As of this writing there are 143 Initiatives (on 3/5/08 there are 155) proposed for the November ballot. That means they are registered with the Secretary of State and are authorized to collect the signatures of 82,769 voters registered in Oregon. Only if they obtain the required number of signatures will they make it to the ballot.
Almost a third of those Initiatives carry the name of Bill Sizemore. They cover a range of subjects. I’ll summarize by saying that if you like George W. Bush and his administration, you’ll love Bill Sizemore. If you want more information, wander over to Orestar and get it from there.
Karl Rove was the campaign advisor to Dubya and much of the Republican Party for the past couple of decades. He knew how to rig elections. At the same time, Grover Norquist provided the present ideological identity of the party. Norquist is chief of the American Taxpayers Association, which holds a meeting every Wednesday to which representatives of the President, Vice President, other invited politicos and major neo-conservative media outlets plan their weekly political strategy
Norquist has obtained the signatures of a majority of governors and legislators at state and national levels to implement his plan – cut taxes at every opportunity, never raise any tax. The last GOP candidate for Oregon governor gave Grover his pledge, as have most GOP candidates. Grover says he doesn’t want to kill government, he just wants to shrink it down to where he can drag it into the bathroom and drown it. I’m not kidding – that’s very nearly a direct quote from the guy. Look him up in Wikipedia. Seems an odd variation on the theme of anarchy. Except I know they don’t really mean it. They’d give up the military? Their elaborate intelligence network? Come on, now. I don’t think they’ve thought through what they’re doing to the currency.
There are national media outlets that closely share Norquist’s vision, to whit Fox News, The Washington Times, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned respectively by Rupert Murdoch, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and Richard Mellon Scaife. Oregon doesn’t have a comparable outlet of its own, but the effect of these gentlemen are felt here.
The output of these entities are reproduced in local outlets, more often than not without verifying the legitimacy of the content. A case in point is the contest in the Democratic Party between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. On 3/2/08 a commentary by David Broder appeared, which for the first time in 16 years that I know of gave a balanced and fair appraisal of Hillary Clinton. Reserved and highly competent, would make a dandy president. Tough life forced her reserve, too bad she didn’t make it. Again, that was the first time she was something treated to something other than attacks. Many of the attacks have been not only without justification, but have been downright vile. There is history behind that.
Richard Mellon Scaife of Pittsburgh is the documented source of attacks on the Clintons that were fictional, solicited, and paid for through “The Arkansas Project”. Scaife paid to establish the group and published their output in his newspaper, The stories were picked up and carried all over the world, including the biggest and best American media outlets.
You remember the state cops who chauffeured the then governor around the whorehouses in Arkansas? Big news item at the time. Reported all over the world. Unquestioned by media. Trouble was, when cops check out vehicles, records are kept. When the records were checked the story didn’t hold up. The cops admitted they’d lied to collect handsome checks from The Arkansas Project, their story was designed to destroy the by then president.. The guys doing The Arkansas Project ripped Scaife off for three million bucks in the end (they are, after all, that kind of people). Not that the billionaire was seriously inconvenienced by losing a few coins. Scaife neither knew nor cared if the story was authentic. Neither did the rest of the media.
Same thing with Hillary’s involvement in Whitewater. She was an attorney of record on Whitewater documents, right? You read all about it. Trouble is, Hillary was a junior member of the firm. Scut work goes to junior members. Somebody had to insure that individual attorney’s time logs agreed with the billings that were sent out. Hillary checked the logs against the bills and signed off if they were in agreement. Bean counting, not a legal matter. But her signature appeared on every billable case the firm handled while she was there. That explanation of why her signature showed up on Whitewater documents showed up in the media? In an ABC interview that matter was discussed. Hillary’s explanation was cut from the broadcast.
Scaife is the root cause of the Clinton claim of a right wing conspiracy. They knew what was happening. Scaife really was as responsible as he could be and he meant to be just that.
The problem for the GOP is that Bill Clinton was a remarkably competent president. Nothing Newt Gingritch, Richard Mellon Scaife, The Reverend Moon, Fox News or the Republican Congress could do fazed him. He kept the peace, the nation sustained no major injury during his tenure, employment rose nicely, he left the economy and the national budget in glowing good health. Did he do all I’d wished? Absolutely not. Probably would have if he could have. He and his vice-president were good buddies. How is the opposition to handle all that? Attack, attack, attack.
Hillary, as far as I can tell is another competent Clinton, as the GOP is well aware. They’ve had her in the White House for 8 years, in the U.S. Senate nearly as long, they know her well. She frightens them very much. For reasons I don’t understand, the media has adopted the attitude of the GOP’s far right wing. I credit the single minded crusade of Scaife with remarkable success. So what’s a restless billionaire to do with all that wealth? Replace a Clinton with a Bush, that’s what. His money made a difference.
I’ve been talking about the Clintons and the hard right wing. I’ve not mentioned Barack Obama. This is not intended to be support of Hillary over Barack. I doubt if my opinions on the subject make any difference, by the time by vote is counted it may well be all over. I’ll settle for either with great good will toward both of them. The difference is that the GOP is not yet as frightened of Barack as they are of Hillary, and she is the one attacked, I think on unjustifiable grounds by the media. Barack will soon get his turn. The Swift Boat Veterans are sharpening their knives and waiting.
So we’ve got Loren Parks using his loot to direct matters in Oregon and Bill Sizemore that knows what to do with it. Will money succeed? Sizemore wants to guarantee that candidates independent of private control do not get on the ballot. Ever. We’ll find out in early November how successful he is. Sizemore can be counted on to keep doing this sort of thing as long as Parks will send the checks.
I have an excellent tool to use in deciding which way to vote on an Initiative. If Sizemore has his name on it I’m opposed to it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 8:13 am and is filed under Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.