By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
In the wake of a ruling last month disqualifying anti-hunting Initiative Petition 28 from appearing on the November ballot in Oregon, gubernatorial candidate Sen. Christine Drazan, a Canby Republican, has proposed a state constitutional amendment to protect hunting and fishing in the state.
If the proposed amendment is approved for the November 2028 ballot, measures like IP28 would be dead-on-arrival.
Northwest Sportsman magazine is reporting that if IP28 had been added to this fall’s ballot, and was passed, “it would have lifted animal cruelty exemptions around lawful practices such as fishing, hunting, trapping, animal husbandry, the slaughter of livestock and poultry, rodeos and scientific research involving animals, as well as eliminated fishing and hunting licenses. It would not have exempted tribal fishing and hunting.”
A campaign spokesman for Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek, who opposed IP28, told Portland’s KGW that Drazan’s proposal “feels like political theater.”
In a press release announcing the proposed amendment, Drazan stated, “Oregon should not be the testing ground for extreme measures that threaten affordability, local food production, consumer choice and the thousands of jobs connected to putting food on our tables. Activities like farming, ranching, hunting and fishing are a part of our heritage, our economy and our everyday lives. It’s time to stop playing defense.”
As initiatives go, IP28 was roundly criticized by both sides of the political spectrum. All legislative Democrats were against it, along with Kotek, and Republican lawmakers universally opposed it. Local and national sportsmen’s organizations were lined up preparing for a campaign battle, and even gun rights organizations were bracing for a fight, had IP 28 been approved for the ballot.
According to Northwest Sportsman, Oregon Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, a Dundee Republican, was on hand when Drazan announced her proposed amendment during an appearance at White’s Country Meats in Gresham.
Starr observed, “This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democrat issue. It’s an Oregon issue. I’ve served with Democrats who are passionate hunters, I know Democrats who spend their weekends fishing Oregon’s rivers, and across our state families of every political persuasion make their living farming and ranching. They may vote differently, but they share the same deep respect for the outdoors, for conservation, and for the freedom to pass these traditions onto their children, and that’s why I believe this constitutional amendment has the ability to unite Oregonians, not divide them.”
Yet, the measure was able to garner far more than 100,000 signatures, although based on the findings of the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, a lot of those signatures could not be verified. It came up short by about 13,000 valid signatures.
