Liquor Privatization Campaign Draws Elections Complaint

Willamette Week:

It didn't take long for the boozy ballot initiatives backed by the Northwest Grocery Association and filed last week to generate an elections complaint.

Jesse Cornett, a political consultant who has previously editorialized on Blue Oregon against the grocers' goal of privatizing liquor sales, filed the elections complaint Dec. 20.

He says he twice heard signature gatherers say privatization would allow convenience stores to sell liquor. It would not.

"Hearing a canvasser solicit signatures based on information that is blatantly false is a violation [of election law]," Cornett wrote in his complaint.

Secretary of State spokesman Tony Green says the elections division has received Cornett's complaint and will investigate it.

Cornett's complaint is similar to elections complaints filed against the petitioners leading a ballot initiative to wrest control of public utilities from Portland City Hall.

In October, the state elections division warned the campaign to stop saying the initiative would halt the city from selling its water supply to Nestle Corp.

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