QP Defeating M120 is a Win for the Oregon System

It’s election time! And the Oregonian editorial board sent a bouquet of sorts to our friends at “No Tax Oregon” when they recommended a “no” vote on Measure 120—Oregon’s $4 billion transportation tax.“The O” urged voters to “drive a stake through the heart of this cursed transportation package.” Which was music to the ears of a quarter-million volunteers who signed the “No Gas Tax” petition in a historic 38 days.The real story here is that Oregon voters get to vote at all on the tax hike—thanks to a pioneering form of democracy dubbed the “Oregon System”—giving voters the right to challenge Salem’s laws and put them on a statewide ballot.In the recent short session, however, lawmakers didn’t exactly celebrate that tradition. Instead, the Governor and union-backed legislators showed their disdain for these volunteers by moving the vote to May and suppressing their voice in the voters’ pamphlet. Those tactics only energized voters, raised the measure’s profile, and ensured its defeat.Lawmakers also managed to spark a new petition drive by passing a claw back of over $300 million in federal tax cuts for small business owners. That bill triggered the reflexive muscle of the same Oregon voters, who must again collect 100,000 signatures by June first. Defeating Measure 120 isn’t just a policy victory. It’s a win for the Oregon System.Read more at www.cascadepolicy.org