Help End Oregon's Death Tax
Sign the Petition Today

Oregon Republicans,

We all know that the Oregon estate tax is harmful to the Oregon economy, property owners including: ranchers and farmers, and family owned businesses.

Since 2001, 29 states have repealed their death taxes. Even California no longer has a death tax. Oregon voters will support ending this tax because they recognize it is an unfair double tax. It is especially burdensome because it is imposed right after a family member has died – a time when families are facing tremendous difficulty.

We have the opportunity to repeal the Oregon death tax by citizen initiative. You can download your e-petition at http://endoregondeathtax.com. Just click “download the petition”, print the petition, sign it, and mail it in.

The Death Tax Phase-Out Initiative would phase out the existing Oregon estate tax, reducing the tax in 25% increments over the course of three years. As of January 1, 2016, the tax is zero.

In addition, the initiative forbids any new tax on any property transfer among living family members. It also phases out the capital gains tax on property sales within a family.

We encourage your support with this initiative. Volunteer petition circulation packets are also available. If you would like to circulate petitions, or contribute to the cause, please send an email to info@endoregondeathtax.com.

Thank you for your help with this important initiative!

OFFICIAL ORP NEWS RELEASE
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 – 06:00 PDT

Twisted Interpretation by Kate Brown Wreaks Last-minute Election Havoc

Lake Oswego, OR – “It is shocking and unfortunate that Secretary of State Kate Brown is playing politics with the election process,” said Oregon Republican Party Chair Allen Alley. Brown made an abrupt, late decision to interpret a 2009 statute, which resulted in moving the election for Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries from the May 2012 Primary Election to the November 2012 General Election.

As late as March 19th, the Secretary of State’s own website designated the race as a May Primary Election contest. Candidates who had clearly filed for the primary race weeks and months in advance were blindsided by her sudden, last-minute announcement.

“Brown’s interpretation twists the legislation’s intent and bears the stink of political
corruption. This is just another example of the public union machine controlling politics in Oregon with Chicago-style tactics,” said Chairman Alley.

The 2009 statute clearly intended to change the year this office was elected to the same year as the Governor’s race. It was not intended to change the month in which the election was held. Nothing in the statute does away with the longstanding precedent of holding the non-partisan contest in the May Primary election, which is required to send two nominees on to the General election, if more than two candidates filed.

“What is Brown afraid of – a fair race? Are her union backers so worried about losing this race in May,” asked Alley, “that they are willing to corrupt the entire election process?

“All Oregonians should stand shoulder to shoulder with Republicans against this clear perversion of our state’s election process. Enough is enough with politically motivated stunts aimed at skewing election results. And the Secretary of State, who is tasked with overseeing our elections for fairness and equity, should be especially criticized for this violation of the public’s trust and dereliction of duty.”

A complaint has been formally filed in Marion County Circuit Court to review Brown’s decision.

“Oregonians should demand nothing less than a fair, impartial election process,” concluded Chairman Alley.

For Immediate Release
Thursday March 15th, 2012 - 10:00 AM PDT

ORP CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES CANCELLATION 
OF OREGON REPUBLICAN DEBATE

Portland, OR – Oregon Republican Party  Chairman Allen announced today that the Oregon Republican Presidential Debate has been cancelled because commitments were not received by all candidates.

“At this point in the race, there has been a shift in the flow of the campaigns from the debate environment to a strategic state-by-state approach,” said Chairman Alley. “It is clear that the Republican Presidential Campaign has entered a new phase where the candidates do not want to debate each other,” Chairman Alley continued.

Two previously scheduled debates were also cancelled in the last month, one in Atlanta and the other at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

"We greatly value the partnership between Oregon Public Broadcasting, The Washington Times, along with PBS, NPR and a wide variety of broadcast partners, which would have broadcast this Debate worldwide.  We hope to work together with these superb partners at sometime in the future,” Chairman Alley concluded.

For Immediate Release
Tuesday March 13th, 2012 - 3:00 PM PST

PLANS MOVE FORWARD FOR THE MARCH 19TH
OREGON REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Portland, OR – Despite the news that Governor Mitt Romney has declined to participate in the Oregon Presidential Primary Debate, the Oregon Republican Party announced today that it is prepared to move forward with the debate between the three remaining candidates: Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Gingrich has accepted the invitation.  Organizers are awaiting final confirmation from the Santorum and Paul campaigns.

The Oregon Republican Party believes that the timing and the format of this debate will provide valuable insight to the American public.

“By now voters know a little about each of the candidates,” says ORP Chairman Allen Alley. “We want to give American voters an opportunity to hear more in-depth, thoughtful answers from the candidates about where they stand on critical issues facing our nation.”

PBS and NPR will air the debate live, broadcasting it throughout the country on public television and radio stations. Video of the debate will stream live on pbs.org and npr.org.  In addition, the live feed will be made available to Armed Forces Radio and TV, Voice of America and the PBS UK Channel. The debate will be closed captioned in English and in Spanish and a Spanish language translation will broadcast on a secondary audio channel.

PBS NewsHour’s Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez and The Washington Times Chief Political Correspondent Ralph Z. Hallow will moderate the 90-minute debate, which will take place in OPB’s studio at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) on Monday March 19th.

Chairman Alley is available for additional comments and interviews.  Please contact the Oregon Republican Party at (503) 595-8881.

OFFICIAL ORP NEWS RELEASE
Thursday March 8th, 2012 – 5:00 PM

Kate Brown Picks And Chooses Which Laws To Follow

Lake Oswego, OR – Secretary of State Kate Brown explained in a press release today that she is bound by the letter of Oregon Statutory language when it comes to the Republican “Freedom Primary,” even though that language was written for polling place elections.  So why is she ignoring other statutory language intended for the polling era?

Brown said that the letter of Oregon Statute requires her office to mail postcards to 400,000 Oregon non-affiliated voters, which they then return to the Secretary of State if they wish to vote in the Republican primary election. This requirement is an artifact of a polling place election, where a non-affiliated voter at a polling place would request the ballot of the party that has opened its primary to non-affiliated voters.

In a vote-by-mail world, it makes no sense to require voters to request the ballot. it would be virtually costless to simply print the Republican candidates on the ballot that the non-affiliated voters receive in the primary election.

Secretary of State Brown says she cannot ignore the letter of Oregon Statute. Why then is she doing just that in another example of outdated election law – the requirement that all unused ballots are destroyed at 8:00 PM on election day?

“It is the height of hypocrisy,” said Allen Alley, Chairman of the Republican Party. “Kate Brown feels free to ignore one statute when it conflicts with a vote-by-mail system, yet she insists on adhering to the letter of another statute even when doing so results in a waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

“We’re just asking for consistency,” Alley said. ”You don’t get to pick and choose which laws you follow.”

Republicans supported a bill in the last session, HB 4174, that would have solved both issues. It had bipartisan support, including from Kate Brown.  Rep. Tina Kotek, Co-Chair of the House Rules Committee, blocked the bill and refused to allow the Rules Committee to vote on it.

“It’s pretty clear that the Democrats didn’t want to do anything that would make the it easier for non-affiliated voters to vote in the Republican Freedom Primary,” said Rep. Matt Wingard, a Republican who serves on the Rules Committee. “It’s bad enough that this kind of hyper-partisan game playing happens at all, but when it wastes hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, it is just shameful.”