Volunteers who backed Oregon tax referrenda sound off on their victory (and what was at stake)

The champagne corks were popping by 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, surprising even the most hopeful Lane County volunteers in the Vote Yes for Oregon campaign.

“I am so pleasantly surprised because we’d heard it would be close,” said James Jacobson, a member of the board of the Service Employees International Union local, which hosted a jubilant gathering for campaign volunteers at its 11th Avenue office Tuesday night. “I’m so happy, I’m crying.”

Jacobson, an office specialist in the University of Oregon’s early intervention department, either worked phone banks or canvassed neighborhoods eight of the past nine days, and plenty before that — an effort that earned him a “Phone Bank Champion” T-shirt. He was convinced the committed, grass-roots volunteer effort that spanned the state would pay off in the long run.

But state Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, who helped author the bills that became Tuesday’s tax-hike referenda as chairman of the House Revenue Committee, said the decisive victory also underscores Oregonians’ common sense and decency.

“Oregon voters, when presented with a clear and simple choice, don’t have any difficulty with it,” he said. “They’ve really shown their wisdom tonight.

...At the SEIU office, about 100 people came by, among them school teachers, home care providers, university professors, students, parents and union organizers. Public employee unions were the biggest spenders in the “yes” campaigns, none more so than the Oregon Education Association. The teachers’ union and its national affiliate contributed more than $2 million for TV and other ads, and its locals helped recruit scores of volunteers.

“As people get used to (the tax hikes), they will realize they’re not the monsters the ‘no’ side portrayed them as,” Barnhart said.

Joy Marshall, Lane County director of the advocacy group Stand for Children, said that, unlike previous failed tax measures, 66 and 67 resonated with voters — in part because they recognize more Oregonians are in need but also because of “the fairness issue.”

Barnhart told the crowd that the measures are a crucial step to fix what he described as a broken tax system and funding structure. “This is not the end of the process, this is the beginning of the turn,” he said.

LJ Denney, from Douglas County, was one of several home care providers who showed up. Not only were jobs at stake for her and her colleagues, but their clients — mostly frail and elderly — stood to lose the services they need to maintain a dignified existence in their own homes.

“They wouldn’t have any help for the simple things that most people take for granted,” she said.

Though she retired from her teaching job at Cascade Middle School last June, Donna DeForrest was one of the campaign’s many volunteers honored Tuesday for exceptional commitment. “I just felt I had to help my peers in the classroom, and the students who would be hurt,” she said....

...At the Oregon Election Station in Eugene, more than 20 anti-tax activists gathered to await voting results, but rapidly disbanded when the numbers came in. “It’s going to be a sad night for the Republicans,” said Hal Reed, a past chairman of the Lane County GOP.

More: http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24395502-57/tax-oregon-county-state-lane.csp

Woo-hoo! And a big thank you to all those great volunteers!

:dem: