Group represents citizen interests, not special interests in Salem

By BECKY WALDROP
Gazette-Times reporter

SALEM — Paula Krane climbed the steps to the third floor of the Senate side of the state Capitol without any sign that she's been up and down flights of stairs since early morning.

Just before 3 p.m. on Thursday, Krane is on her way to the Senate president's office, the next-to-the-last stop this day at the Legislature.

She rounds a corner and greets the receptionist, introducing herself as a representative of the League of Women Voters of Oregon. Krane asks to speak to the senator's assistant.

While the woman steps away to find someone, Krane explains her approach for ensuring that citizens will have the first say at a committee hearing on Friday morning. Dropping in on a legislator unannounced isn't always the best tactic. But aides are often available for impromptu visits.

A few moments later, Krane is welcomed into the office of the senator's communications director.

After 10 years at the task, she knows her way around the Capitol and how the Legislature really works, who to talk to and where to find them. It's the kind of know-how that keeps many a lobbyist employed.

"I'm here to complain," Krane told the communications director in a calm voice.

The Senate has scheduled a series of committee meetings at locations around the state, an effort to give more people access to the legislative process. But at one such meeting in Portland, invited testimony from interest group lobbyists was heard first, and there weren't even enough seats to accommodate all the people who wanted to observe.

"If citizens come and they can't testify, that defeats the purpose," Krane said.

She asked if citizens would be allowed to speak first at the next hearing in Gresham.

The aide checked the agenda showing five speakers on the "invited testimony" list with public testimony to follow. She assured Krane that the order would be switched, with citizens speaking first. Then she called the committee administrator to confirm the change.

As the woman retrieved an agenda copy from the printer, the look on Krane's face revealed another victory for the people the league represents: ordinary citizens.

The request took less than five minutes, but the results will likely last much longer.

The league and its members, including citizen activists like Krane, have been pushing for more openness in government. This legislative session, they succeeded at persuading legislative leaders to provide 48-hours notice for all meetings.

Many of the league's causes are carried out by a squad of retirement-age women, and Corvallis is represented well in this group. Krane, a past state league president, makes the trip to Salem about once a week, although she made almost daily trips in past sessions. Liz Frenkel, Karen Nibler, Corvallis league president, and Krane, are Salem lobbyists this session, and frequent Capitol visitors.

They know their way around, and they're known by legislators, state employees and lobbyists.

The League of Women Voters is a national, non-partisan political organization and its members, both men and women, are committed to making democracy work.

Krane joined the league in 1968, when she was an Indian high school civics teacher. Her husband worked on Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign, and Krane's principal had misgivings about her ability to organize an impartial mock election. So she sought the league's assistance.

The league agreed to come, in exchange for her becoming a member.

Krane first encountered the organization when she read an article it had published on water rights on the Colorado River while she was writing a research paper for graduate school at the University of Arizona. Krane studied political science and history and worked as a teacher until her son was born. Her husband is a physicist and his career took them to New Mexico, then Berkeley, Calif., and to Oregon State University and Corvallis, where the Kranes have lived for the past 30 years.

She was a substitute teacher and taught the citizenship class at Linn-Benton Community College when her son was in school. When he left for college in the early 1990s, she became more active in the Corvallis league, under the tutelage of her mentor, the late Grace Phinney.

Phinney invited Krane to join her in presenting ballot measure information on a local radio show. It was hard at first to be talking to an audience, but easier each time after.

"This is a little like that," Krane said of participating at the Legislature as her station wagon cruised east on Oregon Highway 22 toward the Capitol early Thursday morning. She was on her way to a Senate Rules Committee meeting that started at 8:30.

She pointed to the place where a two-lane country road rejoins the highway, one of the routes she takes to vary her route.

"This drive gets old fast," Krane said.

At the Capitol, she passed a row of 10-hour parking spaces, circled the building, then found an opening. She used to park underground, but that entrance to the Capitol was closed for security reasons after Sept. 11.

Now it's just as close to park on the street as it is to walk across the mall, she said.

Krane rummages through her glove box to find the last of her parking permits. This day it makes more sense to use the pass than to feed the meter.

Her first stop is on the basement floor, room 49, Legislative Publishing and Distribution Services, where she finds copies of half a dozen documents, such as a status report on legislative measures, daily Senate and House agendas and a joint legislative schedule.

"They own trees here," Krane said, referring to the amount of paper printed.

Some people use the Internet to monitor legislative activity, checking schedules and bills and watching live feeds from the meetings. She prefers hard copies and being here in person.

Krane tucks the papers into a plastic bag she uses to hold documents, and climbs three flights of stairs to room 347, the Legislative Library.

At the end of one of the bookshelves is a table with a stack of newspaper clippings from the morning editions that are about state government. Rather than scanning numerous daily papers, people in the know come here for a condensed version.

Krane walked to a Senate hearing room where the Rules Committee meets. She found a seat next to another league member, Kappy Eaton of Eugene. Eaton has observed the Legislature for more than 30 years, and the women often back each other up if one of them is unable to make it to Salem.

Eaton is here to testify for the league on Senate Bill 201, a proposal to address an aspect in the state's initiative process that allows interest groups to "shop for ballot titles," costing taxpayers an estimated $200,000 in legal fees, according to the state Attorney General's office, and tying up the state Supreme Court docket with nearly 80 challenges last year.

Krane is here to observe the process. She's watched the two minority party senators and is disturbed at how they stall legislation by interrupting the hearing. The senators' "grandstanding" in the name of protecting access to the democratic process irks Krane and Eaton.

The league supports this bill and Eaton reads a letter to the committee just before the meeting adjourns. Eaton waited for almost two hours to make this short speech, the only testimony from anyone not officially representing a special interest group.

Later, Eaton and Krane are again the only citizen volunteers at a meeting of the Oregon Revenue Coalition, an ad hoc group of organizations representing public education, long-term care, organized labor, health care, civil rights, the faith community and other entities.

While the governor has announced a balanced budget without adding new revenue, coalition members, such as the American Federation of Teachers, the Oregon Education Association, Oregon School Employees Association and the League of Women Voters, aren't resigned to a budget that will cause harm to schools and services to seniors, the poor and people with disabilities.

The coalition has an agreement that mirrors one of the league's.

"Don't rob Peter to pay Paul," Krane said. Or in other words, don't pit vital public services and programs against each other.

So while the league opposes further reductions in the criminal justice system and K-12 education, they don't support a proposal to take money from lottery line games away from the State Police and give it to schools, Krane said.

After the coalition meeting, Krane watched the House session from the gallery before joining a pro-choice rally on the Capitol steps at noon. She ate lunch with Eaton and another league member in the café downstairs. Then she stopped by Rep. Kelley Wirth's office.

"Hi Paula," said Melissa White, Wirth's assistant, when she saw Krane.

A few minutes later, the three women, Wirth, White and Krane, were discussing a response to the latest bill dealing with the new land-use law, Measure 37.

Wirth said she's grateful for the league's presence at the Legislature. When she can't be two places at once, league members have attended meetings and reported back to her what happened. Sometimes she returns home to find packets of paper on her doorstep, left by a league member.

"They watch things," Wirth said. "They're really helpful. If you're smart, you just do what they say."

Twice this day, Krane stopped by the committee services administrative office to get a schedule of upcoming meetings around the state. She wanted to publish the dates and locations in a bi-monthly newsletter for league members.

The first time, the person she was looking for was on break. The next time, Krane was told that the schedule wasn't ready, but she could check back later.

And just before she left, she dropped in again. Krane was patient and persistent in her pursuit of this paper.

And this time, she's told to expect an e-mail that evening with the schedule.

"We're just keeping an eye out," Krane said on her way out the door.

Becky Waldrop covers public policy and education for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached at becky.waldrop@lee.net or 758-9510.