The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 union submitted the 4,598 required signatures on Thursday to put the question of whether Rep. Paul Holvey, a Democrat from Eugene, should remain in office.
Rep. Holvey now has the option of resigning. If Holvey doesn鈥檛 resign, Lane County voters will decide whether he should remain in office in a special election held on Oct. 3.
鈥淭he disgruntled leadership of one union has spent over $200,000 on a completely misleading campaign, using paid signature gatherers, newspaper and digital ads and direct mail, so it is interesting that they barely qualified,鈥� Holvey said in an emailed statement. 鈥淏ased on the feedback I have gotten as I鈥檝e talked to House District 8 voters, I am confident this reckless recall will be rejected.鈥�
The union had hoped to qualify in July, but their first attempt was unsuccessful when not enough signatures were determined to be valid.
The longtime lawmaker, who joined the House in 2004, once worked as a carpenter and was a former union representative. But union leaders from the food and commercial workers union said Holvey has forgotten his progressive roots. They took issue with several decisions made by the lawmaker, but the most pressing complaint was the belief that Holvey didn鈥檛 do enough to support a measure that would have allowed cannabis workers to unionize.
During the most recent legislative session, Local 555鈥瞫 priority bill was House Bill 3183, which would have prohibited employers in the cannabis industry from stopping workers鈥� efforts to unionize. The bill didn鈥檛 get the support it needed to become law, including in the Business and Labor Committee Holvey chairs.
Michael Selvaggio, a lobbyist for the union, said the effort to oust Holvey had more to do with the fact that he had misled the union and was not responsive or communicative.
鈥淚t鈥檚 less about a bill itself, but a style of legislating that has severely marginalized working-class people,鈥� Selvaggio told OPB this week.
Rep. Holvey said in an earlier interview with OPB he was surprised by the union鈥檚 decision. Holvey said he believed the legislation wouldn鈥檛 pass legal muster and would be preempted by federal law. The union said, however, the lawmaker went out of his way to secure a misleading legal opinion, which could make it harder for cannabis workers to unionize in the future.
The effort to recall Holvey could prove costly. The union has already spent more than $181,000 and Lane County officials estimated the election would cost about $65,000.
It鈥檚 also gotten ugly. Selvaggio, who is helping spearhead the recall effort, said he鈥檚 had canvassers who were trying to gather signatures who were harassed while going door-to-door.
鈥淔or the first time in his career, Rep. Holvey will have a serious challenge at the ballot: his own record,鈥� Nathan Erne, who helped with the recall effort, said in a statement.
Recall petitions in Oregon are rarely successful. In recent years, recall efforts against and lawmakers alike 鈥� including at former Gov. Kate Brown 鈥� have failed.
Dirk VanderHart contributed to this report
This story may be updated
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