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If you don't know Becky Miller, she's an editor at Preemptive Karma who seems to have had her sense of conservatism shaken by her experience working at length for the odious Bill Sizemore some years ago. Since quitting him for good, she has been a wealth of useful info on the way Sizemore conducts his affairs, and has more than stood her ground when challenged in response by the Sham Initiative King. As you might imagine for someone who has become so disillusioned, she is thrilled by Sizemore's jailing and the simply scathing ruling {pdf} issued Monday by Judge Janice Wilson--which includes a four-page appendix just of what Wilson sees as his serial mendacities (that means lies, folks. Untruths, fibs, deceits, obfuscations, hoodwinks. Lies.) Helpfully, Becky pulls some of the more salient sections and highlights them for the record in the interest of producing an online account. (I love that thinking; it highlights a key blogging advantage over trad-med: the opportunity to devote as much space as necessary to fully cover a topic.) I'll let you read the whole thing; it's worth it (but recognize you might get angry at what you read)--but here are the two excerpts I like best, the first of which gives you Wilson's bottom-line conclusion: In order to obfuscate the source of the money and his activities, Mr. Sizemore used various sham corporations including Initiative Resource Management (“IRM”), ATRF, CBS Consulting, Initiative Preservation Institute (“IPI”) and Oregon Taxpayers United (“OTU3”). He also used Democracy Direct in his ploys. Mr. Sizemore shifted the money path to make it more difficult for the plaintiffs to collect their judgments against him and to prevent the plaintiffs from learning that he was violating the injunction.
Much of this judgement rests on the idea that ATRF is a sham front organization that really doesn't do anything legitimate, and simply serves as a pass through for Parks/Wendt money. (And speaking of Wendt, read Becky's piece for a look at the mendacity described in HIS actions in funding Bill under table). Wilson seems pretty convinced there's no there, there: What did ATRF do during the first two years of its existence? Did it carry out its purported mission to “research and publish the fiscal impact of real and proposed ballot measures”? The only evidence of what ATRF accomplished is reflected in the printouts of the content of ATRF’s website as of November 6, 2007 and January 3, 2008. The earlier printout is the most probative because it reflects what ATRF was doing before the flurry of activity after plaintiffs started investigating it. Furthermore, most of the content added by January 3, 2008, concerns initiative processes in various states (not tax systems or the fiscal impact of ballot measures) and it is undisguised cut and paste - most of it from the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California School of Law. [Perhaps that organization ought to go after Sizemore for plagiarism?] Twenty-two months after ATRF was formed, and after it had spent over $1,000,000, its website contained almost no analysis of the fiscal impact of any real or proposed ballot measure. The website contained quite a bit of information about Oregon’s tax structure and its history, but provides a summary analysis of only one ballot measure by name or number – Measure 41, which was on the ballot in November 2006. That analysis, if it is not drawn completely from materials created in connection with the measure campaign, could have taken no more than a few hours to prepare.
Ouch, baby. Go read the whole thing. One other point I wanted to bring up, however: this was a civil contempt action. Yet Judge Wilson took the time to catalog four pages of deceit by Sizemore, including what appear to be statements under oath if I'm not mistaken. What opportunity (nay, responsibility!) arises for the Multno County DA to investigate perjury charges against Sizemore? Those are felonies, man. It could get a lot more serious than contempt and tax evasion for Bill. Pass the popcorn. (And to The O, who in today's op-ed soberly chided those of us remarking on Sizemore's jailing with glee: go suck an inkpot. We're giddy because FINALLY this asshole is getting what he deserves--serious legal rebuke. Unfortunately, today's op-eds are not yet online.) PS--be sure to check the comments too; Democracy Direct and Sizemore associate Tim Trickey gives a lengthy response to Becky's piece and some of her discussions of his role in the mess.
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