12
street roots
LLliW
April 27, 2012
Janice Thompson is the executive director for
Common Cause Oregon. She is the form er head
o f 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 fo r citizens to make their
voices heard in the political process and to hold
their elected leaders accountable to the public
interest.
A breakdown o f money piling up behind the race for the next Portland mayor
Table 1 - Fundraising by three contribution size groups as reported through April
20: Dollar amounts and percentage of total fundraising and number of contributors
BY JANICE THOMPSON
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ileen Brady is the fundraising leader
in the Portland mayoral race with
$975,525 in contributions followed by
$538,494 raised by Charlie Hales and
$408,675 in contributions to Jefferson
Smith. (These dollar amounts reflect
contributions reported through April 20 At
this point in the election, campaign finance
contributions and spending must be
reported within seven days on ORESTAR,
the online reporting system. These figures
will be different by the time this article
appears in print due to Oregon’s continuous
reporting system.)
E
Size of Contributions Analysis
There are several other mayoral
candidates but the fundraising angle of this
article means the focus will be on Brady,
Hales, and Smith. While Brady has raised
more money, Smith has more contributors
and a higher percentage of his fundraising is
from donors giving $100 or less compared
to Brady and Hales. Hales has about 800
fewer contributors than either Brady or
Smith. Contributions from donors giving
$1,000 or more particularly dominate
fundraising by Brady and Hales. See Table 1.
Smith has raised money from an
Candidate
Contributions of
Total Fundraising
$100 or less
$70,624
$975,525
7%
100%
1,400 est.contributors* 2182 est. contributors*
Eileen Brady
Contributions
$1,000 and up
$714,324
73%
233 contributors
Contributions
$101 to $999
$190,577
20%
549 contributors
Charlie Hales
$383,310
$104,885
$50,299
71%
118 contributors
$214,202
52%
20%
316 contributors
$101,056
25%
298 contributors
9%
99 est. contributors*
$93,418
Jefferson
Smith
111 contributors
$538,494
100%
1433 est. contributors*
$408,675
100%
23%
1,850 est. contributors* 2259 est.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 size category o f $100 or less. B u t an estimate can be determined
by assum ing that each o f these small donations is $50. Total contributor numbers are derived by adding
the numbers o f itemized contributors with estimates o f numbers o f those m aking contributions o f $100
or less.
estimated 2,259 contributors followed by
estimates of 2,182 contributors to Brady’s
campaign and 1,433 contributors to Hales’
campaign. Estimating the number of
contributors is necessary due to reporting
requirements that don’t mandate identifying
donors of $100 or less.
The larger number of donors to Smith’s
campaign is reflected in the finding that 23
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percent of his total fundraising thus far has
come in contributions of $100 or less. The
dollar amounts in this contribution size
category comprise only 9 percent of Hales’
total fundraising and 7 percent of Brady’s
overall fundraising. However, contributions
in amounts of $100 or less, even though
they come from many people, comprise less
money than has been raised thus far in
either of the two other size categories
analyzed in Table 1.
The Brady and Hales campaigns are
particularly dominated by contributions of
$1,000 and up. There are 233 of these
contributors to Brady’s campaign and their
support comprises 73 percent of her total
fundraising. There are 118 donors writing
checks of $1,000 or more to Hales and their
support amounts to 71 percent of his total
fundraising. Smith has 111 donors who have
given $1,000 and up and their support adds
up to 52 percent of his total fundraising.
The domination in 2012 of total
fundraising by big contributions indicates a
return to a pattern seen prior to the Voter-
Owned Elections era from 2006 through
2010. During the 2004 election cycle, 69
percent of the money city candidates raised
came from only 602 contributors who wrote
checks of $1,000 or more. This small
number of contributors represented just 7
percent of total donors.
This pattern has returned to the 2012
mayoral contest with 72 percent of
combined fundraising thus far by Brady,
Hales, and Smith coming from just 468
contributors writing checks of $1,000 or
more with this small number of donors
representing, thus far, just 8 percent of total
contributors. This pattern would be even
more dramatic if only Brady and Hales were
in the race. That 52 percent of Smith’s
fundraising comes from donors giving
$1,000 or more is significant but his
campaign is less dominated by these large
donors than either the Brady and Hales
political committees.
Top Donors
The top 20 contributors to Brady
comprise 36 percent of her total fundraising.
Brady’s largest contribution is $95,000, an
in-kind donation of a campaign ad from the
Mmmmmm Society, LLC. Brady has
contributed or loaned her campaign $60,000
and has also received $35,508 from the
estate of Brian Rohter’s mother. (Rohter is
Brady’s husband.) Emily’s List, a political
action committee dedicated to supporting
women candidates, has given Brady $15,000.
(See Table 2.)
The top 20 contributors to Hales
comprise 43 percent of his total fundraising.
See BIG MONEY, page 13