The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint accusing Republicans and conservative groups of improperly working with Ralph Nader to try to put the veteran consumer advocate on Oregon's presidential ballot last year.

Two groups, FreedomWorks and the Oregon Family Council, phoned people around Oregon in June 2004, urging them to attend Nader's convention in Portland in hopes of putting Nader's name on Oregon's ballot.

At the time, the groups made no bones about their goal — to try to draw votes away from Democrat John Kerry and help President Bush.

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon is becoming the next battleground in a spreading fight between anti-tax activists who want to cap government spending and their opponents, who say such a move would put schools and important social services at risk.

Tax foes, riding high from crushing a proposed $800 million tax hike for Oregon in 2004, are promoting a spending limit that matches the most stringent one in the nation, enacted by Colorado voters in 1992. That cap limits spending increases to population growth and inflation.

As Oregon's leading advocate of smaller government and lower taxes, Russ Walker is preparing to fight a political war on two fronts in the 2006 elections.

Walker, executive director of the Oregon chapter of FreedomWorks - formerly known as citizens for a sound economy, said his group is laying the groundwork for a ballot measure to restrict the ability of unions to tap their members' paychecks for political contributions.

WASHINGTON -- Privatization foes in the Social Security debate have tried to pressure members of Congress by following them in waffle and duck costumes. Now supporters of private investment accounts are preparing a Capitol Hill snow job.

Dozens of college students who support the accounts plan to spend Wednesday afternoon lobbying members of the Senate Finance Committee -- after a news conference staged amid imported snow and ice sculptures in the summer haze hanging over the capital.

(06-07) 14:45 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

It was a long day's work for Bono, lead singer for the rock band U2 and dedicated lobbyist for the world's poor and AIDS-stricken.

In Boston's FleetCenter on a Tuesday night, Bono and his band — Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and the Edge — performed for a sold-out crowd, part of their 10-month, multicity tour of Europe and North America. Bono then rushed to the airport, arrived in Washington at 2 a.m. and five hours later set off on a busy schedule, his ubiquitous wraparound shades firmly in place.

A Republican-led tax swap effort is being criticized from both sides of the aisle, while House and Senate negotiators show little progress toward a compromise on their plans to lower property taxes and increase state education spending.

With 10 days left in the legislative session, negotiations appeared stalled Saturday on the plan to replace reduced school property taxes with a menu of new tax hikes, including increased sales, cigarette and alcohol levies.

WASHINGTON - A presidential commission looking into how to make income taxes fairer and simpler heard pitches Wednesday from experts with ideas about revamping or replacing the current system.

The commission examined plans to base taxes on spending rather than income, which could mean a national sales tax or a European-style value-added tax.

As for transforming the income tax, the commission heard proposals for comprehensive change and minor tinkering.

State officials say it might cost less than expected to fix hundreds of cracked bridges in Oregon and that the $2.5 billion highway upgrade approved two years ago needs another look.

Some want to use any extra money for unfunded congestion relief projects such as the Sunrise Corridor in Clackamas County and a Newberg-Dundee bypass.

The project's $1.3 billion bridge-fixing centerpiece has created 1,400 jobs, nowhere near the 4,800 a year backers promised for the overall project.

Washington's rekindled economy will pump an unexpected $739 million into the state treasury, significantly easing lawmakers' efforts to bridge a huge budget gap, revenue forecasters said Thursday.

The good news, the largest quarterly increase ever, was called "the luck o' the Irish" on St. Patrick's Day by the House finance chairman.

It touched off an instant debate over whether tax hike should be off the table as lawmakers deal with a $1.5 billion spending gap.

Key Democratic legislators said a tax increase still looks unavoidable.

MONTPELIER, Vt. FreedomWorks, a national group that advocates less government, lower taxes and more freedom is opening a Vermont chapter.
The national group was formed last year by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp.

The state director will be Robert Roper, who handled media relations for the U-S Senate campaign of Republican Jack McMullen last year.

Roper says the 2004 election brought a strong liberal takeover of the House, and increased the liberal majority in the Senate.