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The two leading candidates for Oregon governor faced questions today about ethics and whether they are giving the public a clear picture of their campaigns' finances.
Gov. John Kitzhaber and his challenger, Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point), appeared at a televised debate sponsored by the Oregon Association of Broadcasters this morning in Sunriver, and both were asked what they would do to guarantee their administration would operate in an ethical manner.
Richardson has said he'll pay $365 in fines levied by the state Elections Division for failing to report free housing he's been receiving during his campaign for governor.
The Oregonian first questioned the living arrangement in a Sept. 17 report. Richardson and his wife have being staying rent free at the home of friends in Lake Oswego during the campaign. That's considered to be a donation under state elections law, but Richardson had not reported it on his campaign finance reports.
Kitzhaber has been facing questions about why he hasn't disclosed the role of a key adviser who has been helping run his re-election campaign from behind the scenes. WW reported this week Kitzhaber has not disclosed either paying Patricia McCaig (as he did during his 2010 campaign) or receiving her consulting work as an in-kind contribution.
Richardson said his campaign would start to disclose the gift
of free housing and then quickly pivoted to McCaig, who worked for Kitzhaber as
an adviser on the Columbia River Crossing project and as a paid consultant to
the project's engineering firm, David Evans and Associates. Richardson said:
Kitzhaber said he's known for his transparency during a long political career, including 14 years in the Legislature and three terms as governor. He also defended McCaig.
Kitzhaber didn't explain why his campaign hasn't disclosed her contributions to the campaign. As WW reported this week, the Kitzhaber campaign shifted from describing McCaig as a volunteer, to acknowledging she will be paid and that the campaign will start to disclose her work.
Richardson, by the way, didn't have his facts quite right. He said McCaig was on the governor's staff. She was not. He also failed to mention the Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigated allegations of conflict of interest against McCaig and dismissed the case last year.
WWeek 2015