BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Multiple reports say that initial sampling of signatures gathered for an initiative petition that aims to outlaw fishing and hunting in Oregon suggests IP 28 may come up short to make the fall ballot, though another review with a bigger batch of names is being performed.
Late this week, Willamette Week, KPTV and the Oregon Hunters Association are all reporting issues with signatures reviewed by the Secretary of State’s Office. IP 28 proponents need just over 82 percent of the 142,784 names they gathered to be valid to qualify for the November ballot, but a first test of a portion of those failed by a narrow margin.
According to the Week, the initiative’s chief proponent David Michelson told them that only 80 percent of 1,000 signatures checked out.
“The signature verification team has moved on to the second, larger sample,” Connor Radnovich, an SOS spokesman, told KPTV.
The Week reports that if that fails, IP 28 won’t go up for a vote, though an alert from OHA this afternoon says they expect challenges should that occur.
A total of 117,173 valid signatures are needed fo IP 28 to qualify for the November election.
As supporters neared that goal earlier this year, their effort received coverage in the New York Times, which interviewed a polling firm vice president who said it played into Republican hands, giving them a chance to say, “Look at those crazy Democrats being weirdos again.”
But in fact Oregon lawmakers from the left as well as the right have gone on record opposing IP 28, which would lift animal cruelty exemptions around lawful practices such as fishing, hunting, trapping, animal husbandry, the slaughter of livestock and poultry, rodeos and scientific research involving animals, as well as eliminate fishing and hunting licenses, according to an Oregon Secretary of State synopsis.
A Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association newsletter out today points out how the animal rights absolutists behind IP 28 also “are functionally derailing the very things they want to protect.”
“Anglers and hunters in Oregon are responsible, in large part, for funding the state’s conservation mission. Fishing and hunting licenses provide essential funding to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). The number of licenses sold triggers additional federal monies coming into the state,” wrote Trey Carskadon, NSIA vice president.
“Passage of IP 28 would defund ODFW and severely cripple the agency’s ability to deliver the necessary conservation measures to protect Oregon’s fish and wildlife resources. ODFW’s guiding mandate is conservation and that mandate guides the state’s efforts in managing fish and wildlife. And most of this occurs on the backs of Oregon’s anglers and hunters,” he added.
Among the sporting community, the Oregon Hunters Association has been at the forefront of fighting back against the ballot proposal and has a dedicated webpage with information on it.
