Summary While supposedly a boon for tobacco prevention efforts, the Master Settlement Agreement is just another backroom deal between trial lawyers and state officials that primarily serves their own interests. The revenue for states is not legally tied to tobacco prevention efforts, and most settlement funds are used for General Obligation Bonds for Oregon’s state [...]

The high cost of healthcare these days is astounding, and so is the rate of uninsured Oregonians. There are some good ideas out there but a proposal that invents a “right” to healthcare by amending the Oregon Constitution should make everyone wary. Backers of the so-called HOPE initiative stress that the