As if I don't know, since all the people behind this $hit have on their side is roughly 99% of the entire state MEDIA-both TV and printed.


http://www.oregonlive.com/elections/

Corporate media, Dave. Not "liberal." Not "conservative." Authoritarian.

I don't recall ever using "liberal". FOX news isn't 'conservative'. They're our enemy, too, other than John Gibson and Shepard Smith (who doersn't like smoking, but likes the nazis even less). But-Don't matter one iota, because....I just heard o the radio-IT WENT DOWN THE SHITTER!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't say you said "liberal." I just figured what I said needs to be repeated.

As for the rest... HIGH FIVE!

It went down 60%-40%. This is a BIG win in a 'progressive' state, folks!!

Measure 50 gets smoked
Voters defeat cigarette tax
LocalNewsDaily.com, Nov 6, 2007, Updated 9.8 hours ago (5 Reader comments)

A key legislative supporter of Measure 50, which was headed to defeat in the special election that ended Tuesday, says her plan to insure more children in Oregon will come back, but probably not until the 2009 legislative session.
State Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, who sponsored the bill that later became Measure 50, said Tuesday night that she was disappointed in the election results.
“Big tobacco is the big winner and kids in the state of Oregon are the big losers,” Monnes Anderson said. “The fight isn’t over. We definitely are going to look at what we can do to make sure that children in Oregon get the access to health care that they need.”
Measure 50, which was dubbed the Healthy Kids Plan, would have raised cigarette taxes by 84.5 cents per pack and used the proceeds to provide health coverage to more than 100,000 uninsured children.
However, opponents of the measure, led by tobacco companies that spent a record $12 million on the campaign, argued that the tax should not be placed in the Oregon Constitution and that it was unfair for smokers to be targeted to pay for a program that benefits others.
In early returns, Measure 50 was being rejected by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent, with 54 percent of the expected vote counted. The tax was passing in Multnomah County, but lost in most of the rest of the state.
Monnes Anderson does not anticpate the Legisture taking up the Healthy Kids plan in the 2008 special legislative session, but said it will have to wait until 2009.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=119441385738711400

this is good news voters rejected this tax increase.... humm almost makes ya wonder about those early poll percentages that stated that the majority were for an increase in tobacco taxes.. were the rAntis padding the results

I think it also sends a message to the rest of the nation that targeting smokers to pay for health insurance for others, pet projects of the states, and balanceing state budgets. those Voters who are against this tax are speaking up

As an Oregonian, I suspect that lawmakers realized too late they'd bitten off more than taxpayers would chew. Really, if it had passed, we'd have gone from the 18th highest state tax in the country to the 4th highest state tax on cigarettes. Next time around, I suspect they'll make the tax hike requests a bit smaller ... and spread them out over the years (eg., the "death of a thousand cuts" approach so voters don't notice it so easily).

I honestly believe that, if Measure 50 only called for a 5 cent or 10 cent tax hike, it would probably have passed.