Tim Trickey getting tricky with subcontractors?

As noted earlier today, Sleazy Sizemore has another of his initiatives on the ballot for the Fall.

In all the brouhaha surrounding the initiative making it to the ballot, I erred in not reading things more closely.

Sizemore used Tim Trickey's Democracy Direct to gather up his signatures. DD in turn subcontracted out the work to other companies--turning the signature gathering process into a messy maze of almost-impossible-to-follow events. No doubt this was done deliberately to thwart Measure 26, including an especially slimy pay-by-the-signature scheme with homeless people in Portland.

A close look at the contract reveals a clause that appears to allow DD to worm out of paying the subcontractors:

Section1.2: The validity rate of the aggregate of signatures turned in to DDI by (name withheld) must not fall below 70%.

IP 14 achieved a 65.9% validity rate.

Sizemore's other initiative that's made the fall ballot is IP23, which 66.3% signature validity rate.

It looks to me like Trickey gets to keep his money..and a bunch of subcontractors who were probably violating Measure 26 aren't going to get paid.

Republican signature gathering firms get the smack from Oregon Justice

Two of the more notorious ballot initiative signature gathering firms are in serious trouble with the Oregon Justice Department:

In filings in Marion County Circuit Court, the department said Timothy R. Trickey, president of Democracy Direct Inc., and Brian Platt, head of B&P Campaign Management Inc., have failed to comply with subpoenas for their records that were issued in December.

The subpoenas, issued by the Elections Division of Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's office, sought payroll and other records relating to signature-gathering in support of four proposed ballot measures for the Nov. 7 general election ballot. The Elections Division seeks to determine if the men paid their employees by the signature, a violation of state law.

We reported on this story a couple of days ago in association with a report on the TABOR proposal for Oregon. It seems to be heating up.

I know as I've been going over the reams of campaign expenditure sheets for the various rightwing initiatives that have passed, B&P's name has popped up. They're very cozy with Bill Sizemore, Russ Walker, Don McIntyre and the rest of the Flintstones hoping to push Oregon back to the Stone Age.

In the process of gathering background information for how these winger initiative people work, it's not terribly shocking to me that the individuals in hot water with Justice are arrogant enough to not turn over their information subpeonaed by Justice:

In a telephone interview Monday, Trickey said he did not produce all of the documents because U.S. Supreme Court rulings and other legal precedents limit what information the secretary of state is entitled to in such an investigation.

He said the subpoena sought all of his financial records and every petition signature sheet that had been submitted to his firm. "Those are two areas where I think there was a little overreaching on (the state's) behalf," he said

Wow. Trickey is just smug enough to believe that he's above the law. Its as if he's expecting Scalia, Thomas, Robers and Alito to come rushing to his aid. Earth to Tim Trickey: You don't get to make the decision about which subpeonaed items to turn over to the Oregon Department of Justice. Enjoy that contempt of court citation.

Brian Platt plays the whiney, crybaby angle:

Platt is a well-known signature gatherer in Oregon. He said the people he hires "are consistently going to try to screw me over," but he denied paying any of his employees by the signature.

It can't have anything to do with the fact that Brian's company was trying to dock pay for signature gatherers who didn't make the 6 sigs per hour minimum, right?

This is what passes for conservative public process in Oregon politics.

Sweet Jesus I hate Bill Sizemore

Traditionally, ballot measures in Oregon that are tilted toward the conservative have tended to bring out conservative voters. This cycle I'm not convinced that will be the case.

The mood of the nation in general and Oregon specifically has worn thin against conservatism. While there are still some hardcore advocates who will always consider government to be "wasteful" or "bloated, Oregonians have watched the state budget slashed for years. I remain skeptical that the current slew of potential conservative measures will draw conservatives to the polls.

If anything it seems now like the opposite might be true. The same old crowd of same tired ideas keeps coming back again and again. Sizemore, McIntire, Ross Williams, David Hunnicut, Loren Parks..etc. I think the citizenry is wise to their scams now. It seems logical that this knowledge will draw out more voters on the left--and discourage moderate conservatives.

I believe Bill Sizemore thinks that the public is wise to him as well. That's why the smell of desperation permeates his commentary in today's Oregonian:

Tim Nesbitt and Ellen Lowe have sold Oregonians a bill of goods. Their 2002 ballot measure that banned in Oregon the nationwide practice of paying petition circulators by the signature has not "cleaned up" the initiative process as promised ("Assuring the integrity of the initiative process," July 17). In fact, it has had the opposite effect.

Before Measure 26, when initiative sponsors were allowed to pay circulators by the signature, Oregon had a small problem with petition signature forgeries. During a typical election cycle, two or three forgers would be caught; the other 99 percent of petition circulators played by the rules. Professional circulators knew that they would be blackballed if they were caught forging signatures -- their careers would be over.

Measure 26, on the other hand, has attracted a whole new breed of petition circulators. During this election cycle, nearly 20 signature forgers have been caught and turned in. That's approximately 10 times more forgers than when petition sponsors were allowed to hire professionals who were paid by the signature and had reputations to maintain.

That's one theory--gotta give Bill that. But not an especially plausible one.

The more likely scenario is that since M26 passed, there are more groups out there paying attention to signature gatherers and looking for violations.

There's nothing keeping professional circulators from gathering signatures right now. The difference is that they're required to be paid by the hour. If its true that they'd be blackballed for forgery, why shouldn't the same be true if they violate other laws in Oregon?

Or perhaps are some laws just so unimportant to Sizemore that flouting them doesn't really matter?

Oregonians should know that the U.S. Supreme Court has stated unequivocally that there is a First Amendment right to pay petition circulators. States cannot prohibit that right. And why should they? There is nothing inherently corrupting about paying signature gatherers. Newspaper editors are paid to write editorials. Ministers are paid to prepare and deliver sermons. Does that mean we should doubt the sincerity of their words? Since when does getting paid to do your job corrupt you?

Since Measure 26 doesn't prohibit paying signature gatherers, this paragraph is irrelevant to any reasonable point. But any keen observer of Sizemore knows that he's nothing if not a big fat kettle of red herrings.

But frankly, Measure 26 was not placed on the ballot to clean up the initiative process. That's not what it was really about. Measure 26 was a ploy by public employee unions to make it more difficult for conservatives to put measures on the ballot. Tim Nesbitt's claim that he was trying to clean up the process is almost laughable. If that were the goal, it would have been wiser to demand serious jail time for forgers. But there was no mention of that in Measure 26. Even today, after the measure has been shown to be a failure, its supporters are demanding punishment for initiative sponsors, not signature forgers. Could their motivation be more transparent?

Oh those boogeymen public employee unions! I don't know how Sizemore has managed to get his money laundering, scheming and various other dirty deeds done. Those public employee unions have made it so darned difficult!

The punishment for forging signatures on ballot petitions is up to a maximum of $125,000 fine and/or 5 years in jail. I believe that's for each infraction. So its clearly not a cakewalk when a forger is caught and prosecuted.

And whining about the fact the chief petitioners are responsible for the people that they hire to gather their signatures is very fourth grade. These people are trying to get new laws passed in Oregon. The least they can do is take responsibility for their workers.

This year, those of us sponsoring conservative measures caught and turned in nearly 20 people for forging signatures on petition sheets. If history is any indicator, not one of these cheats will do any time in jail. That's the real problem. There are no consequences for forging signatures. (Incidentally, the petitioners you actually saw on the street likely were not the forgers. The forgers were probably off in some dark corner somewhere.)

See that part in bold? That's an OUTRIGHT LIE. I called the Secretary of State's office and checked. And I listed the consequences: $125,000/5 years jail time-for each infraction.

Measure 26 has not deterred petition forgery, and it has not increased the validity rates of initiative petitions. But it has succeeded in greatly increasing the cost of placing a measure on the ballot. Given all of that, Measure 26 has been a dismal failure for the people of Oregon and a booming success for the public employee unions that sponsored it.

Indeed. Measure 26 hasn't fixed the problems with initiative petitions completely. Not yet. But then Sizemore hasn't been following the law and now the Secretary of State's office is investigating petitions--so that may very well change.

Rome wasn't built in a day, Bill. And if you had your way Oregon would be at your mercy while you sucked the state dry and padded your bank account with all that money coming in from out of state ideologues who try to use Oregon as their political petri dish.

Measure 26 is here to stay. Get used to it.

Update: Scott at the Merc's blog has discovered that Bill in fact had a convicted forger working on his initiative petition--likely a la Democracy Direct/Tim Trickey.

Gee..we have a law against forging signatures on ballot petitions in Oregon. But it hasn't stopped people like Trickey/Sizemore from hiring convicted forgers to circulate their petitions..so therefore forgery law is useless and expensive, so we should get rid of it. Right, Bill?

The Oregonian shovels BS our way--and it stinks

I read through yesterday's Oregon writeup on the M26 petioners press conference and wondered if the writer and I had been to the same event.

The piece starts out badly and goes downhill in a hurry:

Our Oregon, a largely union-backed coalition of liberal groups, held a news conference in Portland to unveil the details of complaints it has filed against the sponsors of nine petitions. The group accused the sponsors of violating Measure 26, the 2002 state constitutional amendment that outlawed the practice of paying signature gatherers based on the number of signatures they obtain.

"The integrity of our initiative process is being threatened," said Tim Nesbitt, a former president of the Oregon AFL-CIO and one of the sponsors of Measure 26.

The press conference was held by the chief petioners of Measure 26. That was made clear by those who spoke and by the press kit each attendee received. Those same people are the ones that filed the complaints with the Secretary of State. Our Oregon facilitated the press conference--that was their role in its entirety, according to Tim Nesbitt (who I spoke with yesterday to clarify on this).

Is it too much to ask for the newspaper of record in this state to get the basic facts of a major news story correct?

The story isn't a complete mess. There are some tidbits that manage to be accurate:

Last week, John Lindback, director of the Elections Division in Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's office, warned the sponsors of initiative petitions to comply with Measure 26 and told them that they could be held responsible for the actions of their signature gatherers. He criticized Arno Political Consultants, a California company that is gathering signatures for several conservative-backed initiatives.

On Tuesday, Lindback released a letter from Steven Churchwell, a lawyer for Arno, who said the firm was discontinuing a bonus system that Lindback had questioned and would revise a portion of its employee handbook that Lindback had said could easily be interpreted as a pay-by-the-signature scheme.

Our Oregon's complaints probably will have little or no effect on the November ballot. Lindback said the investigation is likely to stretch beyond Nov. 7.

3 whole paragraphs with only one major fuckup! Woo-hoo!

The last paragraph should read "The Measure 26 chief petitioner's complaints probably will have..." Other than that, its excellent. The individuals using Arno--the entity that seems to be causing the greatest share of this dustup have been warned by the SOS. So claiming ignorance on this isn't going to fly.

Another bright spot:

In the four years since Measure 26 was approved by voters, one civil penalty has been imposed for violations. There are also potential criminal penalties for violations that have never been invoked. But Lindback said there are no provisions in Oregon law to remove a qualified initiative from the ballot regardless of the methods used to get it on the ballot.

This is an important point. There is very little in the way of punitive motivation for petitioners to follow this law. If they pay their workers by the signature--they can be fined. But as long as the signatures are valid they're still counted toward making it on the ballot.

The Oregonian piece then rolls down an inexplicable hill of disaster by capturing quotes from petitioners whose initiatives are a part of the complaint. As if getting a quote from Tim Trickey, who is under investigation with the SOS for possible nefarious conduct with signature gathering is an authoritative person from which to gather quotes. But nowhere is there any "on the street" investigation of the signature gatherers to determine if the complaints may have any validity.

How hard is it to schlep down to the Multnomah County Library or Pioneer Square to check on the signature gatherers? Jeez.

Convicted forger starting signature gathering company?

Isn't this kind of like a convicted child molester starting a daycare?

Craig's List:

Reply to: gmoser@takeinitiativeoregon.us

Date: 2007-01-26, 10:20AM PST

We still have a few positions open for circulators. The position(s) entails working directly with the public using the petition process to get various issues on the ballots for November 2008. You will be working outdoors so being used to Oregon weather is a plus.

Our organization is not affiliated with any political party. We simply want to make a difference and allow all Oregonians to vote on the ideas that the people of this state are proposing. This is a perfect position for a student or someone seeking a part time or second job (full time hours are available). You make your own hours and
work where you want. No experience is required and training will be provided.

Requirements for applicants:

- Cheerful disposition

- A genuine belief in making change through the petitioning processes afforded to the citizens of Oregon

- Ability to communicate given issues clearly and honestly

- Be able to follow simple directions and rules

- Clean appearance

Compensation ranges from minimum
wage to twenty plus dollars an hour and paychecks are given every two weeks. If
this position interests you please call (503)317-0201 or email us at
gmoser@takeinitiativeoregon.us
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take Initiative Oregon LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Criminal background
checks will possibly be run, but most convictions will not automatically
disqualify you (we believe in second and even third chances).

gmoser is Greg Moser, aka Ronald Phillips who has numerous convictions including forgery and felony identity theft.

Moser has previously associated himself in Oregon with Sizemore compadre Tim Trickey. Moser allegedly carried petitions previously for the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" spending cap, term limits, Sizemore's insurance/credit initiative and an eminent domain ban.

In other words he tends to gravitate toward the winger petition stuff.

Initiative reform is one of the issues that the Oregon Legislature is tackling this session. In fact this Wednesday provisions will be discussed which would ban forgers and ID thieves from circulating peitions for five years.

Speak Arabic? Got your affairs in order?

If you can answer "yes" to both of those subject headline questions, then Pena Solution might have a gig for you:

Pena Solution is accepting resumes while this is under construction. You can apply for the following positions: Arabic Linguist categories I,II, and III for Centcom contract in Iraq, System Adminstrators for Iraq, Registered Nurses and Radiologist Positions for stateside locations.

Interested parties should submit their resume to penasolutions@yahoo.com, apparently.

I discovered this job opening while perusing the Portland job listings on Craig's List. That's where I've previously seen Tim Trickey pimping his wares.

It's fairly disconcerting that the US military (after 4 years of occuping Iraq) can't figure out how to train enough Arabic translators to conduct meetings for CENTCOM. We apparently have to farm out this out to civilians. Lovely.

I'm curious about how much of our tax dollars are going to the salaries of these contractors--and how much oversight is actually conducted over their activities and spending.

Perhaps if the Bush Administration wasn't so busy trying to weed out the gays from the military, we might have enough translators in the military to get the job done.