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Polling shows that voters are much more concerned with public safety than in previous election cycles, which has made endorsements from ORCOPS, the statewide political action committee representing rank-and-file police officers, highly coveted.
And while ORCOPS doesn’t have much money, its members feature prominently in two of the highest profile races on the November ballot: the hotly contested 5th Congressional District battle between incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) and her challenger, state Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Happy Valley); and the race for an open attorney general’s seat between state Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) and Will Lathrop, the GOP nominee.
Unlike most prominent PACs, which tend to put their names behind either Democrats or Republicans, ORCOPS has endorsed Republican Chavez-DeRemer in the CD5 race and Rayfield, the Democrat, in the AG’s race.
That’s despite Rayfield having voted almost identically with his fellow House Democrat, Bynum, on the slate of police reforms she chief-sponsored and passed in 2021, post-George Floyd. The two Democrats also both voted for drug re-criminalization this year.
The ORCOPS president, Portland Police Bureau Sgt. Aaron Schmautz, says his PAC board sees enormous distinctions between Bynum and and Rayfield, despite their similar voting records on police issues. (One difference, Schmautz says, is Measure 110, which Bynum originally supported and Rayfield told ORCOPS he voted against.)
Schmautz says his group is still angry with the reforms Bynum led and what he say has been her unwillingness to compromise. “I met with her in 2021. I tried to tell her the potential problems with these bills,” he says. “That session was an overt attack on law enforcement. There’s nobody in law enforcement who doesn’t want to hold officers accountable but she really reduced officers’ ability to do their jobs.”
Specifically, Schmautz points to a 2021 bill that narrowed the grounds for traffic stops, which he says means unlicensed or unsafe vehicles get a free pass. And, he also says 2021 restrictions on use of tear gas means crowd control officers are more likely to put their hands on protesters, resulting in more arrests and more risk for everybody.
Schmautz says race plays no role in ORCOPS decision to target Bynum, who is Black (the organization released a statement blasting her on Oct. 10) or its decision to endorse Rayfield, who is white.
“I take exception to the suggestion that race has any role at all in our decisions,” he says. “I tried and tried to build a relationship with Rep. Bynum. She didn’t want anything to do with that. Lori [Chavez-DeRemer], on the other hand, has been extremely moderate and is good on our issues.” (ORCOPS endorsed Chavez-DeRemer in 2022 over Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner.)
A spokeswoman for Bynum’s campaign, Blakely Wall, says ORCOPS is providing inaccurate assessment of Bynum.
“Janelle Bynum is proud of her record and efforts to keep Oregonians safe—including the public safety package supported by sheriffs and Republicans alike when she was in the legislature,” Wall says. “Unlike the partisans who are opposing her, she looks forward to working with whoever it takes to be an ally to law enforcement and public safety in Congress.”
Schmautz says that unlike Bynum, Rayfield, who served as co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee and later, House Speaker, has worked closely with ORCOPS to tweak bills from 2021. “He has been very open about changing his perspective. People change grow and improve based on new evidence,” Schmautz says.
That means that Rayfield gets ORCOPS’ endorsement, even though his law practice has focused on personal injury cases in civil court and his troubled youth led to arrests for DUII and criminal mischief. The ORCOPS pick of the Democrat is a setback for the GOP, whose donors has poured more than $1.5 million into Lathrop’s campaign on the belief that voter concerns about public safety and Lathrop’s background give them their best chance to win an AG’s race in decades.
Lathrop, who served as a prosecutor for nine years in Yamhill and Marion counties, is deeply disappointed about ORCOPS’ choice.
“Dan Rayfield’s criminal history and record on law enforcement stands for itself,” he says. “As one of the most powerful politicians in Oregon, he used his authority to strip tools and funding from law enforcement, disregard victims of sexual assault, and make our state less safe,”
Lathrop says his resume makes him a better fit for the job. “Rayfield’s complete lack of criminal law experience as a lawyer leaves him unqualified to be Oregon’s chief law enforcement officer,” he says.
Schmautz disagrees. “We have a lot of history with Dan Rayfield,” he says. “We’ve found him to be communicative and thoughtful. It didn’t appear to our board that Will had a full grasp on what the attorney general’s job is—he’s running to be a prosecutor. We have board members from all over the state and our vote was unanimous.”