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Oregon CD1 Correction and Comments

Letter to the Editor

Dear Steve,

My name is Sal Peralta. I am the Secretary of the Independent Party of Oregon.

I am writing in regard to your excellent article on the first congressional district race in Oregon. I wanted to make a correction and a few comments by way of background on the Independent Party.

In the article, you state that Haugen waited until after the deadline to re-file as an Independent, implying that he willfully kept a Republican candidate off the ballot. In fact, Haugen re-filed just a few days after we lost the court case to have both parties appear next to his name on the ballot. Our party's analysis and we have 2 attorneys who are experts in state law that have weighed in on this, is that the GOP should have been permitted to fill the vacancy that was created when Haugen decided to run as an Independent.

The Republican Party chose not to participate in the Independent Party's suit against the Secretary of State to allow cross-nominated candidates to have their names appear on the ballot, as we believe is required by Oregon Statute.

The Independent Party was officially recognized in January, 2007 after activists collected 26,000 signatures at the end of 2006 to form the party. The party was created in response to legislative changes that make it more difficult to run as a non-affiliated candidate in Oregon. During the past 20 months, the party has registered more than 33,000 members, making it larger than every other minor party in the state combined, and the largest minor political party in the history of Oregon. The party does not have a platform beyond election reforms, and good government measures that are intended to increase citizen participation in government.

Thanks,
Sal Peralta