X-Message-Number: 8306 Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 16:31:12 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Oregon update Abridged from the Portland Oregonian, June 10 BIG PURSE EXPECTED FOR ROUND TWO Supporters and opponents predict more money will be spent on the campaign than in l994 By Steve Suo SALEM.-Huge amounts of campaign cash from around the country are expected to flow into Oregon for round two of the fight over doctor-assisted suicide. "I think it's fair to say we will likely see new records for money being spent to defeat a law that has already been passed by the voters once," said Eli Stutsman, a lawyer for the supporters of l994's Measure 16. Robert Castagna, lobbyist for the Oregon Catholic Conference, which opposes assisted suicide, predicted the repeal campaign will draw even more money than in l994. "We'll both be better-funded because national public policy is potentially at stake," Castagna said. Opponents spent $1.5 million and supporters spent $600,000 in l994, including in-kind contributions. Assisted-suicide backers also spent $250,000 gathering signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. The Oregon Senate's vote Monday to return the issue to voters in the November 4 election sets up an even bigger battle. Anti-suicide activists have formed the Repeal Measure 16 Committee. The committee has hired a finance director, Brooke Bodney, who helped raise money for the Dole-Kemp presidential campaign last year. Bodney expects the campaign to be among the most expensive ballot measure efforts in Oregon history. That would put it in the league with the $4.9 million spent in l992 by Portland General Electric against measures to close the Trojan Nuclear Plan and the $4.8 million tobacco interests spent last year to kill a cigarette tax increase. "It will be a highly visible, highly aggressive and expensive campaign," Bodney said. "What happens in Oregon this November is going to set a precedent for what on ballots in l998 across the country." The committee has also hired a hard-hitting political consultant, Chuck Cavalier, who specializes in fighting assisted-suicide measures. Cavalier helped defeat California's Proposition 161 in l992 and played a smaller role in a Washington state campaign in l991. He also was a consultant to lobbyists who persuaded Australian lawmakers to repeal a suicide measure last year. In California, Cavalier said, early polling showed 74 percent of voters supported Proposition 161, which allowed assisted suicide. After Cavalier's television advertising campaign, the measure failed 54 percent to 46 percent. Measure l6 passed with 51 percent of the vote. "If anything, Measure 16 is more flawed than was Proposition 161 down in California," Cavalier said. The people who put Measure 16 on the ballot said their strategy won't focus on the merits of assisted suicide. That battle has been fought, they said. Instead, advocates will argue that the Legislature is ignoring voters' wishes in calling for repeal. At a news conference Monday they promised a separate ballot initiative next year requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to overturn or alter voter-approved initiatives. "If they are simply playing politics and they don't like the way Oregon voters voted, they will will be unlikely to get the two-thirds," said Barbara Coombs Lee, one of the Measure 16's co-sponsors. The l994 campaign offers a glimpse of what's in store this year. Coombs Lee's committee raised money from two key sources: about $185,000 from various Hemlock Society chapters and $57,000 from a group called USA Patients Rights. The rest was in small contributors from Florida to Hawaii. Contributions to the opposition included about $600,000 from Catholic diocese and Catholic hospitals in Oregon and elsewhere. Another $150,000 came from various Knights of Columbus chapters. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8306