Oregon elections officials slapped a $65,000 fine on the chief petitioner of a marijuana legalization measure, saying he violated the state's constitutional prohibition against paying a bounty for each signature collected.

That's the largest penalty ever issued by the secretary of state's office for violating the requirement that petitioners be paid by the hour. Officials say they are continuing to investigate other possibile violations by the chief petitioner, Robert Wolfe, and that he could face further fines.

Over the last decade, Oregon legislators and election officials steadily tightened the controls on paid petitioners to prevent signature fraud. In 2002, voters passed a ballot measure prohibiting pay-for-signature petitioning in the wake of charges that some petitioners had forged hundreds of signatures as a way to make quick money.

"I sincerely hope this case sends a message to all chief petitioners and signature gatherers that we treat these cases very seriously," Secretary of State Kate Brown said in a press release announcing the penalty.

Wolfe expressed surprise that Brown's office was publicizing the case, saying he thought it was in a "preliminary" phase.

"I can't imagine it has merit," he said, adding that he did not want to say more until talking with his lawyer.

Wolfe's measure, Initiative Petition 24, calls for a new constitutional provision that would prohibit laws against the "

by adults 21 years of age or older," except for "actions that endanger minors or public safety." Another group of petitioners is collecting signatures for a different initiative that would allow the sale of marijuana through state-licensed stores.

Stephen Trout, the state's elections director, said signatures collected by petitioners paid by the hour would still be counted if they are found to come from valid voters. Wolfe reported to the state earlier this month that his paid petitioners gathered more than 80,000 signatures for the measure, which needs 116,284 valid signatures by July 6 to qualify for the November ballot.

Trout said an investigator for the Elections Division began investigating the marijuana campaign because petitioner time sheets that must be submitted to the state every month provided hints that petitioners were not being paid by the hour.

Eventually, Trout said, the division obtained signed statements from two petitioners stating that they had been paid a bounty for signatures they had collected on 26 sheets. Wolfe was penalized $2,500 for each of the sheets.

In addition, the division is investigating reports from other petitioners for the marijuana drive that they were not paid by the hour, Trout said.

Wolfe has 20 days to request a hearing before an administrative law judge or to pay the penalty. A ruling from the administrative law judge can be appealed to the courts. Petitioners can also file wage claims with the Bureau of Labor and Industries if they were not paid for all of the hours they worked, the secretary of state's office said.

Before Monday's action, the largest penalty issued for a violation of the pay-per-signature ban was $10,900, issued in 2008.

Brown, a Democrat running for reelection, said the latest case demonstrates the need to provide additional whistleblower protection for petitioners asked to violate the signature-gathering laws. Some initiative activists have charged that Brown and her predecessor, Democrat Bill Bradbury, exaggerated problems with fraud as a way to make it harder to mount initiative campaigns.

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