Ballot Measure 38 of 2004 would have abolished Oregon's State Accident Insurance Fund (commonly known as SAIF Corporation), a nonprofit state-chartered workers' compensation provider.
Measure 38 supporters capitalized on the fact that former governor Neil Goldschmidt, who admitted in 2004 to a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl in the 1970s, was one of the lobbyists.
Later in the campaign, supporters ran ads portraying SAIF as a threat to gay rights, quoting a memo written by a former CEO in which she suggests the agency challenge the Oregon Court of Appeals decision in Tanner v. OHSU (157 Or.App.
Critics of the measure, which included the state's largest business lobby and the state chapters of the National Federation of Independent Business and the AFL-CIO, argued that SAIF is critical to keeping workers' compensation rates low.
They also argued that Oregonians for Accountability was actually a front for Liberty Mutual, SAIF's major competitor for workers' compensation policies.