Recall 2 spokeswoman Avel Gordly told the Mercury in early January that the new campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams is "not about Kevin Mannix and what he supports or does not support." But at this point, it seems to be almost exclusively about the former head of the Republican Party in Oregon: Firms associated with Mannix and his associates have actually made more from the recall over the last 30 days than they have contributed to it!

• RECALL RECALL: POSITIVELY INVITING SATIRE, PARODY, AND RIDICULE AT THIS POINT

The campaign is on a 30-day reporting schedule, which means it has that long to declare any contribution or expenditure.

• KEVIN MANNIX (LEFT): FRIENDS IN UNPOPULAR PLACES

Mannix's firm Voice Of The Electorate—which used convicted sex offenders and fraudsters to gather signatures for the "No on 66/67" campaign last year—has contributed almost $1000 in in-kind donations by giving the campaign a downtown office and providing literature and brochure printing services.

• RECALL RECALL DONATIONS: LEAN, AND LEANING WAY RIGHT

Mannix's associates have actually made money back on the deal, however. Reporter Jim Redden at the Portland Tribune explains:

The largest payment reported to date is $1,938 to Northwest Media Strategies for matching phone numbers to the petition signatures gathered during the first effort. The firm’s president is Darren Kane, who is also vice president of marketing and accounts for Creative Strategies, which was founded by political consultant Jack Kane.
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Jack Kane served as an adviser to Mannix during his unsuccessful campaigns for Oregon governor, attorney general and Congress.

Update, 9:57: Mannix says he is not involved with the campaign.

"I'm bemused and detached," said Mannix. "It's an academic issue for me, it's up to the people of Portland, and I truly have stood back and said what will be will be. I think the story is, really, that I'm not involved."

Mannix says he is more focused on statewide "catch and release stuff" through the Oregon Anti Crime Alliance.

"As far as I know, Voice of the Electorate has not been circulating those petitions, but we were asked to stand by. We're punctilious about being aggressive with campaign finance reporting, so even if there were people on standby that we were paying wages to, we would report that as an in-kind contribution," he says.

Mannix has asked VOTE spokesman Ross Day to call the Mercury to explain further. He also says links to Kane are coincidental, and do not imply any conspiracy or puppetry on his part.

"If any Republicans are involved, some people may connect me through that, and yes, Jack Kane has been my consultant in the past but he is not my consultant any more. I don't currently have a consultant, in fact," he says.

Back to original post:
Giving credit where it's due, Redden was first to pull this morning's latest set of campaign finance reports from the second campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams. Oddly, I've noticed that Willamette Week seems to have stopped reporting on this story ever since the first recall—which it supported with a full-page editorial last year—failed in shambles. Does it support the second recall effort, too? Or is its ignoring the new effort meant to send a message of some sort?

Fortunately you don't need reporters, with all their ego and multitude of mixed motivations, to do all the hard work for you on this story. Thanks to the Secretary of State's office you can check up on the campaign contributions yourself if you go here, enter "Portland Future PAC," and look at "campaign finance activity."

Update, 10:18:
"We were renting some office space in downtown Portland and we allowed them to set up shop in there until they got themselves established," says Ross Day, who co-owns VOTE with Mannix. "We've since canceled our lease on that space, and it's up by March 10. They're supposed to be out, I thought. I'll have to check on that but my understanding is that they are already out of there."

What about the in-kind contribution of brochures?

"We printed out, they asked us to print the petition sheets and so we did that for 'em, but don't know if we're going to get reimbursed or not so we just reported it as a contribution," he says.

Has the second recall effort failed, then? Is $19,000 not enough to go forward?

"We haven't gotten, or heard word one from 'em," says Day. "So I can't tell you. It sounds like you know more than I do at this point. I'll be honest with you here, I've got pneumonia, and I've been out for the last week. So it sounds like you know more about this than I do."