Trio Of Ballot Measures Offer 'Technical Fixes' To Constitution

ELECTIONS 

By Chris Lehman

Salem, OR  April 21, 2008 4:23 p.m.

Ballot measures in Oregon are often fiercely debated, with millions of dollars poured into ad campaigns on issues such as land use or gay marriage.  But the three measures on the ballot in next month’s primary are barely registering a blip on the political radar.  Salem correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

Measures 51, 52, and 53 are all intended to clean up the unintended consequences caused by previous ballot measures.  They were all placed on the ballot by the 2007 Legislature.

Let’s take them one at a time.  Actually, let’s take the first two together, since they both have to do with crime victims.

Steve Doell:  “This is a milestone.  There’s no doubt about it.”

That’s Steve Doell of Oregon-based Crime Victims United.  He says Measures 51 and 52 both put some teeth into a pair of victims’ rights measures that first passed in 1999.

Specifically, they allow crime victims to appeal judges rulings in order to gain access to certain court records, and have the right to be present at critical stages in the trial.

Steve Doell: "There’s always going to be work to be done around the issue of crime victim’s rights.  But this is definitely a milestone in fulfilling the ultimate goal of making sure that we have an even playing field in the criminal justice system.”

The third measure on the ballot is Measure 53.  It would give police departments the power to confiscate more property as a result of criminal activity.

Those powers were curtailed after a 2000 ballot measure known as the Oregon Property Protection Act. That passed by a whopping margin amid stories of private property wrongfully seized by law enforcement agencies. But by severely limiting property forfeiture, drug dealers were effectively allowed to keep the money they made from anything they weren’t specifically convicted of.

Rob Bovett of the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Association helped lobby the legislature to give voters the chance to pass what’s basically a do-over.

Rob Bovett:  “Sometimes when we pass these initiative measures we have to do some clean-up because they don’t work quite right, or they create unintended consequences.”

No one has filed opposing arguments to any of the measures on the May ballot.

Supporters aren’t mounting much of a campaign either.  They’re hoping voters will approve what are being called a series of technical fixes.

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