The city’s groundbreaking campaign finance rule is in danger of being overturned by Portland’s elected watchdog, which worries those who have fought to limit the power of money in politics.
In order to allow for possible changes to Portland’s voter-approved campaign contribution limits and disclosure requirements, City Auditor Simone Rede wants the mayor and City Council to either propose a local ballot measure this fall or allow state law to supersede the city’s more stringent regulations.
“The City Council would later be able to set new lower limits for campaign contributions for Portland elections if city leaders choose to go the state legislative route,” the auditor said.
In a two-page document that The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained through a public records request, Rede’s staff—which is responsible for enforcing the current campaign financing regulations—described the recommendations. This week, senior auditors’ office representatives started presenting the plan to City Council members, including Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney.
“We know the state has worked hard to achieve the same,” Pirtle-Guiney said, adding that voters established our campaign funding regulations to ensure equitable representation. The council is only now becoming aware of this problem, and nothing has been done about it.
When Oregon’s new campaign finance law goes into effect in two years, Rede said the initiative would help Portland better comply with it. She also maintained that the modifications will eventually make it simpler for the city to enforce and for candidates and donors to abide by the campaign finance laws.
Rede told The Oregonian/OregonLive that this suggestion would improve our ability to police campaign finance laws, lower obstacles to participation for first-time candidates, and have no effect on the amount of money coming into politics. This strategy, in my opinion, promotes a more inclusive and representative municipal administration while furthering the wishes of Portland citizens.
Attorney Dan Meek, who leads the good government organization Honest Elections Oregon, said the auditor’s assertions were hard to believe.
According to Meek, who played a key role in the establishment of the campaign money limitations in Portland and Oregon, they make no sense at all from the public’s perspective. The entire system of the city would be destroyed.
In 2018, 87% of voters approved a campaign finance referendum in Portland that changed the city charter to cap individual or political committee contributions to city contests to $500 each election cycle. The current donation limit, which has been adjusted for inflation, is $613.
Campaigns for mayor, city council, and auditor must also disclose their top funders on their advertisements, among other restrictions, in accordance with the city’s regulations. Only five states, including Oregon, had no restrictions on the amount of money candidates could take from people, political organizations, businesses, unions, or other organizations at the time the law was written.
That finally changed last year when state lawmakers reached a big agreement with good government organizations like Honest Elections Oregon and business lobbyists and labor unions that have long opposed campaign finance limits.
Beginning in 2027, Oregon’s campaign finance legislation will cap political committee donations at $5,000 and individual contributions at $6,600 per election cycle. It also makes it possible for so-called small-donor groups, such unions, who are major players in state and local elections, to give politicians large quantities of money.
Additionally, although the state law mandates that outside organizations that spend a lot of money on behalf of candidates reveal who their largest funders are in their ads, candidate campaigns are exempt from this requirement.
Another important aspect of Oregon’s legislation is that it permits local governments with their own tougher public funding restrictions and contribution caps, including Portland and Multnomah County, which have their own campaign finance laws.
Staff from Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey’s office met with Multnomah County and Portland Auditor’s Office officials in Salem on February 10 to examine potential changes to the state and local campaign financing systems that overlap.
Louis De Sitter, a lobbyist for the Oregon Education Association, and Felisa Hagins, the leader of the state’s most influential public employee union, the Service Employees International Union, were both present at the meeting. Hagins is also a member of a group that advises Multnomah County on how to carry out its recently established practice of awarding public funds to county office candidates.
“We need to streamline rules around how people engage so there is more alignment if we want a robust election system where people and organizations at all levels of sophistication and size can engage in coherent and appropriate ways,” Hagins told The Oregonian/OregonLive. I hope that’s one of the auditor’s objectives.
Rede suggests in her memo that Portland officials take action to permit the state to take precedence over the city’s donation cap regulations. According to the document, the City Council should then take action to pass an ordinance with lower contribution limits than the state’s, ideally establishing limits that are close to the status quo.
Although it described alternatives for pursuing them through both state legislative preemption and a local ballot measure initiative, the auditor’s office did not provide a particular recommendation on revisions to the city’s disclosure standards.
We are currently discussing this matter with the mayor and council, outlining several solutions and attempting to balance the advantages and disadvantages. Reed Brodersen, deputy city auditor, stated.
Although Brodersen did not specify what those legal vulnerabilities would be, both Rede’s and Brodersen’s memos stated that Portland might be at risk due to conflicting state and local campaign funding regulations.
We are unable to provide those specifics, unfortunately. According to him, they are legally privileged.
Meek raised doubts about the possibility of legal challenges, pointing out that comparable laws exist in other U.S. jurisdictions and that Oregon courts have already supported campaign donation caps imposed by Portland and Multnomah County.
Meek continued by expressing his displeasure with what he called the auditor’s office’s lack of transparency.
According to him, this is all a chance to forward the goals of those opposed to campaign funding reform. Additionally, I believe it’s a method of accomplishing things without consulting voters.
— Shane Dixon Kavanaugh focuses on accountability and watchdog reporting while covering politics and city administration in Portland.
His number is 503-294-7632.
Get in touch with [email protected].
On BlueSky@shanedkavanaugh, follow X@shanedkavanaugh.
Your support is essential to our journalism. Sign up for OregonLive.com now.
Stories by
Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
-
Portland official recommends eliminating hundreds of jobs, deep program cuts as city shortfall, reductions top $150M
-
Portland s beleaguered Permitting Bureau struggles to lure permanent director
-
Are Portland s stubbornly high homicide numbers a new normal? Beat Check podcast
-
Portland s highest salaried city employee gets 3rd raise in a year amid looming layoffs, cuts
-
Directors at 2 of Portland s largest bureaus to depart amid bureaucratic shakeups, uncertainty
