05/28/2008

By WILLIAM McCALL  / Associated Press

Oregon political activist Bill Sizemore has been found in contempt of court after a judge ruled he ignored an injunction aimed at forcing him to pay a 2002 jury award.

A pair of teachers unions won a verdict now worth about $3.5 million against Sizemore after a jury determined the organization he founded, Oregon Taxpayers United, had engaged in racketeering, fraud and forgery during signature gathering for initiative petitions.

The Oregon Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-Oregon went back to court to claim that Sizemore transferred money out of his latest political organizations to pay for initiative campaigns despite a 2003 court injunction ordering him to pay off the jury award first.

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that Sizemore was not personally liable for the award. But a decision on a union appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court is pending.

Union officials said the Tuesday contempt ruling by Multnomah County Judge Janice Wilson will require Sizemore to pay the unions the same amount of money he transferred out of his organizations, plus legal costs.

"Once again, Bill Sizemore is reminded that he must follow the law — like any other Oregonian," said Gail Rasmussen, OEA vice president.

Sizemore, however, called the latest ruling "disappointing" and accused the unions and their supporters of trying to drive him out of Oregon politics.

"It violates my constitutional right to raise money and put measures on the ballot," Sizemore said.

The former candidate for governor has sponsored a number of measures since the 1990s, including a 1994 measure to scale back public employee pensions — including teachers — and a 1996 initiative capping property taxes, which also affected school funding.

He said his tax measures and other initiatives have made him a target of unions, especially the OEA, and they have waged an expensive legal battle "just to harass me and get me to quit."

But Richard Schwarz, executive director of AFT-Oregon, called Sizemore's initiatives "continued attempts to turn Oregon elections into his own private shell game."

Schwarz noted the unions filed another contempt claim against Sizemore in February, arguing he fraudulently used a sham charitable organization to funnel money into his political activities.

Sizemore "can no longer play fast and loose with court orders and Oregon law," Schwarz said.