 election year, Measure 1890 PRETE v. BRADBURY 26 (which used only circulators paid by the hour) had a signature validity rate of 73.43 percent, higher than the ten other initiative petitions submitted for that election. Ellis also states the overall signature validity rates have dropped in Oregon not because of Measure 26, but because a March 2000 directive by the Oregon Elections Division instructed county clerks (who confirm the validity of signatures on petitions) not to count initiative signatures by “inactive voters” (i.e., voters who have registered but have not voted in a certain number of past elections). Further, Referendum Petition 401, which was qualified for the February 2004 Oregon ballot, after the passage of Measure 26, had a signature validity rate of 84.55 percent. Arno, Taylor, and Williams were involved in the circulation and gathering of signatures for Referendum Petition 401. The high validity rate of the collection of signatures for Referendum Petition 401, conducted after the adoption of Measure 26, weighs against plaintiffs’ claim. The record, therefore, supports the district court’s conclusion that Measure 26 results in higher validity rates for signature collection, rather than lower validity rates. Therefore, the district court’s finding is not clearly erroneous. In sum, plaintiffs’ presentation of proof falls short here. The district court did not clearly err in finding that Measure 26 did not decrease the pool of petition circulators in Oregon; did not increase the costs of signature gathering; and did not result in a higher invalidity rate of signatures gathered for initiatives. We next review the district court’s determination that Measure 26 creates only a “lesser burden” on plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights. Because this question relates to a constitutional fact (i.e., what constitutes a “severe burden” or a “lesser burden”), we review the district court’s determination de novo. See Planned Parenthood, 290 F.3d at 1070. PRETE v. BRADBURY 1891 As noted supra, the district court did not clearly err in finding plaintiffs failed to prove Measure 26 resulted in any burden on their First Amendment rights. Unlike Meyer, plaintiffs did not prove that Measure 26 limited “the number of voices who will convey [plaintiffs’] message and the hours they can speak”; that Measure 26 “limits the size of the audience [plaintiffs’] can reach”; or that Measure 26 makes it “less likely that [plaintiffs] will garner the number of signatures necessary to place the matter on the ballot, thus limiting their ability to make the matter the focus of statewide discussion.” See Meyer, 486 U.S. at 423-24. Moreover, unlike Buckley, plaintiffs did not prove that Measure 26 significantly limits the available pool of people willing to circulate petitions or constrains petition circulators’ “political thought and expression.” See Buckley, 525 U.S. at 194-96. Of course, from an economic perspective, eliminating one method of payment (but not every method, a la Meyer) for petition circulators could result in some barriers to entry in the signature procurement market. For a task like signature gathering, it is possible that paying per signature (i.e., a commission basis) can be more productive of signatures than paying an hourly wage. Whether Measure 26 creates such barriers to entry, however, is a question of historical fact reviewed for clear error.22 Here, the district court did not clearly err in finding plaintiffs failed to prove the existence of such barriers to entry or that, if present, they diminished petition circulators’ ability to garner the requisite number of signatures to qualify initiatives for the ballot. Absent proof that such barriers to entry existed and had the claimed result, we are not left with a “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made” by the district court. See Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 346 n.14 (1992); SEC v. Rubera, 350 F.3d 1048, 1093 (9th Cir. 2003) (citing Easley v. Cromartie, 532 U.S. 234, 242 (2001)) 22 Whether the proven barriers, if any, constitute a severe or lesser burden is a question of constitutional fact reviewed de novo. See Planned Parenthood, 290 F.3d at 1070. 1892 PRETE v. BRADBURY (“Under the clearly erroneous standard, we defer to the lower court’s determination unless, based on the entire evidence, we are possessed of a ‘definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.’ ”).23 Moreover, even if such barriers to entry did arise, they would result in only a “lesser burden” under the First Amendment. Measure 26 is quite limited in its proscription, barring only payment of petition circulators on the basis of the number of signatures gathered. It does not prohibit adjusting salaries or paying bonuses according to validity rates or productivity, see Or. Admin. R. 165-014-0260, which could likely counter any barriers to entry. In the absence of proof that Measure 26 creates such barriers to entry or otherwise burdens their First Amendment rights, plaintiffs have established only that Measure 26 imposes “lesser burdens” upon the initiative process. Generally, the finding of a “lesser burden” triggers a “less exacting review” under which an “important regulatory interest[ ]” will support a finding that the measure is a “reasonable, nondiscriminatory restriction[ ].”24 See Bayless, 320 F.3d at 1007.25 23 “To be clearly erroneous, a decision must strike us as more than just maybe or probably wrong; it must . . . strike us as wrong with the force of a five-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.” Hayes v. Woodford, 301 F.3d 1054, 1067 n.8 (9th Cir. 2002) (citing Fisher v. Roe, 236 F.3d 906, 912 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Parts & Elec. Motors, Inc. v. Sterling Elec., Inc., 866 F.2d 228, 233 (7th Cir. 1988))). 24 “The ‘principal inquiry’ in determining whether a regulation is content-neutral or content-based ‘is whether the government has adopted the regulation because of agreement or disagreement with the message it conveys.’ ” Crawford v. Lungren, 96 F.3d 380, 384 (9th Cir. 1996) (quoting Turner Broadcasting Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622, 642 (1994)) (internal alterations omitted). “[L]aws that by their terms distinguish favored speech from disfavored speech on the basis of the ideas or views expressed are content-based.” Id. Here, Measure 26 does not regulate what can be said in an initiative or referendum petition, nor does it adopt or reject any particular subject that can be raised in a petition. It may be PRETE v. BRADBURY 1893