Murmurs: Johnson’s TED Talk Draws Justice Complaints

JOHNSON’S TED TALK DRAWS JUSTICE COMPLAINTS: Betsy Johnson, the unaffiliated candidate for governor, made a surprise May 27 appearance at the ideas conference TEDxPortland. As reported on wweek.com, Johnson’s parroting of National Rifle Association talking points on gun control angered some in the crowd; others objected to TEDx providing an audience of thousands to one of three candidates for governor, in possible violation of federal tax code that prohibits 501(c)(3) nonprofits such as TEDx from participating in political campaigns. In the aftermath, seven people filed complaints with the Oregon Department of Justice, which oversees Oregon nonprofits. “TEDxPortland violated IRS code by including Betsy Johnson, who is running for governor, as a surprise guest,” wrote one complainant, Howard Bales of Portland. “This is an egregious abuse of their nonprofit status. The harm done to the election process is significant. Please investigate this intentional breach of the code.” DOJ spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said her agency would forward those complaints to the Internal Revenue Service, which polices nonprofits and determines their legal status.

OLD TOWN HOMELESS VILLAGE CLOSED BY GUNFIRE: Old Town’s homeless village is closing permanently, Multnomah County officials say, after its services provider, All Good Northwest, decided it could not continue running it safely. The director of the nonprofit, Andy Goebel, blames its decision on “daily and nightly gunfire and gun activity” in the area. The decommissioning, which officials confirmed after an inquiry by WW, also comes a month after workers at All Good NW sent a letter to Goebel and other directors announcing their intent to form a union. Labor organizer Michael Rainey says he doesn’t believe the unionization effort led to the village closure. Instead, he says, both labor unrest and the closure were responses to dangerous conditions at the village, located at the intersection of Northwest Broadway and Glisan Street. Rainey says 18 of the village’s residents will move to the new Multnomah Village safe rest village, which has yet to open. Sarah Thompson, organizing program manager at Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees Council 75, says she frustrated by the threat to worker and resident safety. “It’s hard to say what’s intentional and what’s just incompetence,” Thompson tells WW, “but it feels like where to house the houseless is a problem nobody wants to solve.”

SAM BANKMAN-FRIED’S MONEY SURFACES AGAIN: In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, NBC News published a story last week on a new national super PAC with a mission to support Asian Americans in politics. But so far that super PAC, Justice Unites Us, has made just one independent expenditure—$846,000—to support a white man, Carrick Flynn, who tried and failed to win the Democratic nomination for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District. Because of federal reporting rules, Justice Unites Us reported its expenditure in April but did not have to report the source of the funds until after the primary. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that donor turned out to be Protect Our Future, the super PAC formed by cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. That group spent $11.4 million on Flynn’s behalf, setting the record for most money spent by a single PAC on a candidate in a House primary. State Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Lake Oswego) won that race. Bankman-Fried told a Pushkin Industries podcast last week he might spend $1 billion on the 2024 federal races, which would be another record for a single donor in a single election cycle.

GOVERNOR’S RACE CASH UNEVEN: As the three candidates for governor—Republican Christine Drazan, unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson, and Democrat Tina Kotek—begin their sprint to the November general election, they start from very different places financially. As is normal, Drazan ($2.58 million) and Kotek ($2.36 million) spent almost all the money they’ve raised so far to win their respective primaries. Kotek has $115,000 on hand and Drazan $105,000, of which $75,000 came in two large, post-primary checks. Meanwhile, Johnson, who is seeking to become only the second governor in Oregon history not affiliated with a political party, has $5.18 million on hand, a substantial lead as candidates begin setting their strategies for the fall. Although Johnson did not have to run in a primary, she’s already spent $3.2 million this year.