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Rep. Lamar Wise (D-Southeast Portland) violated state ethics law by failing to properly disclose payment by the nonprofit Seeding Justice in his statement of economic interest.
At its Oct. 9 meeting, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted to formally investigate two possible ethics violations by Wise. At the time, he called the matter an honest mistake that he swiftly corrected.
At its regular meeting Friday, a stipulated final agreement, signed by Wise, is scheduled to go before the commission.
“The results of the Commission investigation, if submitted through exhibits and testimony at a contested case hearing, would establish a preponderance of evidence in support of a post-hearing order to find one violation of [Oregon law],” reads the agreement.
If the nine-member watchdog commission approves the agreement, Wise will receive a letter of education to close the case. A second possible violation will be dropped.
Wise, 35, represents House District 48, which encompasses Southeast Portland, Boring, Damascus and Pleasant Valley. In the recent election, he faced a well-funded challenge by Republican tech worker Andrew Morrison of Damascus. But in the end, Wise ran away with a 17-point margin of victory.
He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under state law, members of the Legislature must fill out annual statements of economic interest disclosing all sources of income exceeding $1,000 in the preceding calendar year. SEIs, as they’re called, are intended to promote transparency among public officials and identify potential conflicts of interest.
In January 2025, Wise—an organizer with Oregon AFSCME since 2019 and a familiar face in Oregon labor circles—received a $25,000 stipend from Seeding Justice, a Portland-based funder of social change programs. In November of that year, he was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the death of Democratic Rep. Hoa Nguyen. But when Wise filled out his 2026 statement of economic interest, he failed to identify the payment by Seeding Justice.
In a different section of the form, Wise also failed to list the names of active lobbyists with his employer, Oregon AFSCME, as required by state ethics law. This matter constituted the second alleged ethical violation investigated by the commission.
Wise has stated that once he was notified of the errors, he worked with the commission to correct them. He submitted an amendment to his 2026 statement of economic interest identifying Seeding Justice as a source of income and naming the lobbyists associated with Oregon AFSCME.
