By Beacon Editorial Board
Two very important ballot measures are coming up for voters in Oregon on Election Day (if you've forgotten, it's Tuesday, Nov. 6). The first, Measure 49, would fix Measure 37 from 2004, which would have made it practically impossible for governments at the local, regional and state levels to protect communities from overdevelopment and clear cutting of trees. The second, Measure 50, would add a tobacco tax to help provide health care to thousands of low-income children.
We strongly encourage voters to vote yes on Measures 49 and 50.
Measure 49
The Yes on 49 Campaign often tells voters to simply look at the ballot measure language: "'Yes' vote modifies Measure 37; clarifies private landowners' rights to build homes; extends rights to surviving spouses; limits large developments; protects farmlands, forestlands, groundwater supplies."
Voters who approved Measure 37 in 2004 bought into television ads of an elderly woman who said that current land-use laws didn't allow her to divide her land and give it to her sons. Measure 37 allowed landowners to file claims of financial loss if they couldn't build on their property.
Voters didn't know about the pitfalls of what could happen to Oregon should property owners have free-reign over what they wanted to do on their property. It's highly controversial in America to talk about what people can and can't do on their property. But you wouldn't want your neighbor to make methamphetamines in their kitchen.
If Measure 37 isn't fixed, there could be rampant and unchecked development throughout Oregon. This would add thousands more vehicles on already-clogged roads and highways, not to mention threaten natural wildlife and habitat.
There are currently more than 7,500 Measure 37 claims on more than 750,000 acres, worth more than $20 billion. It's no wonder that the major opponents of Measure 49 are major home developers and timber companies.
Measure 50
Despite what the ad agencies hired by big tobacco may try to have you believe, the heart of Measure 50 is that it funds health care. Well over 70 percent of the revenue generated by the new tax on cigarettes goes directly into the Healthy Kids Program.
Other funds go to equally important supplementary health care programs like tobacco education, safety net clinics and a rural health plan. Low-income adults will also benefit from the new measure. More than 10,000 people will benefit from the extended Oregon health plan benefits that the measure will fund.
The tobacco tax money will provide the funds necessary to furnish over 100,000 children in Oregon with needed healthcare. In order to try and stop this, the tobacco companies have spent $10 million in negative ads against the measure. Under the new tax, the price of cigarettes will increase by 84.5 cents, and the price of other tobacco products will increase by 30 percent.
You will not see any of these facts in negative advertising sponsored by the tobacco companies. Even the cleverest advertising firm cannot disguise naked greed when it stands in opposition to aiding public well-being.
