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Terrence Hayes, a leading candidate for the Portland City Council in District 1, has been repeatedly sued in state and federal court for unpaid bills and debts totaling over $80,000.
Over the past two years, Hayes has been sued by a former landlord for $10,000 in alleged damage and sued by a New York lender for $63,000 in unpaid small business loans. He’s also been sued for unpaid credit bills.
In a statement to WW, Hayes says he’s learned from his mistakes and is paying down his debts.
“I am working through all my debt, I pay my home loan on time every month as well as other bills both business and personal,” Hayes wrote. “Despite hard lessons that I had to learn about wealth, finance and debt, I think I’ve done an amazing job when it comes to impacting public safety, supporting nonprofits, and helping new business owners avoid the mistakes that I made.”
The court filings, not previously reported, suggest that one of the leading candidates in District 1, which covers Portland’s easternmost neighborhoods, has struggled to manage his finances as he runs for a body that will oversee the city of Portland’s $8 billion annual budget.
Hayes has staked out a lane this year as a law-and-order candidate, favored by public safety unions in part because of a compelling personal narrative. Hayes, a 41-year old Black man, is a unique candidate for a number of reasons.
In 2004, a jury sentenced Hayes to 12 years in prison for attempted murder after he was involved in what he says was a gang-related shooting. In 2021, five years after his release from prison, Hayes was the first Oregonian to have his conviction expunged thanks to a 2021 bill passed by the Oregon Legislature that made such expungements possible.
In April of 2022, state business filings show, Hayes took over a graffiti removal company called Restore Nuisance Abatement. The company employs formerly incarcerated people of color. (Prior to that, he worked a number of trade jobs, including working as an electrician for four years. He earned the degree while in prison.)
Hayes’ cousin, Quanice Hayes, was killed by a Portland police officer in 2017 in Southeast Portland. (A grand jury declined to indict the officer, Andrew Hearst, who killed him.) Despite the killing of his cousin at the hands of a police officer, Hayes is a strong proponent of law enforcement and has been endorsed by the Portland Police Association, which represents sworn officers.
He’s received endorsements from City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez and Multnomah County District Attorney-elect Nathan Vasquez. The Portland Fire Fighters’ Association, which represents city firefighters, also endorsed Hayes. He could be found this summer and fall at election events and house parties alongside Vasquez, Gonzalez, and other tough-on-crime figures in local politics.
Hayes’ campaign unlocked $40,000 in matching taxpayer funds through the city’s Small Donor Elections program and he’s seen as a top contender in District 1, which has fewer serious candidates than any of the other three voting districts. Alongside former Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, Hayes is one of the few moderate candidates running in the district amidst a field of progressive-leaning candidates.
But court filings show that Hayes has struggled to pay his bills in recent years.
In August of 2023 in Nassau County Court in New York, a small business lending company called Byzfunder NY sued Hayes’ graffiti removal company, Restore Nuisance Abatement, for $63,000 in unpaid loans. The judge imposed a summary judgment, requiring Hayes’ company to pay the lending company $68,522 in total.
Hayes says he was the subject of a “predatory loan” taken out of “desperation and lack of my understanding”, and says he’s paying down those debts.
Hayes and his wife, Sanoba Hayes, were then sued in Multnomah County District Court in September 2023 by a former landlord that alleged the family had caused $10,000 of damage to a Vancouver, Wash. apartment including unpaid utility bills, damage to the walls, carpets and counters and junk leftover after the family moved out. The judge ordered the Hayes family pay all $10,000.
Hayes in an email said that the landlord pursued the lawsuit only after he learned Hayes had filed to run for City Council. However, Hayes first notified the city of his intent to participate in its public financing program in November 2023, two months after the landlord took the issue to court. Hayes conceded that he missed his court date, which resulted in the default judgment in favor of his landlord, but says it was partly because it was “during a time where we had many shootings In our city and that was my focus during that time.”
In 2019, another company of Hayes’, Hayes Electrical, was sued by a bank for $3,158 in outstanding credit payments. In 2022, Hayes was sued for alleged unpaid child support bills between 2012 and 2019 totaling $1,756. For four of those years, Hayes was in prison.
Hayes’ wife, Sanoba Hayes, joined Hayes’ graffiti abatement company in spring of 2022, shortly after she filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Oregon.
Hayes says he is “more than capable on looking at a budget and making wise decisions about spending.” He added: “Please don’t forget my story is not one of privilege and wealth but of hardship and work. No one handed me knowledge I had to learn through wins and losses!”