Woodburn Independent Online

Time to bring state politics home?

Proposed initiative would require state legislators to vote from in their districts

• By: Amanda Newman  
• Published: 10/21/2009 11:23:16 AM

A proposed amendment to the Oregon Constitution, launched last week in the beginning stages of a voter initiative, would require state legislators to vote from home – that is, their home district.
 
Silverton mayor Stu Rasmussen began collecting signatures last week for the effort, which he says would “bring Oregon’s government into the 21st century.” With 1,000 signatures, the effort can qualify as a petition; Rasmussen hopes to collect the necessary signatures – 110,358 – by July 2010 to qualify his initiative for the November 2010 ballot.
 
The amendment, Rasmussen said, would bring “accessibility to government to everybody in Oregon, not just the people within an hour’s drive of Salem.” He said he has noted that the farther people live from the state capital, the less likely they are to be satisfied with the government.
 
“It seems like it’s a ‘good ole boys’ club and the only people they really listen to (are) lobbyists,” he said. “If your legislator was located in the district they were from, you would have a lot less trouble getting to them.”
 
Rasmussen explained that, especially toward the end of the session, legislative hearings can be scheduled with little more than an hour’s notice, making it difficult or impossible for constituents throughout most of the state to attend. Beyond requiring them to vote “while physically located at a publically-accessible place” in their home district, he wants legislators to switch to doing much of their official business from their local base.
 
This could easily be done through video conferencing, used similarly by corporations around the world, he said. Legislators could hold meetings, receive public input and vote through that method, which would have a couple of added benefits: it would make it easier to potentially implement a system for the Legislature to meet each year (it currently meets biennially) and would make serving in the Legislature a possibility for more people, such as those who can’t effectively move to Salem for the entirety of the session.
 
Rasmussen said he has met with the most resistance from existing lobbyists and politicians, but the idea seems to resonate with the general public. Although he admitted it would likely slow down the process of government at first, he thinks, in time, it could do the opposite.
 
“We already have in Oregon vote by mail, and that seems to work pretty well,” he said. “This seems a logical extension of that.”
 
For more information, visit www.oregonopenlegislature.org.

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