A12
From A1
wallowa.com
BUEHLER
Continued from Page A1
to incentivize the construc-
tion of affordable units. He
also is a proponent of tweaks
to the state’s land use laws to
make it easier to build afford-
able housing in areas that are
now outside the urban growth
boundary.
Gun control
Buehler supports a ban on
bump stocks and raising the
legal age to purchase an assault
rifle from 18 to 21.
In 2017, he voted for
Brown’s legislation to confis-
cate firearms from domestic
abusers.
He voted against a biparti-
san bill designed to prevent sui-
cides and other gun violence by
creating a way to petition the
courts to temporarily confiscate
a firearm from a family mem-
ber or loved one who is at risk of
harming others or themselves.
“... if you are going to take
away someone’s fundamental
right in regards to the Second
Amendment, in my opinion,
they need due process,” Buehler
said. “They need to have their
time in court, too, to make their
case why they shouldn’t have
their firearm taken from them,
and most other states have that
due process component in the
legislation.”
He also opposed a proposal
by Brown to prohibit the trans-
fer of a firearm for 10 business
days if Oregon State Police are
unable to determine whether the
recipient is eligible to receive
the weapon. The proposal is
known as closing the “Charles-
ton loophole.”
Environment
Buehler opposed a proposed
cap and trade program in Ore-
gon earlier this year but says
he would be willing to support
a carbon tax to address climate
change.
Cap and trade programs set
an allowance, or a cap, for the
amount of carbon dioxide indus-
try can emit free-of-charge. Any
business that released more than
that amount would be required
to buy credits at auction to off-
set its emissions. The proceeds
of those purchases would go
toward investing in projects
aimed at stemming climate
change.
Buehler says he opposed that
plan because the revenue went
to the Department of Environ-
mental Quality rather than bol-
stering the state’s general fund.
He voted for the state’s Low
Carbon Fuels Standard to reduce
the intensity of carbon in fuel in
2015 and for a statewide plan to
gradually abandon coal-gener-
ated electricity in 2016.
Public Employees
Retirement System
Buehler says he would move
the pension program’s $25 bil-
lion in unfunded obligations to
retirees to the top of his agenda.
“I won’t sign any new spend-
ing bills until I have a PERS
reform bill on my desk,” he said.
Reforms he would like to see
would: cap annual payouts to
future retirees at $100,000 per
year; require public employees
to contribute to their retirement
fund; and transition the pension
plan to a 401(k) retirement plan.
October 10, 2018
BROWN
Continued from Page A1
the number of insured adults
from 94 percent to 99 per-
cent and insured children
from over 98 percent to 100
percent.
Housing and
homelessness
Brown has pledged to
request $370 million from
the Legislature for afford-
able housing incentives and
housing assistance in the
next two years. Since she
became governor, lawmak-
ers have allocated $300 mil-
lion to assist in building
affordable units, homeless-
ness prevention programs
and rental assistance. Ore-
gon Housing and Commu-
nity Services has awarded
subsidies and tax credits to
build about 15,000 units in
the past three years.
Gun control
Next year, Brown plans to
again introduce failed legisla-
Wallowa County Chieftain
She also was a player in
passing the state’s Low Car-
bon Fuels Standard to reduce
the intensity of carbon in fuel
and the statewide plan to
gradually abandon coal-gen-
erated electricity.
tion to prohibit transfer of a
firearm for 10 business days
if Oregon State Police are
unable to determine whether
the recipient is eligible to
receive the weapon. The pro-
posal is known as closing the
“Charleston loophole.” She
supports raising the legal age
from 18 to 21 to purchase
an assault rifle and a ban on
bump stocks.
Public Employees
Retirement System
Public employers are in
heavy debt over the state’s
generous public retirement
benefits. Brown has spear-
headed some modest changes
to the pension system, such as
incentives for public employ-
ers to pay off debt, but none
so far have made a significant
impact on the state’s $25 bil-
lion unfunded future obliga-
tion to retirees.
Brown said she wants cov-
ered workers to have “skin
in the game,” and noted that
after recent rounds of collec-
tive bargaining, 98 percent of
state workers will pay 6 per-
cent of their salary for their
pension side accounts. That’s
known as the “employee con-
tribution” but had long been
paid by the state.
Environment
The governor supports
and her staffers are active in
helping to craft legislation
to create what is known as a
cap and trade program called
“Clean Energy Jobs.”
Cap and trade programs
set an allowance, or a cap, for
the amount of carbon diox-
ide industry can emit free-
of-charge. Any business
that released more than that
amount would be required to
buy credits at auction to offset
their emissions. The proceeds
of those purchases would go
toward investing in projects
aimed at stemming climate
change.
Where is the money going in Oregon’s most expensive gubernatorial race?
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
In addition to being one of
the closest governor’s races
in recent memory, the fight
between Gov. Kate Brown and
Rep. Knute Buehler is one of
the most expensive.
In 2018, Brown as of Wed-
nesday has raised $7,805,941,
according to Oregon Secretary
of State’s Office records.
Buehler
has
raised
$8,115,084 this year, $1 mil-
lion coming from Nike
co-founder Phil Knight in what
was the largest contribution in
state history. In September, he
got $750,000 from the Repub-
lican Governors Association.
Both candidates came into
the race with million-dollar
war chests, and collectively
have raised $20.2 million as of
Thursday. The previous record
was $17.7 million when Dem-
ocrat John Kitzhaber narrowly
defeated Republican Chris
Dudley in 2010.
So where is all that money
going?
An analysis of campaign
finance reports shows typi-
cal spending, with the bulk of
money going to advertising and
marketing firms, political consul-
tants, television and radio buys,
data analytics and software.
Buehler’s campaign has
spent big on advertising - which
can include anything from
materials for campaign signs
or branded gadgets to televi-
sion ads. And a lot of the larger
expenditures went out East.
So far in 2018, Buehler has
spent $4,266,909 on broadcast
advertising through Strategic
Media Services of Arlington,
Va. FP1 Digital, a public affairs
firm in Alexandria, Va., has
received $627,315. The cam-
paign spent $623,371 on Red
Maverick Media, a Harrisburg,
Pa., political consulting firm.
Campaign finance reports
require disclosures of where the
money is going, but not neces-
sarily what it is for. For exam-
ple, a campaign could disclose a
large payment to a firm that does
data analytics, polling, political
consulting and TV ad buys, but
the campaign doesn’t need to
identify the particular service.
Additionally, campaign sea-
son usually means the surfacing
of “dark money.” That’s where
a nonprofit or PAC not officially
tied to a candidate can spend
money without disclosing where
You’re Invited!
it came from or where it went.
An example of this is Pri-
ority Oregon, spending about
$1.5 million on attack ads
against Brown in markets along
Interstate 5.
Salem Reporter reached
out to both campaigns to see if
they had detected any unusual
spending by their opponents,
but none was reported.
Even in an ordinary cam-
paign, however, spending
reports can give some insight on
the preferences of candidates.
For example, Buehler’s cam-
paign has spent $1,374 on meals
at Deschutes Brewery. Brown
dropped $207 at Bandon Dunes
Golf Resort and $184 at Moth-
er’s Bistro, a Portland restaurant.
Brown’s campaign used
donor money for $267 on scrubs
for a video shoot, $160 on a
microphone rental and $157 at
Starbucks throughout 2018.
Buehler’s camp spent $240
of donor money at a fund-
raiser at Topgolf, an arcade-
style driving range, and $116
on tickets to an airshow.
Brown spent $19,806 on
health insurance for campaign
staff. Buehler’s reports don’t
indicate an obvious expendi-
ture for health insurance, and
when asked if the campaign
provides such benefits, spokes-
woman Monica Wroblewski
said the campaign doesn’t dis-
cuss staff compensation.
One significant differ-
ence between the two is con-
tributions to outside political
groups. Brown spent a total of
$1,340,009 on outside groups
— more than $1 million to her
own PACs.
That included $739,000
to Defend Oregon’s Values,
which among other expenses
spent $498,000 on TV airtime.
Defend Oregon’s Values,
in turn, is listed as providing
$693,000 in in-kind contribu-
tions to Brown’s campaign.
Team Oregon, Brown’s
other PAC, spent some money
on marketing firms, but largely
has been used to spread money
around to other political inter-
ests, such as liberal nonprofit
Our Oregon and Future PAC,
which funds the Oregon House
Democrats. The largest expendi-
ture was $27,500 to Our Oregon.
From her campaign funds,
she contributed $1,000 to a
Democratic candidate for gover-
nor in Minnesota and $230,000
to the Democratic Party of
Oregon.
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