Portland Investor Seeking to Decriminalize Sex Work Gives Big to Progressive District Attorney Candidates

HOW MUCH?

$225,000

WHO GOT IT?

Brian Decker, a candidate for Washington County district attorney

WHO GAVE IT?

Aaron Boonshoft, a Portland investor, gave two checks: $150,000 on April 4 and $75,000 on April 22.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

District attorney elections are nonpartisan and, until recently, were rarely seriously contested. Boonshoft, chief petitioner for Initiative Petition 51, which would decriminalize sex work, is helping change that.

On April 18, Boonshoft also gave $50,000 to Spencer Todd, a criminal defense lawyer who is challenging incumbent Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson. His contributions to challengers in two of Oregon’s biggest counties highlight the efforts by criminal justice reformers to overturn the existing order in large prosecutors’ offices.

Incumbent Washington County DA Kevin Barton was the handpicked successor of longtime law-and-order DA Bob Hermann. Clarkson, the incumbent in Marion County, occupies a similar role. Reformers struggled to find credible challengers four years ago, but Decker, a public defender and former federal prosecutor, brings a strong résumé to the race. He’s attracted a slew of endorsements from Democratic establishment figures and now, with Boonshoft’s cash, has outraised Barton $496,000 to $439,000.

WHAT DOES BOONSHOFT SAY?

Boonshoft says he’s motivated by the case of Tony Klein, a former nurse at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison. More than a dozen women alleged Klein assaulted them at the Wilsonville prison, but the Washington County DA’s office declined to charge him. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Klein in March.

“I was inspired to get involved in Brian Decker’s campaign when I heard the story about the women assaulted at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, and the current district attorney didn’t prosecute,” Boonshoft says. “I’ve donated money and been volunteering my time to the campaign. I’m a human rights advocate, and I believe that all people should have access to health, safety and justice.”