This Week in the Mercury

Here's What You Missed

Music

Here's What You Missed

A Brief History of Cafeteria Dance Fever


Tom Bissell Writes What He Wants

Books

Tom Bissell Writes What He Wants

Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation Is a Book of Essays About Things!



  |  

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Election 2012 / City Hall Street Roots Crunches Cash Reports in Mayoral Race—Makes Case for Return of Voter-Owned Elections

Posted by Denis C. Theriault on Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 3:14 PM

I'm still sore that Portlanders, way back in 2010, ditched voter-owned elections. Check out the following chart from Street Roots:

Screen_shot_2012-01-11_at_2.40.35_PM.png

See that first column of percentages? That means each of the major candidates in this year's mayoral race—even East Portland state Representative Jefferson Smith—is relying on checks from a small pool of wealthy people to spread their messages and run their campaigns.

Smith, at least, is at just 52 percent. Some 80 percent of checks written to Charlie Hales, the former city commissioner and current transit consultant, have been for at least $1,000. And businesswoman Eileen Brady isn't much better, at 65 percent. (In fact, she's received more large contributions than Hales has raised in total.)

Click here and read the rest of Street Roots' examination of mayoral fundraising—which was assembled and crunched by Janice Thompson of Common Cause. Thompson was a big backer of the push to preserve voter-owned elections in 2010. And her analysis makes a good case for why we never should have let it go.

 

Comments (10) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
Just to be clear, under Voter-owned elections, even the candidates who didn't use the system generally limited themselves to maximum contributions of $500. It took all of one election cycle to revert to the big bucks behavior. Sigh...
Posted by Chris Smith on January 11, 2012 at 3:49 PM · Report
2
The $90k that Emily Boyles still owes the city and Jason Cornett's crash and burn campaign are reason enough to scrap voter owned elections.
Posted by Chuck Garabedian on January 11, 2012 at 4:03 PM · Report
3
I don't understand the "even East Portland state Representative Jefferson Smith" part. That's written as if this should surprise someone. Should it?
Posted by ($8239f8h248cerfehjf23@&*@ebdjhb23f237OCDBO#BD*(# on January 11, 2012 at 5:04 PM · Report
4
It would be *really* surprising if it were Amanda Fritz.

But remember this Hall Monitor from the fall: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/ha…
Posted by Denis C. Theriault on January 11, 2012 at 6:07 PM · Report
5
Also, Chuck, what Chris said.
Posted by Denis C. Theriault on January 11, 2012 at 6:07 PM · Report
6
I guess people thought Jefferson Smith would be the "left" candidate in the election, when they all suck.

But the order of suckiness seems to be follow their +$1000 percentages, we will probably get Eileen who will promptly try to sell out the city to the highest bidder.
Posted by Ardennes on January 11, 2012 at 8:21 PM · Report
7
Luckily, the voters saw through the failed 'voter owned' experiment.
Posted by frankieb on January 12, 2012 at 1:03 AM · Report
8
@Ardennes, I get it: despite the fact that he has previously accepted lobbyist/corporation/PAC money in his legislative races, he should be expected to be some sacred progressive hero because he made some jabs at the other candidates for taking big money.
Posted by ($8239f8h248cerfehjf23@&*@ebdjhb23f237OCDBO#BD*(# on January 12, 2012 at 8:26 AM · Report
9
Campaign spending is about the only growth industry in Portland.

If you want a cap on donations, put it to the voters. You don't keep a shitty program like "voter owned elections" for the ancillary benefits.
Posted by Chuck Garabedian on January 12, 2012 at 8:45 AM · Report
10
Your phrasing is misleading. It's not "80 percent of checks written
to Charlie Hales... have been for at least $1000", but rather, "80
percent of the money contributed has been in the form of checks for at
least $1000." If you're looking at the number of checks themselves,
only 5% of the checks were for > $1000.

Another interesting number is $199,010 / 45 == $4422.
Posted by Belmont on January 12, 2012 at 9:31 AM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use