Are Public Employee Unions Buying Election?

ORP News Release:

In the political arena the old adage “follow the money” is usually sage advice. “In this Special Election, the proponent’s money trail leads exclusively to the public employee unions – the same unions who stand to benefit the most from these tax increases,” Oregon Republican Party Chairman Bob Tiernan said today.

As of January 8th, close to $4 million of advertising has been bought with funds from just four public employee unions – much of which has come from outside Oregon. With these contributions and influx of out-of-state money, the tax proponents have outspent the entire Oregon business community nearly two to one in advertising.

“Vote Yes for Oregon” Contribution History from ORESTAR (through January 8th):
Service Employees International Union………………………………………………. $866,000
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees………….. $1,000,000 
Oregon Education Association the National Education Association…………. $1,657,000 
American Federation of Teachers………………………………………………………. $250,000
Total public employee union contributions………………………………. $3,773,000

“Never have the beneficiaries of a huge government payday been so brazen in their efforts to influence an election,” Chairman Tiernan continued.

The two tax measures are estimated to raise about $733 million in new tax revenue. As much as 80% of the new tax dollars generated by the passage of Measures 66 and 67 will be needed to pay Oregon public employee salary increases and generous health care benefits. Nearly 40% of that amount is needed to pay the increase in salary and benefits for the current and newly hired state public employee union members.

“It’s clear that the proponents of these taxes are willing to go to any length to win this election, including distributing misleading and inaccurate information. However, one thing that is clear is the public employee unions spending millions of dollars trying to buy this election in the hopes of big payday if these taxes pass – at the expense of more Oregon jobs,” Chairman Tiernan concluded.