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Last week WW reported that emails exchanged in August between candidates for the Portland City Council revealed that a handful of candidates were agreeing to exchange campaign contributions with one another in pursuit of unlocking public financing dollars for their campaigns.
Three elections experts and attorneys say donation swapping is a violation of Oregon Revised Statute 260.665, which prohibits “undue influence” when soliciting campaign contributions. The Oregon secretary of state’s office, which administers elections law, declined to comment, saying it won’t weigh in without having done a full investigation.
Now additional emails obtained over the weekend show that another five candidates for city office—four City Council candidates and one candidate for mayor—also agreed to swap donations.
Update, Wednesday 9:20 a.m.: New emails obtained by WW show that two other candidates appear to agree to swap donations: Luke Zak in District 3 and Cayle Tern in District 1.
The candidates are Eric Zimmerman, a leading candidate in District 4; two other candidates in that district, former Alaskan mayor Bob Weinstein and small business owner Ben Hufford; and District 1 candidate Thomas Shervey. Liv Osthus, the famed Portland stripper running for mayor, is also seen in emails agreeing to swap donations.
On Aug. 9, Hufford wrote in an email thread among fellow candidates in which they discussed donation-swapping: “Happy to do 1 or 2 at $5-$20. Let me know and I’m in.”
Thomas Shervey wrote 30 minutes later in an email, in what appears to be a response to Hufford: “Just waiting for my paycheck to reciprocate!”
On that same day, Zimmerman wrote in the email thread: “Happy to help and reciprocate folks.”
On Aug. 20 Bob Weinstein wrote: “I’d be glad to reciprocate with anyone who hasn’t already done so with me. Let me know directly.”
Osthus, the mayoral candidate, chimed in shortly after: “I’ll reciprocate donations! My campaign is SO close to 750.”
Zimmerman says he’s sought guidance from the Secretary of State’s office. “They’re the only compliance authority that matters in this situation, and we need to hear from them.”
Osthus, who is running for mayor, said in an email that she’s “certain no one who traded suspected they were doing anything wrong. After all, this is a group where we can air questions to make sure we comply with the many laws. It’s odd to me in retrospect that no one broached that donation trading might run afoul of campaign finance law. I chalk up this oversight to the incredibly supportive nature of this group.”
Weinstein and Hufford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Initial emails from the thread obtained last week showed that candidates Michael Trimble, Michael DiNapoli, Chad Lykins and Sam Sachs all agreed to reciprocate donations with fellow candidates.
The candidates refrained from admitting any wrongdoing last week. DiNapoli said he was “confident in saying that there was no ‘undue influence’ in being asked for support and/or lending support for any other candidate.”
Lykins said he has sought guidance from the Secretary of State’s office and goes to “great lengths to comply with city and state rules.” (He later pledged to return the donations at issue.) Trimble took issue with WW’s premise that his willingness to swap donations would appear to be illegal. “‘Would appear’ is not the same as ‘actually is,’” Trimble said in a text.
Tern in District 1 wrote: “When folks asked, I decided to help. When I helped, I didn’t expect them to return the favor even if it was the proposed agreement. I just wanted to help those that needed help if they reached out.”