LAURITS HARVEY NANCE might ask you to sign an initiative
petition over the coming weeks. One of the initiatives he’s touting,
called the Oregon Crimefighting Act, pushes for harsher sentences for
felony sex offenders. The irony? Nance was himself convicted of felony
sodomy in the first degree in 1990—a conviction for anal or oral
sex, either forcibly or with a child under 12. In this case, the victim
was Nance’s daughter, who was under 12 at the time, according to court
records.
“I know what he did,” says Nance’s employer, Ross Day—a
right-wing lawyer running Salem-based petitioning firm Voice of the
Electorate. “We have had extensive discussions with Mr. Nance and
others. He has paid his debt to society. I feel comfortable with that,
and I am willing to give him a second chance.
“It’s just pathetic that Our Oregon has released this information,”
continues Day, referring to the nonprofit that released the background
information on Nance and 18 other signature gatherers with criminal
histories who are also working for him, last week. “They’re scared to
debate the issues, so they’re going to go after these hard-working
folks.”
Day set up Voice of the Electorate recently along with two
nonprofits operating under the shared name of Common Sense for Oregon,
with his ally, former right-wing gubernatorial candidate Kevin Mannix.
Common Sense for Oregon has already filed 14 initiatives for possible
consideration by Oregon voters next November, and Voice of the
Electorate is also collecting signatures to force a January referendum
on two tax hikes recently passed by the legislature—one aimed at
big corporations, the other at people earning more than $250,000 a
year.
Day and Mannix told the Oregonian earlier this month that
they want to restore people’s trust in the initiative system, following
documented cases of signature fraud, and the jailing of Oregon’s
best-known initiative racketeer, Bill Sizemore.
Researchers at Our Oregon—a union-backed nonprofit that has
focused on defeating right-wing initiative measures over recent
years—say Day and Mannix may have set up a new company, but that
20 of their 40 signature gatherers worked for Sizemore. Eighteen of the
circulators have criminal histories, 12 have multiple arrests, seven
have theft convictions, two are convicted forgers, two, including
Nance, are registered sex offenders, and there’s even a serial
recidivist stalker on the list.
“If Mannix and Day are really talking this up as a new era for the
initiative system, why would they send people with such troubling
criminal histories out to gather Oregonians’ personal information?”
says Scott Moore, a spokesman for the group and former Mercury news editor. “Oregon has the third highest unemployment in the country,
and yet they couldn’t find 40 signature gatherers who weren’t
registered sex offenders or free of criminal convictions?”
Despite Day’s objections, Moore insists that the signature
gatherers’ background information is in the public interest.
Meanwhile Blue Oregon blogger Carla Axtman posted mugshots of some
of the signature gatherers online last week, and says she has since
been accused of “Karl Rove tactics” for doing so. “But Karl Rove makes
stuff up,” she says. “This is all true, and it’s publicly available
information.”
So what does Blue Oregon suggest convicted criminals do once they’re out of prison? Stand in a corral so we can express our contempt as we pass by? How dare they hold a clipboard and stand outside earning money! It’s really hard to imagine employment for these people that would be less controversial than this. Blue Oregon should stick to educating people on how shitty the initiatives are and the backgrounds and motivations of the people behind them. Demonizing the signature collectors is cheap, mean and petty.
This pretty much disqualifies Blue Oregon from ever hiring anyone with a conviction. What does that say about their attitude toward rehabilitation for those who, for whatever reason, have been caught up in the criminal justice system and are trying to re-integrate themselves into society?
The whole thing smacks of desperation.
My apologies to Blue Oregon. Make that Our Oregon. (Not my Oregon).
Blue Oregon was involved after all, after another re-read. Okay, screw them too.
stryrofoamcup: Yes, they need jobs. No question. Maybe they’d better integrate into society if instead of spending a long time in prison they could get treatment and training or something. (I mean, signature gathering isn’t exactly skilled labor.) In any case, I’m almost positive that the worst thing we could do to these people is to lock them up in jail for even longer. Yet if you read the 4th sentence of the story, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO DO! This isn’t about Ross Day giving these guys a second chance, Ross Day’s true motives are to lock these people up for even longer!
Maybe you should read the story again.
Beat up on the ridiculous initiatives themselves, not the signature gatherers. Picking on these people just makes the already strong side look weak, desperate and mean.
Understand, that in several of the cases we’re talking about people convicted of FORGERY, and IDENTITY THEFT. They may have done their jail time, but ask yourself if you’re really comfortable with giving them your personal information or trusting that the signatures they turn in are valid. There are plenty of jobs which they could work that don’t carry the same risks, and to imply that this is beating up on the poor ex-cons, rather than a legitimate concern about personal safety and the legitimacy of our legislative process is ridiculous.