Mannix stickin it to the schools
In the right corner, the Indicator of Initiative, the Bully of the Ballots, the Cramp on Crime…KEVIN MANNIX [crowd on left boos, crowd on right hoorays, many in middle yawn]. And in the other corner, the, um, well, without further ado, the OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.
Mannix turned signatures today for his second crime-related initiative for the 2008 election, this one aimed at diverting 15 percent of Oregon Lottery funds into crime prevention, aimed at beefing up forensics and crime lab operations in the state, as well as helping “district attorneys and local sheriffs and to pay for early childhood programs for at-risk children.”
“No one is against fighting crime,” said Gail Rasmussen, vice president of the union. “But any time a measure takes money out of the classroom, it doesn’t move us forward as a state; it takes us backward.”
The other option would be to take away the 15 percent of Lottery funds that go to parks and salmon restoration; a continuous run of fresh salmon for years, or the development of
