Voters slap down Sizemore, Mannix ballot measures

Legislative version of tough-on-crime measure and double-majority law repeal both are passing

By Nick Budnick

The Portland Tribune, Nov 4, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (8 Reader comments)

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With about 90 percent of the state’s votes counted, it looks like a handful of ballot measures proposed by two of the state’s most prolific initiative writers were defeated, or headed in that direction.

Thursday morning, as vote tallies began to pile up across the state, measures to limit bilingual education, change the way teachers are paid, deduct all federal taxes on state returns, changing building permit requirements, spend some lottery money on public safety and open the state’s primary election all were headed for defeat. Click here to see updated results.

Almost all of those measures were promoted by tax activist Bill Sizemore and former state legislator Kevin Mannix.

Notably, a Sizemore measure that could have changed the political playing field appears to be going down. Measure 64, which prohibited unions from using funds from payroll deductions for political activities, overnight lost what had been a significant lead – apparently staving off what would have been a heavy blow to one of the most powerful political lobbies in the state.

As Sizemore said Wednesday in a comment to the Portland Tribune: “It was the most important and most hotly contested measure on the ballot.”

While a legislatively backed crime measure won by a wide margin, the Mannix measure that sparked the legislative referral was narrowly losing.

Measure 61, spearheaded by Mannix, had promoted mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug and property crimes of as much as three years for a first-time offender. Measure 57 was referred to the ballot by state lawmakers in an attempt to present a more affordable alternative to drug and property crime sentencing. It promised to focus the toughest sentences on repeat offenders. In the end, buoyed by support from police chiefs and sheriffs, Measure 57 won decisively, while at 9:15 a.m. Measure 61 appeared to be losing by a few thousand votes – with some 40,000 Multnomah County votes yet to be tallied.

State Rep. Chip Shields, a Portland Democrat and vocal opponent of Measure 61, called the results “a clear repudiation of the one-size fits all sentencing schemes of Kevin Mannix and Loren Parks.”

“It’s a victory for those who feel you can both hold offenders accountable and provide effective treatment,” he added.

When interviewed Tuesday night, Mannix agreed that it appeared Measure 57 would emerge the victor over his measure. But he said, “In an absolute sense, 57 is progress.”

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