File under “This Had to Happen Someday”: Right-wing ballot measure crusader Bill Sizemore is in jail.
Sizemore was cuffed and led away to the slammer Monday after Multnomah County Circuit Judge Janice R. Wilson ordered him jailed for contempt of court. Sizemore has repeatedly failed to file the required federal and state tax forms for the ostensibly “charitable” organizations he runs.
Sizemore’s lawyer initially said he hoped to have his client in compliance with the judge’s orders and released by the end of the day Monday, but as of this morning he was still languishing in the pokey.
Before Sizemore was taken away the judge ripped him several new bodily orifices. According to The Oregonian, she “spent two hours reading her findings out loud, accusing Sizemore of repeatedly lying under oath. …
“In a scathing conclusion to her findings, Wilson said Sizemore’s violations of an earlier court injunction ‘are disturbing because, together with Mr. Sizemore’s willingness to lie under oath, they reflect not merely contempt of court in the legal sense but contempt for the court, the judicial branch of government and its processes and judgments – indeed for the rule of law. Mr. Sizemore is so blinded by his hatred of the unions who are plaintiffs in this case that he seems to have concluded that he is not required to follow the law.'”
In 2002, ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers in Oregon, a Multnomah County jury found that Sizemore had engaged in a “pattern of racketeering” including forgery and filing false financial reports during a campaign for two anti-union initiatives. Sizemore was ordered to pay $2.5 million plus attorneys’ fees, and a judge issued an injunction restricting his use of tax-exempt organizations for political purposes.
Is this latest embarrassment going to get Sizemore to change his ways? The Eye isn’t betting on it. Most likely as soon as he gets out of jail he’ll be back to his old tricks – at least as long as octogenarian multimillionaire Loren Parks keeps the money flowing to support Sizemore’s anti-tax, anti-labor initiatives.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2008.
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Check out the NW Republican blog (nwrepublican.blogspot.com) — “Coyote” (Ted Piccolo) is whining about how Democrats rejoice when Republican crooks go to jail but support their own crooks, and also about how Democrats have libeled poor Bill Sizemore. TOO funny!
UPDATE: Sizemore was released from jail today after signing the tax forms.
You know, voting for a republican backed voting agenda, is the same thing as voting in a rapist, to head a girls school. Sizemore needs to be knocked down very hard, and fined until he embraces good legislation.