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On May 27, WW first broke the news that Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is moonlighting as a contractor for the embattled La Mota cannabis dispensary chain—a job she took after her office audited the state agency that regulates cannabis.
Since that revelation, Oregon Democrats that received political contributions from the chain and its founders, Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares, are attempting to shake any association. They’re doing so by pledging an equivalent amount of donations contributed by the company and its founders to charities.
The total pledged so far to various nonprofits and charities is $131,300.
Yet other politicians who received contributions from the couple—whose companies and themselves have been issued more than $7 million in state and federal tax liens in recent years and have been sued in Oregon courts 30 times, many of the suits alleging nonpayment of bills—have remained mum since Thursday’s news.
The most notable? U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer. His campaign received $3,500 from Cazares in the spring of 2020. WW first reached out to his office on April 6, asking if he’d ever met with Cazares or Mitchell about cannabis. After all, he’s been a valiant supporter of federal legalization for nearly a decade now.
Four requests for comment since—including one asking if Blumenauer plans to give Cazares’ campaign contributions to charity, like many of his colleagues have done—have gone unanswered.
Update, Monday 8:30 p.m: A spokeswoman for Blumenauer says he will donate an equivalent amount to the Classroom Law Project and OMSI. “The Congressman occasionally hosts an Oregon cannabis industry roundtable with dozens of representatives from across the industry,” Hillary Barbour said. “We think Ms. Cazares has attended one of these, and we have no record of any one-on-one conversation.”
Below is a list of the politicians who, since Friday, have pledged to donate an equivalent amount of La Mota political contributions to charity. After that are the ones who haven’t.
Gov. Tina Kotek:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $68,365
Donation: $75,000 to the Oregon Food Bank
Senate President Rob Wagner
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $12,500
Donation: $12,500 to Habitat for Humanity
Senate Democratic Leadership Fund
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $10,000
Donation: $10,000 to Oregon Casa Network
FuturePAC House Builders
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $20,000
Donation: $20,000 to Lines for Life
State Treasurer Tobias Read:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $1,800
Donation: $2,000 to Portland Community College Foundation
Rep. Andrea Valderrama
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $500
Donation: Undecided, but she says she’s “leaning towards” the Black Futures Farm.
Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $7,500
Donation: Northwest Workers’ Justice Project for the Cannabis Worker Resilience Partnership
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $1,000
Donation: $1,000 to East Portland Neighbors
Rep. Dacia Grayber
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $1,000
Donation: $1,000 to the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project
Rep. Hoa Nguyen
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $500
Donation: $500 to the David Douglas Education Foundation
Rep. Annessa Hartman
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $500
Donation: $500 to either the Fathers Heart Ministry in Oregon City or the Gladstone Food Bank.
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $26,000 (Hoyle already returned $20,000 to Mitchell last year when Hoyle decided to run for Congress and dissolved the PAC set up to support her reelection as Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries commissioner.)
Donation: Not donated; returned to La Mota
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt:
Total from La Mota, Cazares, Mitchell and Cazares’ PAC: $2,000
Donation: Schmidt says he will give an equivalent amount to charity — but hasn’t decided which yet.
And here are the politicians who have not pledged to donate political contributions from Cazares, Mitchell, La Mota or Cazares’ PAC:
U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty, Beaverton City Councilor Ashley Hartmeier-Prigg (she says she’s used all her campaign funds but won’t accept further contributions from La Mota), Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, the Democratic Party of Oregon.