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Records newly obtained by WW shed further light on how Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s chief of staff managed to direct a city agency to spend tens of thousands of dollars from its budget on what was essentially a pet project.
As WW reported last month, mayoral chief of staff Bobby Lee directed Prosper Portland to spend $60,000 on public displays of art created by an ex-girlfriend’s niece. The funding requests were made solely by Lee.
The two $30,000 checks from the economic development agency were spent on various art installations that depict the Chinese water tiger—a symbol of courage and power in Chinese culture—at the 2023 Waterfront Blues Festival and the 2024 Portland Winter Light Festival.
The taxpayer funds directed by Lee raise questions about the outsized influence of a high-ranking staffer at City Hall. Here are five of them.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Lee’s affinity for the water tiger began when his then-girlfriend’s teenage niece visited City Hall in the fall of 2022 and drew some sketches of the mythical creature.
Enamored by the drawings, Lee asked Prosper Portland in the spring of 2023 to spend $30,000 of its $1.5 million events support budget on a water tiger mural for the Waterfront Blues Festival. Prosper complied.
Six months later, Lee asked Prosper to spend another $30,000 of its budget on additional water tiger art to be displayed at the Winter Light Festival in February 2024. Once again, Prosper complied.
The chief of staff’s enthusiasm for the water tiger remained between him and Prosper until it spilled over to other city bureaus in May. That’s when, via email, Lee accused the city’s Office of Arts & Culture of cultural insensitivity and “illegal” action after it removed the water tiger mural from a city building. Lee, in the wake of his accusations, requested an additional $40,000 grant from that office for the young artist. (The arts office declined to provide that funding.)
WHAT DO THE RECORDS SHOW?
New records released by Prosper Portland show that Lee’s December 2023 request was out of the ordinary.
In a Dec. 21 email, Lee wrote to Prosper’s executive director, Kimberly Branam, and the agency’s economic development director, Shea Flaherty Betin: “Can you do me a solid and pay for this since it’s a minor amount and requires immediate funding? I will work to replace the funding when I get a chance to get a larger request soon.” Lee attached a proposal from the Winter Light Festival for water tiger art (a proposal Lee had requested from the festival’s nonprofit).
In a subsequent email, Lee promised to “make it up to you all.”
Then, on Jan. 3, Flaherty Betin wrote that Prosper would provide $30,000 to the festival. “Anything beyond that is going to be challenging,” he wrote.
The contract releasing the $30,000 to the light festival was signed by Branam and the festival’s director, Alisha Sullivan, on March 19. In it, the contract states that the Portland City Council “has appropriated an additional $45,000 in general fund resources to Prosper Portland for the purpose of further assisting grantee with activities related to the Water Tiger event and collaboration with the Waterfront Blues Festival.”
But that was incorrect. The City Council had approved $1.5 million in funding for Prosper in 2022 to support several “anchor” events and festivals, including the Winter Light Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival, but never explicitly approved funding for water tiger art.
WHAT DO PROSPER PORTLAND AND LEE SAY?
Prosper says such contract language is standard.
“We disagree that the [contract] recital is untrue,” Prosper spokesman Shawn Uhlman says. “Everyone familiar with these types of agreements reads this recital and understands that the City Council appropriated the funds generally and they are allocated more specifically by Prosper Portland and in consultation with council liaisons and offices.”
But Prosper does agree that, of the $1.5 million allocated by the City Council in 2022 for major events, only the $60,000 spent on water tiger art was disbursed at the sole direction of Lee.
Lee, meanwhile, has maintained he did nothing inappropriate.
“These Water Tiger Portland recovery project funds were properly distributed in the normal allocation process with input from Prosper Portland’s Council liaisons,” Lee said in a statement. “We hoped that the symbol of the Water Tiger and other initiatives have inspired many Portlanders to fight for the city’s future.”
Read Lee’s full statement here.
Prosper says it hasn’t yet been reimbursed by Lee or the mayor’s office for the $30,000.
WHAT DOES MAYOR WHEELER SAY?
Wheeler has yet to comment on the water tiger funding.
WHAT DO CITY COMMISSIONERS SAY?
City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez says he’s “disappointed in what I have read about the water tiger projects” and says he’s asked to speak with Wheeler in person.
Commissioner Dan Ryan calls the spending on the water tiger art “inappropriate.” He adds: “Portlanders deserve better stewardship of their tax dollars.”
Commissioner Carmen Rubio did not answer WW’s specific questions, but praised the art. Commissioner Mingus Mapps declined to comment.