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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2012)
10 Street roots Jan. 6, 2012 Monied mayoral candidates, left to right; Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith. Movers, shakers and moneymakers How Portland’s leading mayoral candidates are stacking up financially in a return to high-priced races Janice Thompson is the executive director fo r Common Cause Oregon. She is the former head of Democracy Reform Oregon (which was Previously known as the Money in Politics Research Action Project) Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. BY JANICE THOMPSON campaign liquidity. (See Table 1.) Smith started later than Brady and Hales, he 2012 Portland mayoral primary hence his current third place spot in the season started earlier than usual (in fundraising race. That Smith has the capacity the spring of 2011) when two to catch up with his opponents is indicated by candidates, Eileen Brady and Charlie Hales, his fundraising per day average of $1,425, formed their political action committees in which compares to daily fundraising averages anticipation of facing Mayor Sam Adams’s of $1,796 and $1,107, respectively for Brady reelection bid. Comparatively, when Tom and Hales. These daily averages also indicate Potter ran for mayor in 2004 his first the role that fundraising plays in how contribution came on Sept. 29, 2003, even candidates spend their time. though his major opponent was a City Both Eileen Brady and Jefferson Smith Council member, Jim Francesconi, with supported Voter-Owned Elections, the significant fundraising capacity. campaign finance reform program available to Taking on an incumbent is tough so Portland candidates from 2006 through 2010. presumably Brady and Hales perceived Portlanders voted out this alternative to Mayor Adams as more vulnerable than typical private money fundraising by a narrow Portland incumbents. As reported by margin in November 2010. In order for Willamette Week in January 2004, City mayoral candidates to qualify for that reform Council incumbents had lost only five times program, they needed to collect at least in 121 contests since 1970. After Mayor 1,500 $5 contributions. An emphasis on Adams’ announcement that he wouldn’t run garnering support from many small dollar for re-election another candidate, Jefferson donors is reflected in these candidates’ post Smith, entered the race. reform fundraising. Brady has raised money Though there are other mayoral candidates from an estimated 1,320 contributors running for election, this analysis will focus followed by estimates of 828 contributors to on Brady, Hales, and Smith. This article Smith’s campaign and 473 contributors to focuses on these three, because, like it or Hales’ campaign. (See Table 2.) not, the political reality is that viability is The catch is that contributions in amounts linked to fundraising capacity. Brady has of $100 or less, even though they come from raised the most money: $447,085 as reported many people, comprise relatively small through Jan. 2, followed by Hales with percentages of total fundraising. As reported $249,037, and Smith with $155,358. Hales through Jan. 2, 20 percent of Smith’s total and Smith have spent less money, so their contributions come from an estimated 634 cash availability is $110,466 and $104,258, respectively, compared to Brady’s $147,959 Election fundraising in Oregon C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N I S T T See MONEYMAKERS, page 11 Oregon candidates in state and local elections can accept campaign contributions of any size from any source. This is in contrast to federal campaigns where contributions from individuals are limited to $2,500 while political action committees can only give $5,000 per election. Direct contributions from corporate treasury dollars to federal candidates are banned. independent expenditures are when individuals or groups spend money on advertising without consultation of the candidate they support. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision independent expenditures could be made by individuals and political action committees. The door opened by Citizens United is that independent expenditures in support or opposing federal candidates can be made using corporate treasury dollars. Independent expenditures in Oregon are relatively rare in state and local campaigns since there are no limits on direct contributions to candidates. Campaign contributions and expenditures are reported electronically by campaigns to the Secretary of State and put into a searchable online database called ORESTAR, Each contribution and expenditure must be reported within 30 days and within 7 days in the six weeks prior to an election. This continuous reporting means that the data downloaded from ORESTAR on Jan. 2 for this article will have changed by the time of publication. Table 1 Fundraising Summaries of 3 Major Portland Mayoral Candidates as Reported Through Jan. 2 * Candidate Eileen Brady Charlie Hales Jefferson Smith Established PAC April 29,2011 May 23, 2011 Sept. 16, 2011 Campaign Days Total Contributions Cash Available 249 $447,085 $147,959 225 $249,037 $110,466 109 $155,358 $104,258 ‘ PAC equals political committee. Regarding Jefferson Smith the date noted is when he switched his legislative fundraising committee to a focus on the mayor’s race. The number of days in the campaign are through January 2nd, which is the date contribution data in this table and the rest of this article was downloaded from ORESTAR. Contribution figures include cash and in-kind donations and any loans received. For more information about the work of Common Cause Oregon, gotowww.commoncause.org Fundraising by Three Contribution Size Groups as Reported Through Januarv 2nd- Dollar Amounts and %s of Total Fundraising and #s of Contributors dM n n n j Candidate $1,000 and up $101 to $999 $100 or less* Total Fnnriraieinn Eileen Brady Charlie Hales Jefferson Smith $291,425 65% 122 contributors $199,010 80% 45 contributors $80,614 52% 59 contributors --------------------- ----------------- - J _ u " u if lit > in g $111,801 25% 330 contributors $33,282 1 3% _98 contributors $42,890 28% 135 contributors $43,858 10% 868 contributors $16,744 7% 330 contributors $31,855 20% 634 contributors $447,085 100% 1320 contributors $249 037 1 QQO/o 473 contributors $155,358 , u v /o 100% 828 contributors ‘ Contributions of $100 or less dc not have to be itemized by individual donor. Rather those contributions are reported as aggregated dollar amounts. This means it is impossible to know exactly how many donors are giving in the contribution category of $100 or less. But an estimate can be determined by assuming that each of these small donations is $50. Total contributor numbers are derived by adding the numbers of itemized contributors with estimates of numbers of those JS'"9 contributions of $100 or
