Access To Voter File Data Blocked On Phony Premise – Marijuana Legalization Initiative Group Plans To Sue Our Oregon
PORTLAND, Oct. 30 - The public employee union-backed group Our Oregon, chief supporters of Kate Brown, took extraordinary action last week trying to prevent a group’s mailing promoting Measure 80 and urging voters to go against Kate Brown for Secretary of State.
The action by Our Oregon was motivated by animus toward Bob Wolfe, the Progressive Party candidate for Secretary of State said today. It will also lead to litigation, because Our Oregon interfered in a contract Wolfe and his ballot measure group had with America Votes, a national voter-data provider.
“After watching Kate Brown silence voters’ voices by the tens of thousands, I can’t say I’m surprised to see what her union buddies did to me,” Wolfe said. “They tried to prevent me from getting a message out to Democratic voters and others. I am glad to report that they failed.”
The action by Our Oregon came late last week, as Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement (CSLE), a petition committee of which Bob Wolfe is a director, sought to put out a mailer. The final step was ordering voter lists. Once Wolfe requested the lists, to which his group is fully entitled by a contract with America Votes, Our Oregon stepped in and quashed the request, then terminated Wolfe’s and CSLE’s data access. Our Oregon is a much larger client and political ally of the America Votes group and was able to wield influence over Wolfe’s contract.
“Our Oregon is so afraid of anyone telling the whole truth about Kate Brown that they maliciously broke our contract in hopes of preventing a mailer from going out,” Wolfe said. “I’ve got news for them. They’ll be paying for this breach of contract, and the mailer has already been sent.”
The CSLE mailer (attached) has a dual purpose: Urging marijuana supporters, Democratic voters and minor-party voters to support Measure 80, a marijuana legalization measure, and to provide information on the race for Secretary of State.
CSLE was founded to promote a different legalization measure (IP-24), so the Measure 80 stance is consistent with the group’s mission. On the Secretary of State race, the mailer lists all candidates for the office, urging voters to go against Kate Brown and pick from the alternatives. The mailer is not sponsored by Wolfe’s campaign for secretary of state, and does not even list him first among the alternative candidates.
Wolfe said, “Our Oregon invented a false premise, that I was ordering these voter lists to promote my campaign for Secretary of State. In fact, the mailing was a legitimate get-out-the-vote mailer pertaining to Measure 80, paid for by CSLE. When my lawyer offered to get them the facts, they ignored us. We’ll be getting back our fees and damages in litigation.”
