Oregon Measures 66 & 67: The Lies In Our Mailboxes

by: JayinPortland

Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 13:29:42 PM PST

Do I know of the tax measures that will be on our ballots next month, she asks?  Why, sure I do.  But what I didn't know was - they'll kill my job!  Oh, that's right.  I don't have one at the moment.  But still, this sounds really scary!  Let's see, who is this person anyways?  Maybe I owe her a debt of gratitude!

Will Measures 66 & 67 kill Oregon jobs and farms, as Mrs. Leuthold claims?  Or is this yet another example of astroturf groups trying to trick voters?

I went on to look up who Carol is, since she's apparently so sincerely concerned about my neighbors and I.  Maybe she can be my friend, and we can meet up for a drink here in my SE Portland 'hood, probably at Hopworks down the street from my apartment one of these days!  But hey, wait...

Something seemed off though, just a little bit at first.  The first thing about the letter I noticed was the return address.  I says to myself, I says - "Self?  Small Tillamook dairy farmers don't graze cows in industrial sections of the City of Salem.  Let's see what this person is really about".

More below the fold...

The personality of the month profile for Carol Marie Leuthold has been removed by request of her family.

Gack!  I hope some meanies didn't unfairly attack my new friend Carol before we had the chance to share a Terminal Gravity IPA and watch our Ducks beat down Ohio State in the Rose Bowl?!

Oh, hey... wait a minute!  Why was her profile deleted?  Basic Rights Oregon gives us the answer -

This weekend, many Oregonians received a letter that claimed to be from an Oregon dairy farmer opposing Measures 66 & 67. This letter was both factually inaccurate and deeply misleading.  The letter claims "Smaller businesses like ours will be forced to lay off workers," but the truth is that Carol Marie Leuthold's business - like nearly every other farm in Oregon - will not be significantly affected by Measures 66 & 67. Leuthold's dairy is an LLC, thus the entirety of Leuthold's business tax burden under the new law will be $150 per year. Indeed, under Measure 67, 88% of businesses in the state will pay just $150.

There is little doubt Leuthold can afford $150 to preserve Oregon's vital services. Her profile on the Tillamook Cheese Fan Club states, "Leuthold and her husband, Dan, have a serious case of the travel bug. The couple has roamed around the world, including stops in Brazil, Italy, Germany and Alaska. They touch down in Switzerland, Dan's familial homeland, every four years or so. This past year ... Carol Marie flew to the South of France and Italy to take cooking classes."

Oh Carol, say it ain't so?!

I'm beginning to believe you're misleading us -

It looks like the opponents of Measures 66 and 67 have found their Dorothy English. Her name is Carol Marie Leuthold, and she and her husband Dan have a dairy farm in Tillamook.

Dorothy English, as you may remember, is the sweet little old lady who wanted to develop her farmland outside Portland but was prevented by Oregon's land use laws. She became the poster child for Measure 37, which gutted those laws. (Fortunately Oregon voters saw the light and later passed another measure that repaired most of 37's damage.)

Last weekend, a letter from Carol Leuthold appeared in Oregonians' mailboxes.

[...]

The letter goes on to ask recipients to vote no on 66 and 67 and thereby reject the modest increases in taxes on corporations and affluent individuals that the legislature passed.

A touching appeal from a poor, struggling farmer with manure on her boots and a battered old pickup out in the yard, right?

But The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes does a little further digging -

In an interview, Leuthold said her farm operation will face just one increase: a new minimum corporate tax of $150 a year on her family's farm partnership.

However, she said her family has enough income from other activities, which she declined to discuss, to be subject to the personal income increases levied on households with taxable income of more than $250,000 a year.

Oh, now I'm disappointed, Carol!  I thought we were dear friends?

Moore said it "doesn't appear the Leutholds are hurting financially" because they were able to travel internationally last year. According to a blog post from a Tillamook Dairy promotional web site, Carol Leuthold traveled in Italy and France to take cooking classes while her husband Dan went on a South African safari.

"There is nothing wrong with enjoying the benefits of working hard for 45 years," Leuthold responded.

Sure there isn't anything wrong with that!  Of course, there's also nothing wrong with asking you to contribute your fair share to making sure that Oregon continues to remain such a great place to live in, as well.  I'm beginning to believe you're not really acting in our best interests here, Carol?

Moore responded that the Oregon Bankers Association gave the largest single donation -- $100,000 -- to the opposition campaign. The association represents such major banks and credit card issuers as Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

Say it ain't so!

Many of you may have received a letter from Carol Marie Leuthold of Leuthold Dairy Farm on Saturday advising that you should vote No on Measures 66/67 to be on the January 26th ballot. It appears that the letter is a personal letter from her but if you read the bottom in very small print, it says, "I worked with Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes to share my thoughts with you in this letter." Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes is a front group for some of the largest business doing business in Oregon.

Like -

* AG PAC
   * Albany Area Chamber of Commerce
   * American Forest & Paper Association
   * Associated Builders & Contractors
   * Associated General Contractors - Oregon Columbia Chapter
   * Associated Oregon Industries
   * Associated Oregon Loggers, Inc
   * Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce
   * Bend Chamber of Commerce
   * Building Owners & Managers Association of Portland
   * Central Oregon Association of Realtors
   * Central Oregon Builders Association
   * Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce
   * Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce
   * Greater Hillsboro Area Chamber of Commerce
   * Home Builders Association of Marion & Polk Counties
   * Home Builders Association of Lane County
   * Home Builders Association of Metro Portland
   * Home Builders Association of Southwest Oregon
   * Independent Electrical Contractors
   * Klamath Basin Home Builders Association
   * Libertarian Party of Oregon
   * Manufactured Housing Communities of Oregon
   * Medford/Jackson County Chamber of Commerce
   * National Federation of Independent Business - NFIB Oregon
   * North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce
   * National Utility Contractors Association of Oregon & SW Washington
   * North Plains Chamber of Commerce
   * Northwest Food Processors Association
   * NUCA of Oregon & SW Washington
   * Oregon Association of Broadcasters
   * Oregon Association of Nurseries
   * Oregon Auto Dealers Association
   * Oregon Bankers Association
   * Oregon Beer & Wine Distributors Association
   * Oregon Business Council
   * Oregon Cattleman's Association
   * Oregon Dairy Farmers Association
   * Oregon Farm Bureau Federation
   * Oregon Financial Services Association
   * Oregon Forest Industries Council
   * Oregon Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association
   * Oregon Home Builders Association
   * Oregon Metals Industry Council
   * Oregon Optometric Physicians Association
   * Oregon Petroleum Association
   * Oregon Republican Party
   * Oregon Restaurant Association
   * Oregon Seed Council
   * Oregon Small Business Coalition
   * Oregon State Chamber of Commerce
   * Oregon Trucking Associations
   * Oregon Wheat Growers League
   * Oregonians for Food and Shelter
   * Pacific Printing and Imaging Association
   * Portland Business Alliance
   * Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce
   * Salem Area Chamber of Commerce
   * Silverton Chamber of Commerce
   * Umpqua Valley Home Builders Association

Carol, you got some 'splainin to do -

Indeed, nothing wrong at all with enjoying the benefits of hard work. But Leuthold is claiming in the Mapes piece that low dairy prices are forcing them to use money from other activities to pay for stuff for the farm. Clearly there's enough left over after for some nice vacations. It's tough to make the case that they're in a world of hurt over possible personal tax increases when one sees the entire Leuthold picture. They don't want to pay more to fund schools and police and roads because...it might put a dent in their ability to take a European vacation? So apparently we'd be killing jobs in Europe, not in Oregon.

I can live with that. I suspect most Oregonians can too.

I'm not really sure this would "kill" any jobs in Europe either, but I think we now know what Carol and her friends are clearly up to!

As if the legions of email spam I daily receive in my inboxes aren't enough, now we have to find our mailboxes stuffed full of dead trees full of lies encouraging my fellow Oregonians to cast votes in the interest of millionaire's European vacations at the expense of our children?  And here in one of the "leading" states in the nation when it comes to poverty and hunger?

We'll let local attorney, former Love Canal lead counsel and all-around awesome Oregon political activist Steve Novick (and not to mention a fellow native Newarker!) have the last word on the actual facts and legal aspects of the measures.  Which said piece also includes these interesting tidbits -

This letter came from tobacco lobbyist Mark Nelson and his sidekick Pat McCormick, who are running the opposition campaign. The return address is nowhere near the fields of Tillamook, but rather an abandoned mattress superstore in industrial Salem. The letters were hand-signed to look authentic, but all in different handwriting. (Good to see there are still job opportunities available for Sizemore's old signature gathering team.)

Heh!  The currently-under-indictment Bill Sizemore is always good fun for a nice kicking around or three, no?  :)

There is no actually no Leuthold Dairy Farm registered with the Secretary of State. There is a Wilsona Farms, LLC, under the Leuthold family name.

[...]

Incidentally, as far as farms are concerned, $150 is actually on the HIGH side in terms of taxes that will be owed under Measure 67. Overall, Oregon farms are disproportionately UNAFFECTED by the measure. 85% of farms are sole proprietorships and will be paying $0 (that's zero) under Measure 67. (See upcoming posts for more information on Measure 67 and farms.)

And...

[B]etween 2002 and 2006, the Leuthold farm took in $92,753 in Federal farm subsidies. Again, the Leuthold Saga illustrates one of our key points: We all benefit from the services that taxes make possible. However, most of us don't get to claim tax benefits and subsidies and, at the same time, travel to Europe and go on African safaris.

And...

As Chuck Sheketoff said the other day, Mark Nelson "can't find the poster child" for his fight against raising the $10 corporate minimum. So he's been reduced to trying to paint a wealthy globetrotter facing a $150 tax bill as a struggling farmer who will have to lay off employees. Nelson and his corporate backers know that they can't have an honest conversation with voters about the facts on these measures.  We knew that they couldn't. But even we are a bit surprised at just how brazenly they will lie about the impact of these measures.

I'll be thinking of you as I vote YES on Measures 66 & 67 in January, Carol.

Oh, and I'm not going to buy you a beer any more!