EUGENE - Oregon Democrats went on record against a spending limit and a parental notification initiative Sunday, measures that a top Democrat says are being embraced by an “anti-government, anti-women's rights” Republican Party.

The more than 500 activists who attended this weekend's Oregon Democratic Party convention endorsed several pending initiatives as well, including ones to require the Legislature to provide universal health care and to expand a prescription drug assistance program.

The action capped a weekend in which delegates heard speeches from former presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and others who bashed the Republicans as the party that caters to the wealthy and privileged.

The state party's executive director, Neel Pender, continued with that theme Sunday as the delegates adopted official party stands on various initiatives that could wind up on this November's statewide ballot.

“In our endorsements, you can see Democrats standing up for Oregon families by supporting things like health care for all, and bringing down the cost of prescription drugs,” Pender said.

The Republicans, on the other hand, “are foot soldiers for out-of-state interests who want to decimate public education” by trying to clamp a tight new spending limit on government.

Further, he said, the GOP has shown it is “anti-women's rights” by supporting the pending initiative to require parents to be notified before a teen could have an abortion, a measure that opponents say is mainly aimed at limiting the availability of abortion.

The Oregon Republican Party already has endorsed the parental notification measure, and the party is likely to back the spending limit as well, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

But Amy Langdon, the state GOP's executive director, disputed Pender's assertions that those measures are anti-government and anti-women's rights.

The spending limit will promote more fiscal responsibility, she said, while the parental notification, she said, is “only about protecting teenagers and giving parents the right to know about a medical procedure.”

Langdon also noted the controversy that came up last week when Kulongoski suggested that Oregon's income tax “kicker” law be suspended so that the refund money that's due to go to taxpayers next year could be spent instead on schools and other programs.

“The Democrats want to talk about being more family friendly, but here the leader of their party has just called for keeping the kicker money away from taxpayers,” she said.

The Democrats, meanwhile, on Sunday also endorsed measures to require large corporations to divulge the share of taxes and expenses attributed to their Oregon operations and to require staffing levels to be increased at nursing homes.

However, the party went on record against other measures to require the state's 198 school districts to funnel at least 65 percent of their funding directly to the classroom and to impose limits on campaign contributions and expenditures.

Democrats also opposed measures to cut individuals' state income taxes by letting Oregonians use a version of federal exemptions on state tax returns and to require regional election of Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges.

Pender said it's likely the party will take positions on some other pending initiatives if they qualify for the November ballot.