FRAUD : LEGAL HISTORY
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A Brief History of Fraud in Oregon's Initiative System
"There’s simply no way the local elections office can carefully check the signatures on hundreds of thousands of ballots in a short period of time. If the signatures were traced, they probably wouldn’t catch the forgeries anyway, even if they looked carefully at each one." —Bill Sizemore, NewsWithViews.com, April 2003
Bill Sizemore has shown repeatedly that his relationship with the law is as strained as is his relationship with the truth. Oregon courts have ruled that he and his groups engaged in forging signatures and falsifying financial documents in order to qualify initiatives for Oregon ballots. In the process, Sizemore has turned Oregon’s initiative process into a money-making scheme for his personal benefit. Here’s a look back at some of his most notorious achievements.
December 2000
Sizemore’s Oregon Taxpayers United is accused of racketeering, forgery and fraud related to political fundraising and signature gathering to get initiatives on the 2000 ballot in $2.25 million lawsuit. [Oregonian, Dec. 12, 2000]
September 2002
A Multnomah County Civil Court jury confirms that Sizemore’s Oregon Taxpayers United engaged in fraud, forgery and racketeering in the signature gathering process for the 2000 ballot.
The Oregonian chronicled key testimony in the trial, including that of Sizemore’s top aide, Becky Miller, who, according to the Oregonian, left her job “after becoming increasingly concerned about a number of questionable activities.”
In her testimony, Miller said Sizemore “used various steps to hide the identity of financial contributors, helped improperly funnel tax-deductible contributions to his initiative drives, and approved changes to documents to avoid problems with an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.” [Oregonian, Sept. 13, 2002]
“Huge amounts of money were being spent by Mr. Sizemore…I felt he was funneling money into his company for his own personal use…To me, it was highly unethical.” [Oregonian, Sept. 14, 2002 and from court transcripts of Becky Miller’s testimony]
Sizemore himself testified that he used company money for personal use.
May 2003
A Multnomah County judge orders Sizemore’s “Education Fund” to be shut down, declaring that “Bill Sizemore ran a sham charity,” and engaged in “extensive wrongdoing” including the fact that he “illegally used large tax-deductible donations” to fund a PAC.
In the 2002 trial, Becky Miller had testified as to the real use of the fund:
When the IRS audited the foundation and asked for minutes of the foundation's board, Miller said she was worried that the minutes were replete with discussions of political matters.
"It concerned me because they did not appear to be an educational foundation type of board meeting," she said. Miller said she found some old letterhead for the foundation and retyped the minutes to "take the political things out." [Oregonian, Sept. 13, 2002]
As part of the judge’s decision, Sizemore was barred from raising and spending money through his political action committees.
"Essentially, he manipulated and exploited these organizations for his own purposes . . .," LaBarre said. "The Sizemore organizations operated well outside the realm of what is expected of law-abiding organizations." [Oregonian, May 1, 2003]
October 2006
The Oregon Court of Appeals upholds the 2002 jury verdict against the OTU’s Education Foundation.
"This case is not about innocent participation in the initiative process; it is not about good-faith mistakes or errors of judgment in the course of such participation," said the majority opinion, written by Judge Rick Haselton.
"Rather, as pleaded -- and as ultimately found by the jury -- this case is about a calculated course of criminal conduct perpetrated for the express purpose of crippling, and even destroying, defendants' political opponents." [Statesman Journal, Oct. 5, 2006]
May 27, 2008
Sizemore is found in contempt of court for ignoring the 2003 injunction on political fundraising. That injunction prohibits Sizemore from putting money into any of his initiative efforts until his judgment is paid off. But Judge Janice Wilson ruled that he continued to move money around to pay for his initiatives, willfully violating the injunction.
[Oregonian, May 27, 2008]
July 3, 2008
The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously upholds a 2002 Multnomah County jury decision confirming Sizemore’s engagement in forging signatures and falsifying financial records in the process of gathering signatures to qualify initiatives for the 2000 ballot. [Oregonian, July 4, 2008]
July 17, 2008
The Secretary of State’s office begins investigating evidence showing that Sizemore’s signature gatherers forged or fraudulently gathered signatures to qualify measures for the November ballot. That evidence, collected by initiative watchdog group Our Oregon, could be passed on to the Department of Justice for prosecution. The signatures were gathered by Democracy Direct, who also gathered signatures for Kevin Mannix’s two measures. [Northwest Labor Press, August 1, 2008]
August 1, 2008
Despite the ongoing investigation of fraud, the Secretary of State’s office certifies five ballot measures sponsored by Bill Sizemore and two by Kevin Mannix, ensuring that—once again—Sizemore and company have been able to defraud their way to the ballot. [Oregonian, August 1, 2008]
October 2, 2008
A Multnomah County Court hears more evidence in another contempt case against Sizemore. This one centers on his use of a sham charity in Nevada to launder money to Sizemore.
2008
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Bill Sizemore photo by Northwest Labor Press
