Right-winger loses racketeering suit, dodges fine

Bill Sizemore, 57, is like the king of right-wing politics in Oregon.

A while back, Sizemore got a series of initiatives placed on the ballot by using forged signatures. He also tried to bleed labor unions of money by forcing them to spend much of their money fighting his underhanded methods.

As a result of this, 2 teachers' unions sued Sizemore's organizations for racketeering. A Sizemore aide admitted that one of Sizemore's groups laundered money and falsified tax returns and campaign finance reports.

Jurors found Sizemore's organizations guilty of racketeering and fined them approximately $2,500,000. But Sizemore decided he wasn't going to pay up. He even changed the names of his groups to avoid paying.

Later, Sizemore was found personally liable, and almost $1,000,000 was added to the fine because of his refusal to abide by the original fine.

But now the Oregon Supreme Court has upheld most of the ruling against him. And guess what? He's still refusing to pay!

Damn, Bill Sizemore is making a real spectacle of himself, isn't he?

Not only is he refusing to accept his courtroom loss. He won't accept his electoral losses either: Now he's trying to qualify 5 initiatives for the November ballot, one of which is practically the same as a Sizemore referendumb that was already rejected in 2000.

Pining for a Conservative Fool Of The Day entry, Bill?

(Source: http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/07/03/breaking_news/doc486d61b2e1178317229503.txt)