Portland Tech Executive Lands in Facebook Papers

“Meanwhile, we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine.”

Multiple signs along Tierra del Mar say "KEEP FACEBOOK OFF OUR BEACH", in protest to the drilling done by Facebook to install a high-capacity fibre-optic line along the Oregon coast. (Alex Wittwer)
By Aaron Mesh

A Portland tech executive is at the center of the latest public relations nightmare for Facebook.

A whistleblower affidavit obtained by The Washington Post last week alleges that Facebook’s vice president of communications Tucker Bounds shrugged off concerns about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“Some legislators will get pissy,” the affidavit alleges Bounds said. “And then in a few weeks they will move onto something else. Meanwhile, we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine.”

Bounds, 42, lives in Southwest Portland. He was raised in Hermiston and, upon graduation from the University of Oregon, went to work as a spokesman for former U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). He then served in the same role for the 2008 presidential campaign of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the California gubernatorial bid of onetime eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Bounds founded a political news analysis platform, called Sidewire, and went to work for Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Bounds has said something likely to irritate his fellow Portlanders. In 2008, he argued that McCain’s vice presidential pick, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was more qualified than Barack Obama to serve as commander in chief, because she had run the Alaska National Guard. “I think there were probably better arguments to make,” he later conceded.

Bounds could not be reached for comment.

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