55,179: Did signature gatherers reach goal?

   (AN UPDATE ON THE FOLLOWING STORY:  State officials by mid-October determined that petition efforts to place Oregon's new gay rights laws on the November 2008 ballot have narrowly failed.  One petition fell 116 signatures short of the required 55,179 valid signatures, and the other fell 1,304 short.  Sponsors of the petition campaign say they are giving serious thought to a new petition effort that would require 82,000 valid signatures by next July to place the measures on next November's ballot.)

   As this issue of Christian News Northwest went to press, a last-minute flurry of activity preceded a day that was certainly clearly circled on the calendars of those seeking to halt Oregon’s new gay rights laws — Sept. 26.
     It was by that date that a coalition of Christian groups was to turn in to state officials the petitions they had circulated throughout much of the summer, seeking a November 2008 statewide vote to undo action taken earlier this year by the Legislature.
But whether the required number of valid signatures — 55,179 — was met would have to wait a few days for the judgment of the Secretary of State’s Office.
     The coalition — including the groups Concerned Oregonians and Defense of Marriage and Family Again — said the initiative try was needed because they see the two new gay rights laws an affront to the majority of Oregonians, particularly HB 2007, which they say ignores and rejects the will of the people of Oregon as clearly demonstrated in 2004 with Measure 36.
     In that 2004 vote, Oregonians by a 57 to 43 percent margin determined that marriage is between a man and woman only. Coalition members say that vote did not mean Oregonians were in favor of same-sex “civil unions” or “domestic partnerships.”

 In e-mails to initiative campaign supporters during the latter days of the signature drive, David Crowe of Concerned Oregonians noted what he described as a rising “tide of outrcy” from citizens around the state against the gay rights laws.
He said that:
• popular talk radio host Lars Larson and other radio hosts were decrying what the Legislature and Gov. Ted Kulongoski had done in passing the bills;
• Oregonians statewide were requesting petitions at an ever-increasing rate;
• national groups were sending e-mails to their Oregon lists to urge signing of the petitions;
• phone calls were being placed to tens of thousands of “pro-family” homes to promote the effort.
• many more churches were requesting petitions.
• a relay system was set up for hand-carrying petitions from throughout the state to the Portland area on the last weekend prior to the Sept. 26 deadline.
“As more and more Oregonians learn that the governor and Legislature passed bills creating marriage by another name and granted special rights, priviliges and protections to homosexuals, they have turned out in ever-increasing numbers to sign petitions 303 and 304,” said Crowe. “Our hope is that enough of them find out before it is too late.”
Opposition to the campaign garnered some attention in September. As reported by the Statesman-Journal newspaper in Salem, liberal activist Ellen Lowe, former executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, filed an elections complaint with the state last month against both Concerned Oregonians and Defense of Marriage and Family Again.
Lowe complained to the Oregon Elections Division that the groups were falsely promising donors that they could get a $50 state tax credit for donating to the campaigns. Lowe’s attorney, Margaret Olney, noted that Oregon’s political tax credits are not allowed for signature gathering efforts.
The complaint also accuses Concerned Oregon-ians of falsely claiming that it is sponsoring the initiative drive, when Defense of Marriage and Family Again is actually official sponsor.
The concerns expressed by Lowe and Olney were mirrored in a Sept. 6 letter sent to many church pastors statewide by Rev. Daniel Bryant, pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Eugene. In the letter, Bryant claimed the two initiative groups violated the law and misrepresented themelves to the public and to churches.
“It is especially important for churches to adhere to elections laws and to not associate with those who disregard them,” he wrote. In a Sept. 11 e-mail to supporters, Crowe termed Bryant’s letter a “stratagem to defame, delude and destroy” and said it “put forth lies and deceptions based on Olney’s assertions and allegations.” He did not elaborate.
Crowe also noted Bryant organized Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, an ecumenical group that he said “openly supports the ‘gay’ agenda.”
Mary Conley, chief of communications for the Secretary of State’s Office, told Christian News Northwest that it was somewhat unusual to have a complaint filed at this stage of an initiative effort. She said the complaint would be reviewed not only by her agency and by the Attorney General’s Office but also by the state Department of Revenue, since it involves taxation questions.
If the complaint is eventually deemed valid, appropriate penalties would be determined and applied against the initiative sponsors, she said. But the complaint would not prevent a proposed initiative from going to the ballot if the required number of petition signatures is met, she said.
“The complaint process would not stop the referendum from getting on the ballot, because the referendum process is all about the voice of the people,” Conley said. “If they express themselves by producing enough valid signatures by the date needed, then it goes on the ballot in November 2008 regardless of the nature of that complaint.”