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 ®
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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
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