Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2012)
10 Street roots April 13, 2012 Mark White Jeri Williams Lopsided ftindraising in Portland Council Position 4 race BY JANICE TH O M P SO N C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R n open seat on the Portland City Council typically results in a hotly contested race dominated by two or three candidates raising lots of money. election to replace retiring City Councilman Randy Leonard, however, is not following this pattern. Though there will be seven people on the ballot seeking Leonard’s Position 4 slot on the City Council, Steve Novick is the frontrunner. Two other candidates, Mark White and Jeri Williams, have also garnered media attention. Only Novick, Williams and White have brought in campaign cash with Novick far ahead in the fundraising race. Novick’s contribution total is $241,064, compared to $3,293 raised by White and $5,831 raised by Williams. (These figures reflect ^ T r l b u m ’g y ^ o r t e d a s of A p r il' b m 1 ORESTAR. Due to continuous campaign finance reporting in Oregon these figures could change by publication date.) Novick has received $89,952 from 52 contributors writing checks of $1,000 or more. Novick’s largest contribution was $6,924 from Novick’s 2008 Senate campaign PAC. Most of Novick’s donors in this contributions size category are individuals, but he also received 10 contributions from Portland area businesses and from four PACs of public employee unions. Many of these donors have given larger contributions to past Portland Council candidates so if Novick was in a more competitive contest a higher percentage of his total fundraising would likely be coming in the form of these larger checks. Novick received $106,245 in the $101 to $999 size category from 359 contributors. At 19 percent, the smallest component of Novick’s fundraising, $47,687, came in contributions of $100 or less. Reporting of individual donors giving these small contributions is not required by law but A Fundraising by Three Contribution Size Groups as Reported Through April 6th : Dollar Amounts and Percentage of Total Fundraising and numbers of Contributors Candidate Contributions $1,000 and up Contributions $101 to $999 Steve Novick $89,952 36% 52 contributors $106,245 44% 359 contributors Jeri Williams $2,945 51% 1 in-kind contributor $1,400 24% 4 contributors Mark White $1,000 30% 1 in-kind contributor $968 29% 3 contributors The Contributions of $100 or less* $47,867 19% 955 contributors $1,486 25% 30 contributors $1,324 40% 26 contributors Total Fundraising $241,064 100% 1366 contributors $5,831 100% 35 contributors $3,293 100% 30 contributors Contributions o f $100 or less do 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 o f $100 or less. B u t an estimate can be determined by assuming that each o f these small donations is $50. Total contributor numbers are derived by a d d in g h e nu m b ers o} item îzed-côntriTulors w i i K ^ t m a l e s o f n u m fw s o T tK o ^ T ifa k in s ' contributions o f $100 or less. assuming that each donation is $50 provides an estimate of 955 contributors. Novick’s total fundraising of $241,064 came from an estimated 1366 donors. Jeri Williams has received one in-kind contribution of 2,945 from the person who designed her campaign website. This represents a significant percent of Williams’ fundraising but this contribution is less than any of Novick’s top five donations which came in checks ranging from $4,000 to $6,924. Two donors gave Williams $500 and two other donors gave her $200 for a total of $1,400 in the $101 to $999 contribution size category. At 25 percent of total fundraising, the rest of her fundraising, $1,486, came in contributions of $100 or less. Reporting of individual donors giving these small contributions is not required by law but assuming that each donation is $50 provides an estimate of 30 contributors. William’s total fundraising of $5,831 came from an estimated 35 donors. N A L ® We tip our mugs to Coffee Bean International for donating coffee to Street Roots and keeping our vendors warm in the morning! M irador COMMUNITY Thank you! Don’t miss a single issue! Visit us online at www.streetroots.wordpresss.com, or friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get regular updates. tKe seat’ gift-wrapped and hand-delivered to him by Leonard and other supporters in the Democratic Party. That’s frustrating to White’s highest contribution is one in-kind voters who prefer competitive races to contribution of $1,000 from the company coronations.” that designed his campaign website. This Mark White and Jeri Williams would likely represents a significant percent of White’s have met the qualifying requirements for fundraising due to his low level of total Portland’s former campaign finance reform contributions. Two other in-kind donors to program, Voter-Owned Elections, and had White provided services valued at $350 and the resources needed to mount more viable $368. White gave his own campaign $250. campaigns. It is ironic that The Oregonian White has received a total of $968 in the complains about the coronation aspect of $101 to $999 contribution size category. At the Novick race given its opposition to this 40 percent, the rest of his fundraising, campaign reform option. The retention $1,324, came in contributions of $100 or election to retain the public financing less. White’s total fundraising of $3,293 reform program lost narrowly by less than 1 came from an estimated 30 donors. One element in Novick’s fundraising percent of the vote in November 2010. success is that he can contact previous Even on a more level financial playing donors from when he ran for office in May field Novick would likely have a head start 2008. Novick lost the U.S. Senate given his past experience as a candidate and Democratic primary to now Senator Jeff a solid record of advocating for policies that Merkley in that statewide vote, but beat resonate with Portland voters. Voter choice Merkley decisively by 12 percentage points is diminished, however, since the lopsided in Multnomah County. This demonstrates fundraising in this race reduces the ability of that Novick is popular with Portland voters challengers to get out their message. coffee bean IN T E R N A T IO and presumably contributes to his frontrunner status in his current City Council race. As reported last June in The Oregonian, Novick “launched a website this morning declaring his candidacy for Portland City Council, just hours after Commissioner Randy Leonard” told that paper he was not seeking re-election. Given the robust content of his website so early in his campaign, it seems fair to conclude that Novick had been given advance notice by Leonard. More recently, The Oregonian has endorsed Novick, but begins its editorial with these words: “Steve Novick didn’t just get a head start in the race to replace outgoing Commissioner Randy Leonard on the Portland City Council. He practically had N atural Kitchen & Home 2 1 0 6 SE Division 503*231*5175 m ira d o rc o m m u n ity s to re .c o m M o n -S a t 10-6 • S u n 11-5 Canning jars & equipment, cookware, kitchen took & appliances Organic cotton sheets, towek, & blankets Food dryers Juicers Books on meat-f cooking, garden! & sustainabilit
