News Bill Sizemore, the anti-tax, anti-public employee union ballot measure specialist, has declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In his filing on April 9, Sizemore listed assets of $10,796 and liabilities of $21 million. Those liabilities are the result of civil lawsuits the Oregon Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers won against him. Sizemore, 61, was the Republican nominee for governor ...   More

News Tax activist and conservative initiative sponsor Bill Sizemore swore all along he would never, ever admit to the criminal tax evasion that he was charged with by the state of Oregon back in 2009. He'd paid his taxes, Sizemore said. He'd just never filed his returns. And just last week, Sizemore told WW he was going to fight the charges to the end.Well, this was Sizemore after all, who is nothing if ...   More

News Look for some unhappy Portland Democrats after today's announcement that PGE Park will be renamed Jeld-Wen Field when the Timbers begin play in Major League Soccer.Not because there's any great sentiment for PGE, the state's largest utility and a subsidiary of Enron when it hung its name on the old Civic Stadium a decade ago.But rather because of the political activities of Jeld-Wen's founder, the ...   More

News OK, 2012 is a long way off. But for Oregon political junkies suffering from withdrawal after the November elections, here are two initiatives Secretary of State Kate Brown has green-lighted to begin gathering signatures. (The primary requirements for circulating petitions are 1,000 valid signatures and an approved ballot title.) The first, Initiative 3, "No Public Resources To Collect Political ...   More

Election 2010 ...   More

News As I wrote earlier this week, initiative maven Bill Sizemore is trying to fight back against the unions and politicos whose continued pursuit of him landed him in Multnomah County Jail this week on contempt charges. Here's the lawsuit (PDF) he filed last week against his foes in Marion County Court. He says he will file another next week—although not in Multnomah County, where he hasn't ...   More

News The looming ballot fight over permanent increases in Oregon's income tax for the wealthiest state residents — and in the minimum tax paid by Oregon corporations — was a big topic this morning when Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber appeared at a Portland Business Alliance forum. The ex-governor was careful to begin his tax remarks by saying he was not going to back ...   More

News Well, we confess we sure didn't see this one coming: Former Oregon Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Sizemore filed today to run in the 2010 gubernatorial primary for governor. More in a bit. UPDATED: Sizemore told WW in an interview this afternoon that his goal in running again (He lost badly in 1998 as the Republican nominee to John Kitzhaber, then running as the incumbent Democrat) ...   More

News A week after he announced he would seek the 2010 GOP gubernatiorial nomination, Bill Sizemore was indicted today on charges that he failed to file income tax returns. Here are the particulars from Attorney General John Kroger's office: ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN KROGER ANNOUNCES TAX EVASION PROSECUTION Oregon Attorney General John Kroger today announced that the Oregon Department of Justice has ...   More

News Ballot initiative-king Bill Sizemore is running for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination in Oregon. But Multnomah County Judge Janice Wilson's ruling forbidding him from raising or spending money for political purposes has hamstrung his campaign. But in a motion [PDF] he filed today in Multnomah County Court, Sizemore is aiming to leverage a federal ruling last week to free himself from Wilson's ...   More