American Dream

Lane County, Oregon (home of left-leaning Eugene) is running out of money. So naturally county commissioners authorized the expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars to "educate" voters about the need to vote for a tax increase this November. Under Oregon law, local governments are not allowed to "lobby" voters to vote for ballot measures, but the county thinks it can get away with this under the guise of "education." Since transit agencies in Austin, Denver, Salt Lake City, and elsewhere have used this same ploy to pass rail tax increases, it would behoove rail skeptics to support legislation tightening up the rules for how governments can lobby their voters.