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The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office sent a letter in early October to the campaigns of several candidates for the Portland City Council, telling them it was moving forward with an investigation into candidates agreeing to trade donations in order to access public financing.
WW initially reported in early September on candidates agreeing to such donations in an email thread. Since that initial story, emails obtained by WW show that 14 candidates for City Council and mayor agreed to make reciprocal donations with one another. They were doing so in an attempt to unlock public financing dollars for their campaigns.
Update, 3:30 pm Oct. 7: The SOS’s office says it’s expanded its investigation to include 12 candidates.
According to three election law experts, that’s potentially a violation of Oregon Revised Statutes 260.665, which prohibits a candidate or campaign from offering something of value in return for a campaign contribution.
The SOS’s Office on September 11 announced it had directed the Elections Division to open a preliminary investigation into the donation swaps, concentrating on four candidates. But according to the October letter, new documentation provided to the SOS’s Office prompted them to move forward with the investigation.
“On Sept. 26, the Elections Division received additional information related to these possible violations,” wrote the SOS’s lead campaign finance investigator in the early October letter. “The documentation provided indicates you may have violated ORS 260.665 by offering or promising to give a contribution to another candidate in order to induce contributions in support of our candidacy and enable access to matching public funds.”
The SOS’s Office wrote that it “will be reviewing the information to determine appropriate action.”
The state did not immediately provide additional information about how many candidates received a similar letter.