Independent Party of Oregon
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Independent Party of Oregon
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| Chairman | Linda Williams |
| Secretary-General | Sal Peralta |
| Founded | January 24, 2007 |
| Ideology | Centrist,early progressive |
| Political position | centre |
| Colors | Blue, red |
| Website | |
| www.indparty.com | |
The Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) is a political party in the U.S. state of Oregon. The IPO is Oregon's third-largest political party and the largest minor party of the state, with 110,042 registrants since its inception in January 2007 making up 5.07% of Oregon's registered voters. At its current growth rate it is the fastest growing minor party in the state and has surpassed the Republican party in membership increases since its inception. The party experienced a 28.1% increase from January 2010 to January 2011, giving it larger gains than the Democrats (-1.9%) and Republican (0.6%) for 2010.
The Independent Party was formed by voter petition in 2006, after House Bill 2614, a law that made it more difficult for non-affiliated candidates to run for public office in Oregon, was enacted in 2005 by the Oregon State Legislature. The same Legislature disallowed non-affiliated candidates from being labeled as "independent" on ballots, freeing up the name for use by the Independent Party. IPO co-chair Dan Meek was one of two people to publicly testify in the Oregon legislature against both bills. Meek and Party Secretary Sal Peralta also lobbied in favor of repealing HB 2614, which was repealed at the end of the 2009 legislative session.
Prominent party members include Portland attorneys Linda Williams and Dan Meek, former Eugene mayor Jim Torrey, and former State Representatives Tony Van Vliet and Bob Pickard.
The IPO was certified by state elections officials on January 24, 2007. The IPO criticized former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury for refusing to print new voter registration cards that would include that party as a choice. A representative of Bradbury's stated that the decision was based on the cost of printing new registration cards, rather than any intent to harm a party.
The IPO ran eight of its own candidates and cross-nominated four major party candidates in the 2008 election, including Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ben Westlund, and Vicki Berger, a Republican. Merkley was nominated by the party after John Frohnmayer, former Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, withdrew his Independent candidacy. Joel Haugen, a Republican who won the Republican primary in the First Congressional District with more than 70% of the vote was cross-nominated by the Independent Party. The Party asked the Secretary of State to enforce existing Oregon law (ORS 254.135) and allow Haugen to appear on the ballot as a "Republican, Independent." The Secretary of State refused. After the Independent Party, joined by the Working Families Party, lost a circuit court decision that would have allowed Haugen to appear on the ballot as "Republican, Independent," Haugen decided to abandon the Republican nomination so that he could appear on the ballot as "Independent" only. The startling result was that there was no "Republican" candidate on the ballot for the 1st Congressional District of Oregon. The parties withdrew their appeal of the Secretary of State's decision, after the Oregon legislature passed SB 326, which repealed some earlier restrictions on non-affiliated candidates and allowed for "fusion lite" voting
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