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Portland voters are learning a new political vocabulary this election. This week, the concept is “undue influence.” On Sept. 11, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade directed her Elections Division to open an investigation into donation-swapping agreements made by more than a dozen candidates running for the Portland City Council. The probe was a direct response to reporting by WW showing that candidates agreed to trade small contributions in order to unlock at least $40,000 in public campaign financing (“Swap Meet,” Sept. 11). Here’s what our readers had to say:
Jack Bogdanski, via wweek.com: “Emilie Boyles would be so proud. The whole taxpayer financing of these clown shows has been, and always will be, a mistake. Has it made Portland government better? No, just the opposite.”
Fat_Ryan_Gosling, via Reddit: “I’m guessing none of those folks are attorneys, or were receiving advice from an attorney. Whomever’s idea this was in the first place I think is in jeopardy of criminal charges, and the participants are at the very least in danger of losing their funding and are going to have to pay it back.”
Aesir_Auditor, in response: “But all because they did it under the agreement of trading.
“If they would’ve simply just donated to each other without any agreement of it being tit for that they’d be fine.
“It really shows you that we have a ton of candidates who have no idea how politics works, see an opportunity by the new structure, and are taking it.
“We need to be rooting these candidates out. Encouraging them to start smaller and work up to the City Council.”
Naomi Kaufman Price, via Twitter: “The new Portland City Council will be a total cesspool.”
ratfishtim, via wweek.com: “It’s not unusual for candidates to donate to one another, and the fact that it was happening here may be a sign that the positive campaigning that the new system was supposed to foster may actually be working. One would think that if this was against the rules, the city should have and would have said so during the candidate training they had—or otherwise provided such information to all candidates.
“Also interesting that Willamette Week is focusing on candidates giving token donations to each other—while not giving much ink to the millions of dollars that special interest groups are raising to support or oppose some numerous candidates—and really influence the outcome of the election.”
likethus, via Reddit: “Legal or not, gaming the system (collectively, no less) with a big saucy wink at the spirit of the law is gross.
“Sure, they’re all private citizens and it’s gotta be awfully tempting to join the ‘let’s all work together to get 10% of our required numbers knocked out,’ but it’s tacky and makes me think less of all of them if they don’t really get that.
“And that there isn’t explicit quid pro quo for most of them does not mean there wasn’t obvious collusion. You don’t accidentally have a bunch of people alight on this too-clever-by-half scheme on their own.”
Genderless Rodent - Meth Goose Appreciator, via Twitter: “Even if it’s not illegal, it’s a scummy ass move that goes against the spirit of the program and, in my opinion, makes these individuals poor candidates for office if they can’t respect it.”
OUT OF GEAR
The article about Premier Gear Building was so disheartening, I felt my stomach churn [”Finding Another Gear,” WW, Sept. 11]. Providing housing or shelter for the homeless and addiction treatment are Portland’s greatest needs. They should be the government’s responsibility and top priority. The various agencies have been failing miserably, getting stuck in “process,” and inertia. When the private sector steps up and provides them with a clear solution that needs some government support, the various parties—city, county, and state—can’t even step up to figure out a way to make it happen. Unfortunately, Ms. Sturgeon is not the first to present the public sector a promising proposal that our various officials killed. With this abysmal lack of leadership, Portland will never recover anything like its former character, and people will continue to flee our once-lovely city. Peggy Naumann Lake Oswego
Letters to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com