Think you can trust the League of Women Voters for objective views on political issues?

The national League of Women Voters began in 1920, six months before the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.

The League defined itself as a nonpartisan group eager to assist women in carrying out their new responsibilities as voters.

“League founders believed that maintaining a nonpartisan stance would protect the fledgling organization from becoming mired in the party politics of the day… This holds true today,” the organization says on is current website.

Not so much in Oregon.

In this election, with their full-throated support for Measure 97, the League of Women Voters of Oregon is just another special interest group on the liberal/progressive side of public policy.

Like the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, the League of Women Voters of Oregon is coming across as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party.

You’ve probably seen the ubiquitous TV ads featuring Alice Bartelt, second Vice President, League of Women Voters of Oregon. She urges a Yes vote on Measure 97, saying it “…dedicates funding to education, health care and senior services.”

That’s false. And Yes on 97 knows it.

For an organization claiming it “…encourages informed and active participation in government…,” the League is engaging in pure deception.

And it’s doing so on somebody else’s dime. It’s not until the end of the ad that you see, in pale lettering, PAID FOR BY YES ON 97. In other words, the two organizations are working in tandem to advance a flawed union-devised, Democrat-backed tax measure.