Eugene-area state Rep. Paul Holvey faces recall election over alleged anti-labor stances

The Secretary of State's office on Thursday certified the petition to hold a recall election for state Rep. Paul Holvey, D-South and Central Eugene, confirming 5,055 valid signatures of the 4,598 required.

The recall campaign was led by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. UFCW criticizes Holvey, the second longest serving member of the House of Representatives and chair of the House Committee on Business and Labor, for what it contends were anti-labor stances by Holvey during the last few sessions of the Legislature.

Holvey and his supporters disagree with that representation of his record and point out that no other unions have publicly supported the recall.

In particular, the 30,000 member Tigard-based union chapter criticizes Holvey's handling of:

• HB 3183, a failed 2023 bill Holvey opposed that would have made it easier for cannabis farmers, processors and retail workers to unionize.

• HB 4001, a failed 2022 bill Holvey opposed that would have given money to front-line pandemic workers.

• SB 1049, a passed 2019 bill Holvey supported that reformed Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System, resulting in lower benefits.

Holvey's handling of these bills "speaks to a pattern of Holvey having a lot of fight in him when it comes to standing up for big business and anti-worker interests," UFCW lobbyist Michael Selvaggio, told the Register-Guard. "And then when it comes to pro-worker bills, some of them pass, some of them don't pass but he doesn't really seem to be putting the elbow grease into it."

Holvey points to an endorsement list that includes 14 labor groups as well pro-labor bills he's contributed to, including:

• HB 2057, a failed 2023 bill Holvey supported that he wants to bring back next session to combat wage theft.

• HB 4002, a passed 2022 bill Holvey cosponsored that is phasing out the previous exception that farmworkers don't have to be paid overtime.

• HB 4157, a passed 2022 bill Holvey supported that gave one-time money to low-wage pandemic workers.

• SB 800, a passed 2021 bill Holvey co-sponsored that created a state fund to give health care benefits to nursing home workers.

• SB 493, a passed 2021 bill Holvey co-sponsored that made it easier for workers on publicly funded construction projects to negotiate better pay and benefits.

• HB 2005, a passed 2019 bill Holvey co-sponsored to create an Oregon paid family and medical leave policy.

HB 3183, the bill that UFCW 555 says was its legislative priority

The bill, requested by UFCW, would have required that businesses applying for cannabis licenses recognize an employee union or sign an agreement to not stop their workers from unionizing, called a labor peace agreement. It received 630 pieces of testimony in support and 7 in opposition.

In a 7-6 vote, the House Business and Labor Committee sent the bill to the House Rules Committee without recommendation, where it died at the end of the session. Democrats on the committee unanimously voted to send it to Rules, but the UFCW says the bill had support from the other Democrats and without Holvey's opposition it would have been sent to the House floor instead.

Holvey said he opposed the bill because it conflicted with federal law, "the piece of legislation would be irresponsible and would risk a costly legal battle for the state while likely setting back the use of labor peace agreements," he said on his website.

On its recall website, the union points out “that House Bill 3183, or something like it, has been in effect for several years in a number of states.”

Both sides cite two memos submitted by state legal counsel in response to Holvey's questions that the two parties highlight different parts of.

UFCW points to the line "we cannot predict with certainty how the NLRB or a court would ultimately decide." While Holvey points to the line, "3183 would most likely be preempted. … as a state law that seeks to regulate conduct that is at the very least, arguably protected or prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act.”

Dexter Johnson, chief executive of the Oregon Legislative Counsel, told the Register-Guard the office's attorneys are prohibited from taking positions on legislation: "Our only goal is to make sure that legislators make informed decisions about whatever decision it is that they have before them."

"Our role in answering his questions was to answer what he asked," Johnson said. "My understanding is he agreed with our analysis and decided 'well, there's a heightened risk of litigation and perhaps a more prudent course of action would be to avoid that cost by not moving forward with the legislation in the first place.' But that was a decision he was free to make. He could have made a completely different decision."

Holvey also said "due to the lateness of receiving the bill language from proponents and committee deadlines, I acted to keep the bill alive by sending it to the Rules Committee for further discussion," he told the Register-Guard in an email.

But Selvaggio said "having a bill that went through a committee that a committee chair refused to put an affirmative vote on without recommendation, it's the most you can do to kill a bill before Sine Die'' at the end of the session.

"Any lobbyist in that building would tell you, you move a bill without recommendation to the Rules Committee, that's pretty much dead," he said. "If he was trying to keep the bill alive, he would have moved the bill to Rules with a recommendation."

HB 4001 vs HB 4157

UFCW criticizes Holvey for not passing HB 4001. Also called LC 157, the proposed 2022 bill would have created a study on the share of federal pandemic relief money the state received for frontline workers.

"The effort to convert the study into a new program that could timely provide those federal dollars to front line workers was not possible due to the condensed timeline and lack of workable criteria," Holvey told the Register-Guard over email.

Holvey, who was then acting as Speaker of the House because Tina Kotek had stepped down to run for governor, said he instead directed the legislature to pursue HB 4157, which directed the funds to the Earned Income Tax Credit system "an existing program that could timely distribute those monies to low-income working families," he said. Holvey also pointed to a statement UFCW issued in support of HB 4157.

"This bill will support Oregon’s economic recovery and lift up communities across the state by providing one-time payments to the over 300,000 low-wage earners who filed for the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2021," UFCW lobbyist Madison Walters wrote. "This structure intends to streamline the distribution of payments to Oregon’s low income earners."

19 years in the statehouse

Holvey was a union organizer when he was appointed to the House in 2004. He won reelection every two years after that.

His closest election was in 2020 when he beat Republican Timothy Aldal 67.7% to 29.1%. This also was the only year he was in a contested primary, beating Joseph Riley 87.1% to 12.3%.

"He has a really exemplary record, or at least a very solid record, as a legislator on behalf of workers," said retired University of Oregon labor researcher Bob Bussel, a Holvey supporter.

"There's not another union in the state of Oregon that is supporting the UFCW recall" he said. "If he has become anti-union or pro-corporate or really changed his orientation, why would there not be other unions supporting this?"

Bussel also said he opposed the principle of using a recall for disagreement over a bill. "Recalls should be reserved for gross malfeasance or corruption," he said. "I think it really is a misuse of the recall process, and I'm concerned that it will encourage more and more recalls."

Why not wait for an election?

There's one five-week legislative session left before Holvey or his replacement would have to win a May primary and a November general election for the seat.

Bussel said when a union disapproves of a politician, they usually run or support an opposing candidate instead of launching a recall campaign. He said a prominent example of this was in 2008 when unions opposed Democrat Greg Macpherson, a candidate for state Attorney General, and channeled support to his primary opponent, John Kroger, helping him win the election.

Selvaggio said UFCW is pursuing a recall instead so voters can examine Holvey's record in isolation.

"(Holvey's) never had to worry about a general election," Selvaggio said, because of how many Democrats are in his district.

If someone instead tried to replace Holvey in a primary, Selvaggio said their messaging would be drowned out by the presidential race.

"There's going to be so much noise and so many ads going back and forth for up-ticket races," he said. "It doesn't really give people a chance to look at Holvey's record on its own and decide for themselves whether they want to take an up or down vote on that record."

Bussel disagreed with this interpretation of the recall process. "Have an opposition candidate and have a genuine debate," he said. "My concern about recalls is they usually occur in times of the year which people are otherwise occupied. They get low turnout, and I don't think it's a particularly good way to conduct our politics."

Bussel cited Lane County's most recent recall election against Eugene City Councilor Claire Syrett as an example. Just 3,928 people voted in that race. And 3,626 people, 7.7% fewer, voted in the subsequent special election to choose her replacement. But 4,561, 16.2% more, voted in the regular primary race in 2020, which Syrett won by enough to run uncontested in the subsequent general race where 6,489 voted, 65.2% more than the recall.

What happens now that the recall petition is certified

Ballots will be mailed to registered voters in Holvey's district within 40 days of Thursday's certification, who will vote on whether to recall him.

A simple majority of voters is needed to oust Holvey. If he's recalled, Democratic precinct committeepersons in Holvey's district — local party leaders who each represent 250 Democrats, some of whom are elected and some of whom are appointed by Lane County Democrats — would propose three to five replacements to the Lane County Commissioners to appoint his replacement.

History of state lawmaker recalls in Oregon

State legislature recalls are attempted every few years in Oregon. The last effort came in 2021, when petitioners tried to recall state senators Fred Girod, R-Lyons, and Lynn Findley, R-Stayton, for not joining that year's Republican walkout. Those efforts, like most, didn't gather enough signatures for a vote.

This is the fourth recall against a member of the Oregon legislature to reach public vote in state history according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The previous three all resulted in the legislator getting removed.

• In 1988 Sen. Bill Olson (R-Medford) was recalled after he plead guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

• In 1985 Rep. Pat Gills (R-Portland) was recalled for falsely claiming a master's degree and campaign endorsements on the voter's pamphlet.

• In 1935 Rep. Harry Marriam (R-Goshen) was recalled for opposing a Depression-era federal subsidy program for the elderly.

Who's behind this recall?

The committee backing the recall is named RPH. According to campaign finance data, almost all of RPH's contributions came from UFCW including $100,000 in cash and $83,053 in "in-kind contributions" such as materials and staff time.

There also is an $826 cash contribution from "RPH Circulator Registration," a group funded by UFCW and led by Selvaggio to support a ballot initiative Selvaggio filed. The initiative would change state rules to allow petition campaigns to train and register signature gatherers before filing petitions.

RPH paid $96,340 to Osprey Field Services, and owes it $29,916 more for gathering the campaign's signatures. Selvaggio founded a company named Osprey Field Services in 2018, which dissolved in 2020, the same year Selvaggio's former employee Joseph Emmons founded the new Osprey Field Services.

Selvaggio told Willamette Week he gets no compensation from Osprey. "I started Osprey but have since divested myself of any and all financial interest.”

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached by email at atorres@registerguard.com or on twitter @alanfryetorres

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Rep. Paul Holvey recall alleges anti-labor stances