A debate over Measure 97, the stealth sales tax formerly known as IP 28, has fallen apart before it began.

The debate was scheduled for July 28 at a City Club of Portland event sponsored by The Standard Insurance Co. Our Oregon, the union-funded advocacy group that’s a major champion of the measure, has pulled out. Its reason? The Standard opposes Measure 97.

That opposition should come as no surprise. The Standard will see its bills go up dramatically if the measure is approved in November, and those increases surely will be passed on to the company’s customers as part of rate increases. The same is true for any business with $25 million in sales in this state — think grocery stores and the wholesalers that supply them — whether it’s making a profit or not.

Meanwhile, The Standard’s sponsorship of the City Club’s “Big Idea” series, of which the debate was to have been a part, does not mean it had a say in choosing topics or participants or much of anything else for the July 28 event or any others in the series. It simply wrote a check.

Our Oregon also voiced displeasure at what The Standard threatened to do as part of its position on Measure 97. It threatened to withhold charitable contributions it makes to Children First, a child advocacy nonprofit that voted to endorse the measure. That might irk the folks at Children First, but charitable contributions are, in fact, made at the discretion of the donor. The Standard has since backed away from the threat, by the way.

Clearly, Our Oregon, whose member groups include the state’s two largest public employee unions, has a double standard. It and its members may lobby for, financially support, enter into debates and otherwise work for positions it agrees with. But Oregon corporations can’t? Free speech belongs to all Oregonians, not just those who agree with Our Oregon.