SALEM — The sad legacy of Secretary of State Shamia Fagan endures via two constitutional amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Fagan resigned under pressure last year after news broke that she had a $10,000-a-month side job with a cannabis dispensary company. She said she took the consulting gig, as well as teaching a Willamette University law class, because she couldn’t live on her $77,000 state salary.

Ballot Measure 115 gives impeachment power to the Legislature. Measure 116 creates a commission to set salaries for legislators and certain other state officials. Neither measure has drawn organized opposition.

Legislators could not oust Fagan from office. Unlike in other states, the Oregon Legislature has no authority to impeach and remove an elected official. Only voters can do that through a recall election, an issue that also arose in 2015 before Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned amid ethics questions.

Measure 115 would amend the Oregon Constitution, giving the House of Representatives the power to impeach the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general and commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. The Senate then would hold a trial and vote whether to remove the person from office.

With no lawmakers dissenting, the 2023 Legislature passed HJR 16, sending the impeachment measure to voters.

“Our elected representatives and senators in the Legislature have no power to check the abuses of power of the executive branch,” the Taxpayers Association of Oregon said in the only Voters’ Pamphlet statement supporting the measure. “Oregonians deserve a way to hold corrupt elected officials accountable!”

The lone arguments against measures 115 and 116 were submitted by Noah Robinson, a Republican running to succeed his father, Sen. Art Robinson, R-Cave Junction, in Senate District 2.

Noah Robinson said by email that the biggest danger of Measure 115 is that it makes the governor and other statewide elected officials beholden to the Legislature because it takes only a two-thirds vote in both houses to remove them.

The 2023 Legislature also overwhelmingly passed SJR 34, placing Measure 116 on the ballot. It creates the Independent Public Service Compensation Commission, which would set salaries for statewide elected officials, judges, district attorneys and legislators. The commission’s decisions would be final.

The Legislature would pass a law establishing the commission membership.

Since 2014, state law has fixed the annual pay at $77,000 for secretary of state, state treasurer and labor commissioner; $82,200 for attorney general; and $98,600 for governor. Judges are paid more. Because the Legislature sets those salaries, as well as lawmakers’, only they can amend the law to change the pay.

Oregon’s pay for statewide officials is among the lowest in the nation, and low salaries are blamed for blocking lower- and middle-income folks from seeking office.

As the 2022 Legislature came to a close, Democratic Reps. Rachel Prusak of West Linn, Karin Power of Milwaukie and Anna Williams of Hood River announced they couldn’t afford to seek reelection. “Balancing our work, multiple day jobs, families and our service has become unsustainable,” they said in a statement.

Legislators now are paid $3,397 per month – $40,764 a year. The Senate president and House speaker, who oversee the legislative branch, get twice that amount.

Between legislative sessions, lawmakers also receive:

• A monthly expense allowance of $450 to $1,025, depending on the geographic size of their district.

• $178 per diem for each day they attend an interim or statutory committee. Legislators traveling over 200 miles receive more.

• 67 cents a mile for “one round trip mileage reimbursement for actual travel each week that has three or fewer floor sessions.”

Despite the bipartisan support in the Legislature, most organizations listed as endorsing Measure 116 are politically progressive and/or Democrat-leaning. An exception is that Taxpayers Association of Oregon submitted a Voters’ Pamphlet statement in favor.

Robin Ye, political and strategy director at East County Rising and a member of the Yes on 116 executive committee, said backers also include groups, such as the Women’s Foundation of Oregon, that never previously endorsed a ballot measure.

“Measure 116 is particularly relevant to rural Oregonians because it will help ensure legislators listen to rural, frontier and small-town communities and their unique priorities,” Ye said in an email. “Right now, low pay for legislators keeps many people from serving, and means elected officials are more likely to be wealthy, retired or older.

“Rural Oregonians will benefit when everyone has a seat at the table.”

Noah Robinson disagreed, saying rural Oregonians should be even more concerned because they already are not well-represented in Salem.

“Passing Measure 116 allows Salem politicians to get away with raising their salaries and pretending they didn’t do it,” he said. “Those in favor sound ‘oh-so-concerned’ about politicians setting their own salaries, but the fact is the system is working – politicians are afraid to raise their own salaries much because of political repercussions. They know they will get more from a special committee and therefore referred this to the ballot.”

Longtime government watchdog Dan Meek agreed, adding that the measure establishes no restraints or comparisons regarding acceptable salary levels. Neither are public hearings or other public involvement required.

Meek said legislatures directly set salaries in 34 states. Legislatures can approve or disapprove commission-set salaries in 11 states. Commission-set salaries must be approved by voters in Arizona and Nebraska and are subject to voter referendum in Washington state.

Dick Hughes has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976. You can contact him at TheHughesisms@gmail.com, Facebook.com/Hughesisms or X.com/DickHughes.