SALEM, Ore. -- It's a cherished Oregon tradition -- citizens banding together to gather signatures to place proposed laws on the ballot. Assisted suicide, vote-by-mail elections and property tax limits are just a few of the laws enacted directly by voters over the years.

The century-old initiative and referendum system has been used more widely in Oregon than most other states, but it will be the target of increased scrutiny and possible new constraints in the coming year.

Legislators and some of the state's top elected officials say the initiative system's reputation has been tainted by well-heeled people using the system to promote their own agendas, and by allegations of abuse and fraud.

Among those leading the charge for tougher oversight are Oregon Secretary of State-elect Kate Brown and Oregon Attorney General-elect John Kroger.

"You've got two new sheriffs in town," Brown said. "Working together, we want to send a very strong message that fraud will not be tolerated."

She said, for example, that she might seek authority to have the secretary of state's office -- not the 36 county clerks -- check signatures to make sure they are valid and were properly collected by petition carriers.

The Oregon initiative and referendum system was created by voters in 1902. It was touted as a way for common citizens to overcome the influence that railroads and mining companies had over the Legislature and to enact or block laws directly.

But the Nov. 4 election, in which Oregonians voted on eight initiative measures, was far from a grass-roots exercise.

Spending on Oregon initiative campaigns hit $20 million, with public employee unions kicking in $14 million to defeat measures sponsored by conservative initiative authors Bill Sizemore and Kevin Mannix.

The largest individual contributor was reclusive Nevada millionaire Loren Parks, who spent $2 million in support of the Sizemore and Mannix proposals.

This year's initiative campaign also was marked by allegations by a union-funded watchdog group that some signatures on initiative petitions circulated by conservative activists were forged. Those allegations are still under a state investigation.

And earlier this month, Sizemore -- Oregon's most prolific initiative promoter -- was jailed for a night after a judge found him in contempt of a 2003 injunction that blocked him from using charitable organizations to raise money for political purposes.

Some of the state's top political leaders say those developments have tarnished what was once seen as a shining example of Oregon's populist tradition of direct action democracy.

Oregon House Speaker-elect Dave Hunt said the 2009 Legislature will look at various proposals, including one to increase the signature requirements to make it more difficult for well-funded individuals or groups to place proposed laws on the statewide ballot. The signature requirements would stay the same for all volunteer initiative efforts, he said.

"We need to seize control of the citizen initiative process from wealthy interests and give it back to Oregon citizens," Hunt said.

There's no doubt that Oregonians are fond of their initiative system -- they have voted on nearly 350 initiative measures since 1902.

Mannix, a former state lawmaker and Republican gubernatorial candidate who had two initiatives on this year's ballot, is suspicious about the motives of Hunt and others who want to tighten laws dealing with initiatives.

"These are political elites who think they know better than the people" and who want to limit citizens' rights to directly enact laws, Mannix said.

"The reality is, there is very limited wrongdoing. And when it is unearthed, it is prosecuted," Mannix said.

Political scientist Bill Lunch said the initiative system has become more dominated by monied special interests mainly because they're the ones who can afford to pay petition gatherers -- a practice that's been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lunch worries, though, that the initiative system has left the state with expensive and often conflicting policies. In recent years, voters have endorsed measures that have forced the state to spend more money on such things as prison construction without offering a way to pay the costs.

Kroger, who will be sworn in as Oregon's attorney general Jan. 5, said he wants to work with the secretary of state's office to ensure that whatever initiatives end up on the ballot get there with properly collected, valid signatures.

"Oregon's ballot measure system is extraordinarily important because it really determines the direction of Oregon government to a profound degree," Kroger said. "Oregonians need to be 100 percent confident that the law is not being violated."