PORTLAND — Two of the most powerful business lobbying groups in the state have agreed to merge after three years of on-again, off-again talks.
The Oregon Business Association and Associated Oregon Industries vote came this week, confirmed Sam Tannahill, of A to Z Wineworks and chair of the Oregon Business Association.
In a sense, it’s a curious time for such a merger. The business community is coming off one of its biggest wins in recent memory with voters’ overwhelming rejection last Tuesday of Measure 97, the proposed gross receipts tax that would have raised $3 billion a year from certain corporations.
It was the most expensive initiative battle in Oregon political history.
“Yes, the business community had a great win with Measure 97,” Tannahill said. “We were able to unify and speak with one voice. But we have this opportunity to truly make something better.”
Tannahill, who informed Gov. Kate Brown of the merger Wednesday afternoon, said addressing the state’s financial problems is at the top of the business lobby’s agenda. “Everything needs to be on the table,” Tannahill said. “We want a seat at the table. We really need the legislators and the governor to lead.”
The merger is really a reunification. A splinter group, unhappy with what its members perceived as Associated Oregon Industries’ increasingly rightward tilt, broke off in 1999 to form the Oregon Business Association.
Over the years, the two groups’ political stance and policy goals have drifted back together, Tannahill said.
Ryan Deckert, president of the Oregon Business Association and Jay Clemens, president and chief executive officer of Associated Oregon Industries, will continue in those roles until the merger is complete. An interim committee will launch a formal search for a new executive director. It also will settle on a new name.
