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0000017b-f971-ddf0-a17b-fd73f3950000Election coverage from SPR and the Northwest News Network:Statewide Election: WashingtonSpokane County ElectionStatewide Election: IdahoStatewide Election: OregonU.S. House and Senate

Big Bucks Pour In For Oregon Ballot Measure Campaigns

Matt Howry
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Flickr

Oregon’s ballot measure campaigns are continuing to pull in big-money donations.

Credit Matt Howry / Flickr
/
Flickr

The campaign to pass a recreational marijuana law similar to Washington’s got a big financial boost over the weekend. Even the less flashy top-two primary measure is rolling in out-of-state money.

The group behind the marijuana legalization measure has taken in more than $2 million. Much of that has been from a pair of East Coast advocacy groups. And it's allowed the Yes on 91 campaign to blanket the airwaves with ads.

Their newest one features a face that's perhaps more familiar to Washington voters: King County Sheriff John Urquhart.

"Strict regulations are working,” he says in the ad. “Here, it's really better already. It's your vote, not mine. But it's working here."

Another big money campaign is the one in support of a Top Two primary. It's raked in about $3 million. A good chunk of that has come from two out-of-state billionaires including former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Opponents of Measure 90 have raised a half-million, largely from public employee unions.

The leading ballot measure campaign in terms of funding continues to be Measure 92. It would require food manufacturers and retailers to label genetically engineered foods. The two sides have combined for a record-setting haul of more than $17 million.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.