Loren Parks, a long-time contributor to conservative campaigns, is essentially the only contributor to two initiatives that submitted signatures for inclusion on the ballot and a major donor to a third petition committee. The $308,453 given by Parks represents 23% or almost one out of every four dollars given to the eleven petitions that seek a place on the November ballot.

"The populist supporters of Oregon’s initiative process probably didn’t have in mind this kind of domination of the signature gathering process by one individual," says Janice Thompson, Executive Director of the Money in Politics Research Action Project. "Writing large checks has made Mr. Parks a major player throughout the current initiative season and he ends up the #1 contributor based on analysis of the 4 reports now required during the signature gathering phase." (See Chart 1 for the top 5 contributors.)