Citizen panel gears up to review ballot measure claims

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon voters get bombarded every two years with dramatic claims and counter-claims over the latest crop of ballot measures. Now, a panel of citizens is coming to the rescue.

The state Legislature last year voted to keep and expand an experiment with hiring average voters to cut through the drama and offer an objective view of ballot measures. The new 24-member Citizens' Initiative Review Commission held its first meeting Wednesday in Portland.

It's too early to know which initiatives will collect enough signatures before next month's deadline to qualify for the ballot, but officials said there will probably be enough money for two of them to get an exhaustive review. The citizens' analysis will go into the voter pamphlet mailed to all electors.

"I'm excited to be involved with it, because it's a sophisticated effort to deal with the challenges of informing the electorate," said Jim Huffman, one of four people appointed to a bipartisan panel that oversees the process. Huffman, a Republican, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden in 2010.

The citizen review process was tried twice before — informally in 2008 and with the Legislature's temporary blessing in 2010. State lawmakers decided last year to keep it around indefinitely, but they provided no state funds. Instead, donors and foundations pay the bill of roughly $100,000 per initiative reviewed.

The Citizens' Initiative Review Commission will create the rules that regulate the system and determine which ballot measures get a review, but the analysis will be done by panels of citizens staged to match the demographics and partisan makeup of the electorate.

The 24 citizens will meet for a week and hear extensive arguments from advocates on either side of a ballot measure, as well independent experts. They'll then craft a recommendation for the rest of the electorate based on their in-depth analysis. Participants will be paid $150 for their service.

The goal is to "elevate the debate," said Tyrone Reitman, director of Healthy Democracy, an organization that has lobbied for the concept and is likely to be heavily involved in planning and facilitating the review sessions.

A number of initiatives are on track to qualify for the ballot this year. They include proposals to ban gillnet fishing, legalize marijuana, eliminate the corporate "kicker" tax law, prohibit real estate transfer taxes and authorize non-tribal casinos.

Proponents say the citizens panels are providing a valuable service, but not everyone's convinced.

"I think the jury is still out on whether it has any effect on the way that voters make decisions about initiatives," said Scott Moore, spokesman for Our Oregon, a liberal group that's heavily involved in ballot measure campaigns.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.