Sizemore Banned From Running Charities

Circuit Court Judge Janice Wilson has this afternoon issued an injunction against Bill Sizemore forbidding him from ever again managing or profiting from any charitable organization.

“This is an enormous win for justice today,” said Attorney General John Kroger, commenting on the ruling on the courthouse steps. “Nothing is more important than fair elections where people obey the rules.“

ATTORNEY GENERAL KROGER: NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN FAIR ELECTIONS…

Sizemore has taken tax-exempt charitable donations to his American Tax Research Foundation (ATRF) and used them to fund a series of election initiatives—a violation of the law covering 501c(3) charities, which have strict rules about political activity. Sizemore also used the money for his own personal use—buying a timeshare in Mexico, gold coins, a Pontiac, and braces for his daughter, among other purchases.

Wilson also left the door open this afternoon for Sizemore to appear at a deposition to justify the contents of the tax documents he filed with the court last December in order to purge himself of a contempt ruling and get out of jail.

SIZEMORE: Being led off to jail last December…

Wilson said much of the information in those documents, supposedly detailing how Sizemore made money for the ATRF, did not coincide with findings she had made, independently. Essentially, Wilson suggested that Sizemore might have lied, just to get out of jail—effectively inviting criminal charges against Sizemore, should the Attorney General’s office wish to pursue them.

“I don’t care to speculate at all about any prospective criminal ruling,” said Kroger. “From our perspective the case isn’t closed and as soon as we have something to report, we’ll report it.”

Judge Wilson also forbade injunctive relief for the ATRF to pay its attorney’s fees and to pay other bills in order to continue operating.

“It was created as a sham, it was run as a sham, and I don’t see any reason to authorize the release of money for it to continue to operate,” said Wilson.

SIZEMORE: WAS NOT IN COURT FOR THE RULING…

“No, I’m not completely surprised he didn’t want to face the music,” admitted Kroger, when asked about Sizemore’s absence.

This case is effectively catching up on Sizemore’s activities from 2006-7, but election watchdog group Our Oregon says there is reason to believe that Sizemore is continuing to use deceit to hide his activities from public view.

“Sizemore is right now ignoring repeated requests from the secretary of state’s office to file chief petitioner paperwork on eight petitions that he has submitted and is gathering signatures on,” says Scott Moore, spokesman for the group.

That means Sizemore still doesn’t have to file disclosure on his political contributions, where he’s getting them from, where he’s spending it, and so on. It also allows him to avoid taking responsibility for following the law.

“Once again Sizemore is hiding his activities from public view, and making a mockery of election laws that are designed to protect Oregonians,” says Moore.