Publication Date
1-16-2009
Document Type
Report
Subjects
Urban policy -- Oregon -- Portland -- Periodicals, Portland (Or.) -- Politics and government -- Periodicals, Portland (Or.) -- Social conditions -- Periodicals
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/13945
Recommended Citation
City Club of Portland (Portland, Or.), "Bridging the Partisan Divide: A City Club Report on Reducing Excessive Partisanship in the Oregon Political System" (2009). City Club of Portland. 543.
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/13945
Notes
This report considers various electoral reforms that have been proposed, including nonpartisan elections, the top-two primary, instant run-off voting, multi-member districts and fusion voting; campaign finance reforms such as public ownership and financing of elections, campaign spending limits and contribution limits; and redistricting reform. For most of these proposed reforms, your committee concluded that there was not sufficient information to recommend for or against any proposed reform. Your committee concluded, however, that alternative elections systems are worth exploring and that the process of redistricting can be influenced by partisan considerations, giving the party in power at the time of redistricting a tool to increase its power in a way that does not accurately represent the wishes of the voters.
Your committee also concluded that a deterioration of legislators’ relationships with one another and an increased lack of civility have occurred in recent years. These in turn have adversely impacted the deliberative process of the Legislature.
Published in City Club of Portland Bulletin Vol. 91, No. 25