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Wood Village casino initiative fails... |
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Wood Village casino initiative fails...
One of two initiatives that would allow a gambling casino at the defunct Multnomah Kennel Club in Wood Village failed to gather enough valid signatures to get on the November ballot, the Oregon secretary of state's office announced Tuesday.
The initiative would have provided an exemption from Oregon's constitutional ban on casinos. Without the exemption, the proposed casino -- which backers say would generate $147 million for state programs annually -- is dead in the water. At least for now.
Initiative sponsors became convinced that there had been a mistake in the verification process after Democracy Resources, a petitioning firm they paid to help gather signatures, reviewed the results from the verification process, said Matt Rossman, a chief petitioner. Sponsors plan to file a lawsuit to force Secretary of State Kate Brown to reassess the signature sheets.
A second measure that sets the stage for the casino qualified for the ballot, but just barely, getting 96 more signatures than the requirement. It authorizes a casino in Multnomah County and allocates 25 percent of the monthly revenue to school districts and counties.
But without the initial constitutional exemption, a casino can't be built. The exemption initiative fell short by 5,729 names.
"We were encouraged by the fact that we turned in more than 300,000 signatures for Oregonians that wanted jobs and money for schools," Rossman said. "We will continue to fight."
For the exemption initiative, 61 percent of the 172,136 signatures turned in were valid -- the second lowest validity rate of any petition in the past decade. The average rate is 73 percent.
Moe Szyslak, the fictional bartender from "The Simpsons" TV show, turned up on one petition sheet. So did Satan, said Brown's spokesman Don Hamilton. He said the secretary of state's office took extra care when checking the signatures.
The state uses a statistical method to check validity and does not look at every signature.
This process of verifying signatures is new at the secretary of state's office, Rossman said, "and it needs to be challenged in order to protect Oregonians' rights." Casino supporters are going to look for alternative ways to pass the constitutional amendment, while continuing to campaign for the measure that passed, he said.
Critics worry that the casino could take money away from state coffers by diverting customers from the state-run lottery, which gives at least 84 percent of its revenue to the public. If the initiatives passed, it would also be devastating for Native American tribes' casinos, said Justin Martin, a lobbyist for the Oregon Tribal Gaming Alliance. Tribes are allowed to operate casinos in Oregon.
The casino initiatives started gathering signatures in May, long after many other initiatives began. They had investors who helped pay for a lot of signatures to be gathered quickly, and received more than $2 million in contributions.
The failure of the initiative "proves that folks attempting to buy their way in the Oregon Constitution are not going to be successful," Martin said. Six initiatives turned in signatures to the secretary of state, and two others have made it on the ballot.
One other initiative didn't make the ballot, and its sponsors filed a lawsuit against the secretary of state as well. Backers of the initiative, which would have put retired judges in charge of legislative redistricting, claimed the rules regulating signature disqualification are unfair. Their lawsuit was denied Tuesday. The deadline for validating signatures for the remaining initiatives is Sunday. Until then, the verified signature counts are considered unofficial and could be amended if the casino petitioners win the lawsuit. |
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