Letter from Leuthold Dairy Farm and M 66-67

David Delk -- Alliance for Democracy-Portland, 30.11.2009 21:07

I just received today's USPS mail and got this letter from Leuthold Dairy Farm and owner Carol Marie Leuthold. A second letter also from Leuthold is addressed to my wife and step-daughter. WOW, they must have really done some outreach. Then I look at my email and get this message from a friend upstate in Oregon who sends out a warning about this mass mailing which has been delivered to my home in Ashland.

The message from David Delk exposes this campaign to hurt Oregon. I'm forwarding important information below for you to see.

READ ON TO SEE WHAT THE BIG CORPORATE HACKS ARE UP TO NOW--Wes Brain, community activist

* Just Learn The Facts! *

Hi AfDers and friends,

Many of you may have received a letter from Carol Marie Leuthold of Leuthold Dairy Farm on Saturday advising that you should vote No on Measures 66/67 to be on the January 26th ballot. It appears that the letter is a personal letter from her but if you read the bottom in very small print, it says, "I worked with Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes to share my thoughts with you in this letter." Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes is a front group for some of the largest business doing business in Oregon. Just take a look at their list of supporters at  http://www.stopjobkillingtaxes.com/organizations/.

She makes only one specific claim, "Despite the bleak economy, Measure 67 would tax businesses up to $100,000 a year, even if they didn't make a profit." While there is some truth to that statement, she leaves out that this only applies to C type corporations and they would have to have revenues of over $100 million dollars before they would have to pay that $100,000. By my calculation that would amount to a tax of a tenth of one percent. And further that is assuming that the corporation reporting making no profits during the year. But we know that corporations making that much money but showing no profit are usually benefiting from tax write-offs in order to show no profits. It does not mean that they are on the brink of closing their doors. This is the case with some of the largest corporations doing business in Oregon.

Those corporations which are not a type C will pay just $150.00 for the privilege of having the protections of being a corporations. This includes LLC, LLP, Partnerships and S corporations. Sole Proprietorship will continue not paying a corporate income tax. 88% of all Oregon corporations will pay just the minimum of $150.00

Her other claims are of a more general and unsupported nature. For instance, she writes that "State government has not tightened its belt like the rest of us. We should not send more money to Salem until the state can get its spending under control." And "Legislators say their plan only taxes the rich. they're wrong."

And "Economists estimate these tax increases will cost 70,000 Oregonians their jobs." You might want to read the report, Experts Debund Claim That Measures Would Cost Jobs from the Oregon Center for Public Policy on who these economists were and how they reached their conclusions.

I thought you might like to see the names of some of the contributors to the No campaign and the amounts. I highlighted a few of the largest.

Associated General Contractors of America, Inc...$113,957.00
Boise Paper Holding, LLC....$10,000.00 (btw, LLCs will only pay $150.00)
Cain Petroleum...$10,000.00
Carson Oil Company ...$12,000.00
Colvin Oil Company....$10,000.00
Ffith Avenue Building ...$20,000.00
Gert Boyle....$10.000.00 (she know her from Columbia Sportwear)
John Truax...$10,000.00
Leathers Oil ...$10,000.00
Lone Rock Timber Management Co. ...$10,500.00
Longview Timberlands, LLC.... $26,000.00
Oregon Association of Realtors ....$50,600.00
Oregon Automobile Dealers Assoication PAC...$25,000.00
Oregon Bankers Association...$100,000.00
Oregon Farm Bureau Federation....$16,568.00
Oregon Forest Industries Coucil PAC...$25,000.00
Oregon Local Grocery Committee....$76,544.15
Oregon Restaurant PAC...$65,000.00
Oregonians for Affordable Housing ...$53,175.00 (sounds like a group I would like but in fact this is the PAC for the Oregon Home Builders Association)
Phillip Knight... $50,000.00 (yes, that is the CEO of NIKE)
Plum Creek ...$36,000.00
Portland Business Alliance ...$37,000.00
Qwest Communications...$26,115.00
Seneca Jones Timber Co....$13,500.00
Stimson Lumber co....$16,000.00
The Mid-Valley Affordable Housing Coalition. ...$40,000.00
Timothy Boyle....$30,794.40 (there is that connection of Columbia Sportwear again...see Gert Boyle above)
Vesta Corporation ... $10,000.00
Weyerhauser Co...$50,984.00

Note that these figures do not include In-Kind contributions. For instance, the Associated General Contractors of America, Inc had In-Kind Contributions of $88,957. Add in their $50,984.00 cash contributions, their total $139,941.00.

Btw, while she does not give her address in the letter, I found it on the web. LEUTHOLD'S WILSONA DAIRY. 2425 MCCORMICK LOOP. TILLAMOOK , OR 97141 in case you want to write her a letter stating why she should vote Yes on Measure 66 and 67. I also learned that she is the president of the Tillamook County Farm Bureau.

The No on M66/67 campaign has a lot of money. We have a lot of people - that is, all of you. Please connect up with the folks at Vote Yes on 66/67 and donate to them and/or volunteer with them. They are organizing phone banks and canvassing opportunities. Contact them at  http://www.VoteYesOregon.org , 503.234.0444 or via email at  volunteer@defendoregon.org.

David e. Delk, Alliance for Democracy - Portland Chapter 503 232 5495  http://www.afd-pdx.org

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NO MORE TILLAMOOK CHEESE! 30.11.2009 - 22:24 DON'T BUY TILLAMOOK CHEESE Its good cheese yet I am gonna quit buying it. I like supporting Oregon's companies but not when they line up to hurt our state. BOYCOTT TILLAMOOK BOYCOTT TILLAMOOK> Homepage:: http:// You came in First! 02.12.2009 - 17:56 I also received the Leuthold letter lately. When I googled the dairy farm this morning, you were at the top of the selections. Way to go. The corporate takeover of this whole thing is just amazing. I appreciate the list of the No donations. And I was prepared to boycott Tillamook products anyway, so I'm glad to see that there is movement that way I'm part of our local Jobs with Justice and working with Yes for Oregon here in Deschutes County. Say hi to my friend Wes Brain. Thanks for the timely information and your on-going work. Keep me updated, if you can. Dave Stranahan Dave Stranahan> Homepage:: http:// Real Facts About Carol Marie Leuthold’s Dairy 02.12.2009 - 18:55 Thanks for posting this, Wes. Below is another response to the letter, from the Yes for Oregon campaign. To preserve our local schools, County human services programs and public safety services, please consider joining the local arm of the Vote Yes for Oregon campaign. There is a canvass this Saturday, Dec 5, in Medford, and phonebanks in Ashland operating Sundays through Thursdays. To volunteer in general, email Karen Starchvick at  Gstarchvick@aol.com. To select an evening to phone in either Medford or Ashland, go to  http://tinyurl.com/yes6667pb or contact me, Pam Vavra, at  pam@nv.net. Thanks so much! Yours, Pam ***************************************************************************************** The Real Facts About Carol Marie Leuthold’s Dairy This weekend, many Oregonians received a letter that claimed to be from an Oregon dairy farmer opposing Measures 66 & 67. This letter was both factually inaccurate and deeply misleading. The letter claims “Smaller businesses like ours will be forced to lay off workers,” but the truth is that Carol Marie Leuthold’s Wilsona Farms, LLC – like nearly every other farm in Oregon – will not be significantly affected by Measures 66 & 67. Leuthold’s dairy is an LLC, thus the entirety of Leuthold’s business tax burden under the new law will be $150 per year. Indeed, under Measure 67, 88% of businesses in the state will pay just $150. There is little doubt Leuthold can afford $150 to preserve Oregon’s vital services. Her profile on the Tillamook Cheese Fan Club states, “Leuthold and her husband, Dan, have a serious case of the travel bug. The couple has roamed around the world, including stops in Brazil, Italy, Germany and Alaska. They touch down in Switzerland, Dan’s familial homeland, every four years or so. This past year … Carol Marie flew to the South of France and Italy to take cooking classes.” Family farms are the quintessential small businesses in Oregon, and Measure 67, the corporate tax measure, was designed to protect small businesses. Under the measures, over 92% of farms in the state will pay no more than $150 – just like Carol Leuthold. Adding irony to the fact that Leuthold objects to paying just $150 to the state of Oregon is the fact that her business does not object to accepting thousands of tax payer dollars in the form of farm subsidies. Between 2002 and 2006, the last year for which records could be found, Leuthold’s farm accepted $92,753 in taxpayer supported USDA subsidies. The truth is that Measures 66 & 67 are good for all of Oregon, but they are especially good for rural Oregon. Rural Oregonians are far more likely to rely on the Oregon Health Plan. Seniors and people with disabilities living in rural Oregon rely more heavily on long- - term care programs – in- -home care, assisted living, and nursing home care. These measures would help to preserve these vital services. Measures 66 & 67 protect those who have been hit hardest by the economic crisis – seniors, children, and the unemployed – without putting more of a burden on Oregon’s middle class families. The Vote Yes for Oregon campaign is dedicated to factually and accurately informing voters about the stakes of this important election and urges the opposition to avoid claims and tactics that could further harm Oregon's economy and its reputation as a place to do business. Pam Vavra passing along some good information> Homepage:: http:// My reply to Carol's deceptive letter 03.12.2009 - 16:01 I've joined the parade of Oregonians who are outraged by this deceptive letter and by those who funded it. As a retired CEO and entrepreneur I have a perspective on this which should be helpful. I've mailed a reply to Carol and posted it, her letter and some background comments on my own blog:  http://www.dismountingourtiger.com/politics/reply-to-anti-tax-letter-from-carol-leuthold/ Ed Lee Bend Oregon Edwin Lee> e-mail:: edwinlee@znet.com Homepage:: http://www.dismountingourtiger.com You can't tax income of the rich, not really 05.12.2009 - 23:38 Even if these pass, the wealthy of Oregon will not really be taxed nor will taxes suddenly get more fair....they will simply raise the prices on the goods or services they make their money on. To date everything passed with the good intentions of making things more fair has simply become another indirect tax that will hit the working class. I am not against the wealthy paying their fair share, nor am I against adequately funding schools, etc. Maybe we need to change the way we tax in Oregon... by removing the income tax and replacing it with a sales tax, so rich, poor and passers-by all pay their fair share of supporting Oregon and all she has to offer based on what they use/buy/consume. It might be our only chance at making Oregon taxes fair. Andee> e-mail:: dejablu503@yahoo.com Homepage:: http://