"I've recently learned through back channels (two sources, both anonymous) that ... Bill Sizemore has been given the kiss-off by his two main benefactors: Loren Parks and Dick Wendt," she writes.
"Sizemore had been hired to do 'consulting' (whatever that means) through what [Oregonian blogger] Jeff Mapes called a Wendt-funded think tank known as Hire Calling." But Axtman says her sources tell her Wendt has since fired Sizemore.
"And what of Loren Parks?" she continues. "E-mails exchanged between Parks and Sizemore apparently indicate in no uncertain terms that Parks will no longer be cutting checks for Sizemore's activities."
Wendt, one of the founders of Jeld-Wen Inc., and Parks, an octogenarian now living in Nevada who made a fortune manufacturing medical equipment including a device to measure penile erections, have contributed the great bulk of donations to Sizemore's initiative campaigns for the past several election cycles.
Axtman doesn't say why Wendt and Parks are parting company with Sizemore, but maybe they've just gotten tired of backing a loser. As Oregonian columnist Steve Duin pointed out in October, Sizemore "last won an initiative battle in 2000, a property-rights measure that was promptly declared unconstitutional.
"His winning percentage, calculates Scott Moore at Defend Oregon, is abysmal. From 1994 to 2006, Moore estimates, Sizemore filed 177 initiatives, put 13 on the ballot and won three times ... although two 'victories' were overturned in court.
"But what does winning matter when Loren Parks and Dick Wendt are funneling cash into your tax-exempt Nevada foundation? ... Sizemore drained more than $700,000 from the American Tax Research Foundation during a 30-month period, almost all of it for personal use."
It's tempting to rejoice over the news that Sizemore may soon be sidelined, but as one commenter on BlueOregon points out, there's a cloud behind this silver lining: Sizemore's name on a ballot measure has become a definite liability in this state, and with him gone it could be easier for right-wingers to get their anti-union, anti-government initiatives passed.
"Without the 'marquee' name of Sizemore as [an] anvil around the metaphorical neck of these odious measures, it will be harder to easily rally opposition to the almost uniformly horrific measures these ass-clowns push onto the ballot on a yearly basis," the poster writes. "Expect to see the same turds in a different package ... and the climb to defeat them just got a little steeper without the already tainted name of Sizemore attached to them."
But the juiciest tidbit of all from the Central Oregon viewpoint is that Axtman's sources tell her Sizemore is leaving his present abode in Clackamas and relocating to ... get ready for it ... REDMOND!
Why Redmond, not Bend? Well, Sizemore probably thinks our little Berkeley-on-the-Deschutes is "too liberal."
