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Loren Parks bankrolls Ore. initiatives
Monday, August 04, 2008 | No comments posted.
SALEM (AP) — Nevada medical equipment millionaire Loren Parks donated more than half of the cash raised to gather petition signatures to qualify eight initiative measures for the Nov. 4 Oregon ballot.
He moved to Nevada after the 2002 election and from there keeps a low profile while supporting Oregon conservative candidates and causes.
He donated $839,606 to efforts by Kevin Mannix, Bill Sizemore and Russ Walker to qualify six of the eight initiatives, 52 percent of the $1.6 million raised by all of the organizing committees, according to the study group Democracy Reform Oregon.
That’s well short of the record $7.5 million raised for initiative signature-gathering in 2004, and the $4 million raised two years ago.
He contributed heavily in those elections but his contributions never surpassed 50 percent of the total until now.
“He is a mega-donor,” said Janice Thompson, the executive director of Democracy Reform Oregon. “It would seem that one element of a signature-gathering process is to demonstrate a broad range of support for a measure,” she said. “In terms of fundraising, that would mean more than one major donor per measure.”
When $559,334 in donations by Parks to initiatives that failed to make the 2008 ballot are counted, Parks total spending for the cycle tops $1.3 million.
Since 1983, Oregon has required chief sponsors to report contributions and spending in connection with qualifying their initiatives.
Sizemore said last month that, given Democratic governors and Democratic majorities in the Legislature, initiatives allow Republicans and conservatives to put their causes directly to voters.
Mannix, a lawyer and former legislator and gubernatorial candidate from Salem, is a chief sponsor of two of the qualifying initiatives for 2008. Sizemore, who splits his time between Klamath Falls and Clackamas County, and Walker, of Keizer, are joint sponsors of three.
Sizemore is a chief sponsor of two others.
Hire Calling Public Affairs, based in Klamath Falls, contributed $175,000 to one of Sizemore’s initiatives.
Its president is tied to the American Institute for Full Employment, a think tank based in Klamath Falls and founded by Dick Wendt, a co-founder and chairman of Jeld-Wen Inc., a manufacturer of doors and windows.
But Mannix, Sizemore and Walker aren’t tied to the measure with the most pre-campaign spending. That was $415,288 spent to change Oregon’s primary election.
Measure 65 would allow all voters in a primary to advance the top two finishers, regardless of party, to the general election.
The biggest contributor to that initiative was Brett Wilcox, president and CEO of Summit Power, at $60,000.
Among the chief advocates are two former secretaries of state, Democrat Phil Keisling and Republican Norma Paulus.
He moved to Nevada after the 2002 election and from there keeps a low profile while supporting Oregon conservative candidates and causes.
He donated $839,606 to efforts by Kevin Mannix, Bill Sizemore and Russ Walker to qualify six of the eight initiatives, 52 percent of the $1.6 million raised by all of the organizing committees, according to the study group Democracy Reform Oregon.
That’s well short of the record $7.5 million raised for initiative signature-gathering in 2004, and the $4 million raised two years ago.
He contributed heavily in those elections but his contributions never surpassed 50 percent of the total until now.
“He is a mega-donor,” said Janice Thompson, the executive director of Democracy Reform Oregon. “It would seem that one element of a signature-gathering process is to demonstrate a broad range of support for a measure,” she said. “In terms of fundraising, that would mean more than one major donor per measure.”
When $559,334 in donations by Parks to initiatives that failed to make the 2008 ballot are counted, Parks total spending for the cycle tops $1.3 million.
Since 1983, Oregon has required chief sponsors to report contributions and spending in connection with qualifying their initiatives.
Sizemore said last month that, given Democratic governors and Democratic majorities in the Legislature, initiatives allow Republicans and conservatives to put their causes directly to voters.
Mannix, a lawyer and former legislator and gubernatorial candidate from Salem, is a chief sponsor of two of the qualifying initiatives for 2008. Sizemore, who splits his time between Klamath Falls and Clackamas County, and Walker, of Keizer, are joint sponsors of three.
Sizemore is a chief sponsor of two others.
Hire Calling Public Affairs, based in Klamath Falls, contributed $175,000 to one of Sizemore’s initiatives.
Its president is tied to the American Institute for Full Employment, a think tank based in Klamath Falls and founded by Dick Wendt, a co-founder and chairman of Jeld-Wen Inc., a manufacturer of doors and windows.
But Mannix, Sizemore and Walker aren’t tied to the measure with the most pre-campaign spending. That was $415,288 spent to change Oregon’s primary election.
Measure 65 would allow all voters in a primary to advance the top two finishers, regardless of party, to the general election.
The biggest contributor to that initiative was Brett Wilcox, president and CEO of Summit Power, at $60,000.
Among the chief advocates are two former secretaries of state, Democrat Phil Keisling and Republican Norma Paulus.
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