FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Trent Lutz, Executive Director director [at] dpo [dot] org (503) 239-8625
Oregon Democrats today called for an investigation of the recent round of mysterious and possibly illegal robocalls conducted by Tim Trickey and Republican State Representative Julie Parrish to determine whether they were part of a voter suppression effort.
“Everyone seems to agree that it’s highly suspicious for Julie Parrish and the head of the Senate Republicans to carry out a bizarre spate of robocalls to good voters in Oregon, telling them they’re not going to get a ballot,” said Trent Lutz, executive director of the Democratic Party of Oregon. “What we want to know is, why were Trickey and Parrish pulling this peculiar stunt a month from the election?”
Voters from across Oregon have flooded elections offices with complaints about the misleading calls, which originally claimed to be from a group called the “Oregon Small Business Association,” but Parrish soon admitted that she was, in fact, behind the calls. Many recipients of the calls were active, registered voters who were perplexed and bewildered by the calls.
“We know that Democrats benefit from high turnout elections,” said Lutz. “In a tight election year with so much at stake, it would definitely benefit Republicans in the House and Senate if voters stayed home this year. If there are any efforts to mislead voters into not casting ballots, we think the people responsible for those efforts should be held accountable.”
Lutz added that the robocalls mirrored similar voter suppression efforts in other states across the country, and that in Oregon, robocalls are illegal.
“There needs to be an investigation of Trickey and Parrish so that we can all rest assured that voters in Oregon will get their ballots without intrusion or meddling, and we need to be sure this won’t happen again,” Lutz said.
This is not the first time Trickey has been involved in scurrilous behavior, having previously been involved in electioneering that landed his disgraced colleague Bill Sizemore in court.
“It definitely makes the whole caper more baffling,” said Lutz. “If someone is dead set on placing illegal robocalls, there are a lot of possible providers. Why go with someone who is already well known for suspicious activity when they worked with Bill Sizemore?”
Tim Trickey is the Political Director of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm. He previously made news for his role in Sizemore’s petition signature gathering efforts. Trickey’s operation had come under fire for signature gathering that included many signs of fraud and forgery.
Oregon Small Business PAC has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Senate GOP candidates in past elections.
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