Skip to main content
This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state.
As Oregon Republicans begin to turn their attention to next year’s elections, a fundraising scandal is rippling through their party.
In a state where Democrats hold three-fifths supermajorites in both chambers of the Legislature, every statewide office, and seven of eight congressional seats, a healthy opposition party is in every Oregonian’s interest.
But the aftermath of a Trump inauguration gala held Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., to benefit Republicans from the Willamette Valley, illustrates how far the Oregon GOP is from the professionalism required to make the party competitive.
Documents obtained by the Oregon Journalism Project, including findings of an internal investigation and a legal opinion by the state Republican party, reveal that instead of raising money and the party’s profile, the event led instead to allegations that a senior Oregon GOP official lined his own pockets at party expense.
That man, Donald J. Powers, serves as chairman of the 6th Congressional District Republicans. (The 6th District includes parts of Marion, Washington, Yamhill, Polk and Clackamas counties. Second-term U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, represents the district in Congress.) The district is purple—Democrats hold just a 5.1-point voter registration advantage over Republicans.
Powers, who owns a commercial lighting company in Clackamas County, got involved in GOP politics about five years ago. He was a plaintiff in a 2022 lawsuit that sought to end vote-by-mail, and ran (unsuccessfully) last year to be one of Oregon’s three representatives on the Republican National Committee. He did not respond to OJP’s phone, text or email messages seeking comment.
According to a June 30 GOP investigative report, Powers, 60, led preparations for the celebration for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District. The event he helped organize took place Jan. 20 at The Hamilton Live, a 600-capacity venue just two blocks from the White House, which, according to a reporter for The Bulwark who attended, is “a classy stalwart of dining and drinks for Washington’s political class.”
The invitation, circulated to Oregonians traveling to D.C. for the inauguration, promised some boldface names, including Trump ally Roger Stone and Siaka Massaquoi, a California Republican who’d been arrested for entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as “surprise guests, dancing, and a whole lotta MAGAbrating.”
Records from the GOP investigation show the event grossed somewhere between $138,000 and $178,000, including a $20,000 contribution from Cindy Sawyer, a Washington County resident and regular GOP donor. The net proceeds from the event remain unclear.
The Bulwark, a center-right political website, noted that attendees included Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser; Kari Lake, the Arizona newscaster turned U.S. Senate candidate; and “several right-wing members of the German parliament.”
But after the party ended, documents show, none of the proceeds made it back to the Oregon GOP’s 6th District political action committee, nor did officials report any revenues or expenses with the Federal Election Commission, which party officials say is required by law. (Powers made a $5,000 personal contribution to the Oregon Republican Party’s federal account May 16. The source of that contribution is unclear.)
Finally, on May 30, Helen Heller, a Washington County activist and the vice chair of the Oregon GOP in the 6th District (Powers’ second in command), laid out her concerns in an email to the party’s state central committee.
Heller said things went wrong from the start. “Sponsors asked for CD’s ORESTAR ID to transfer funds but Don instructed him to send the money to his personal account, instead,” Heller wrote, saying that for six months she and others had sought an accounting. “As of today, CD 6 has received none of the funds and no disbursements or full financial records have been provided.”
A panel of Oregon Republican Party officials convened to look into what happened to the money. On June 30, that panel sent a memo of its findings to Oregon Republican Party chair Connie Whelchel, a Redmond insurance consultant. (Whelchel declined to comment for this story.)
“Gross sales exceeded $138,000, but the flow of funds is not clear. CD6 Chair Powers directed sponsorships to his personal or unrelated accounts and did not provide financial records to the CD6 Treasurer or committee,” the report says. “It is imperative that immediate corrective action be made by the ORP to ensure compliance, restore donor trust and protect the integrity of the Oregon Republican Party.”
Bill Currier, a Benton County resident who served as Republican state chair from 2015 to 2021, says what he’s learned about Powers’ actions is deeply concerning.
“What I see, quite frankly, looks like criminal activity,” Currier says. “Not only does it violate state and federal reporting requirements, but you’ve used the name of the Republican party to raise the money then used it for another purpose.”
As OJP reported earlier this year, the Oregon Republican Party has sometimes struggled to vet its leaders. Newly elected party chairman Gerald Cummings abruptly resigned after OJP reported on allegations leveled by his ex-wife (“Elephant in the Room,” OJP, April 9).
Don Powers became chair of the 6th District party in 2024. It’s not clear if those who elected him for the role were aware that he had been engaged in a dispute with Roseburg Forest Products Co. since 2023.
On April 2 of this year, Roseburg Forest Products sued Powers and his company, NW LED Lights Inc., in Douglas County Circuit Court. Roseburg alleged that after installing new lighting at its plant in Riddle, Ore., Powers submitted a “fraudulent” claim to the Energy Trust of Oregon, which sent $129,787 to Powers’ company rather than Roseburg Forest Products. In his response to the lawsuit, filed June 14, Powers admitted his company received the money meant for his client of 10 years, but said it did so “inadvertently.”
Powers explained that his company “was experiencing severe operational disruptions due to a series of overwhelming internal and external challenges, including shipping delays, staffing shortages, a very large and honest internal error resulting in a serious cash flow crises.”
He added that the company was in no position to repay the money. “[NW LED Lights] has become financially insolvent and is no longer operating as a going concern,” he added. (Roseburg’s attorney declined to comment. The case is pending.)
For somebody seeking to gain stature in Republican circles, Powers picked the wrong outfit to trifle with: Roseburg Forest Products is one of the state’s largest natural resource companies and a major political donor, having given nearly $1.5 million to various candidates and campaigns—mostly Republican leaning—in the past five years.
But the findings of the ORP investigators suggest Powers’ position in the party is likely to be short-lived. The panel left no doubt that its members, party officials from around the state, found Powers’ handling of the fundraiser disturbing.
“Powers’ assertion that the event was personal and exempt from reporting is contradicted by all the other evidence, which substantiates the fact that CD6 Chair Powers was acting as an agent of CD6 and as such, of the Oregon Republican Party,” the June 30 investigation report says.
The report goes on to recommend that Powers pay the net proceeds from the event to the party and to reimburse any fines that might be levied for failure to report; that he resign from his chairmanship of the 6th District Republicans; and that he agree to stay out of Oregon politics for five years.
“If Mr. Powers refuses to cooperate fully,” the report concludes, “then this committee recommends that these matters be referred to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.”
The state party, which created the congressional district subgroups, is running away from Powers as fast as it can. In a July 17 email to state central committee members, Whelchel, the party chair, said the party’s attorney believes it bears no responsibility for Powers, and she plans to share the investigative report only “in a limited, in-person format to select stakeholders.”
“The Oregon Republican Party is not liable for the actions or decisions that occurred in connection with the CD 6 event,” Whelchel wrote. “While we acknowledge that some individuals could have been negatively impacted, the appropriate channels for resolution reside outside the ORP.”
Currier, the former party chair, says he finds that response disappointing: “What I’m seeing here is an apparent attempt to cover up Don’s actions by not sharing the information. I am aghast.”
