Letter to Editor of The Oregonian

The government of Oregon is being captured by big money.  Candidates for Governor spent over $80 million on their campaigns, doubling  the previous record of $40 million and 40-fold the amount spent in 1998.  Candidates for the Oregon Legislature spent over $41 million also setting a new record.  This does not count the portion of the $14 million spent by the "leadership committees" of the Democrats and Republican caucuses in the Oregon Legislature that was not contributed directly to candidates.

The top 10 Oregon Senate candidates spent an average of $1.5 million each; they spent around $50 per vote.  The top 10 Oregon House candidates spent an average of $867,000 each; they spent nearly $60 per vote.  One man alone contributed $5.25 million to candidates for Oregon Governor this year.

Oregon is one of 5 states with no enforced limits on campaign contributions.  The result is that Oregon campaigns are among the most expensive in the United States, making candidates dependent on and beholden to their huge donors.

Voters should demand that the Oregon Legislature, with Governor-elect Tina Kotek, enact effective campaign finance reform, including limits on campaign contributions and requiring that political ads name their largest funders.

Dan Meek
Volunteer, Honest Elections Oregon
honest-elections.com

Credit to Hillary Borrud and The Oregonian for the charts on donors to the candidates for Governor.

How the Democrats Held Majority in the Oregon House

The Democratic candidates for the Oregon House won by small margins in 6 races.  If they had lost those races, the Republicans would have a majority in the Oregon House.  Their total vote margin in those 6 races ended up at 4,159, as more votes for Democrats came in late.  The margins were:

1202 votes in HD 7
187 votes in HD 40
631 votes in HD 48
887 votes in HD 49
840 votes in HD 50
412 votes in HD 53

All those Democratic candidates were cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) and all displayed "Democratic, Independent" next to their names on the ballots.

IPO voter registrations in those districts are:

2557 in HD 7
2797 in HD 40
1795 in HD 48
1902 in HD 49
2059 in HD 50
3408 in HD 53

NAV registration in those districts is about 5-7 times higher than IPO registration.

IPO sent 4-page tabloids promoting IPO candidates to around 8000 voters in each of 18 House districts.

IPO cross-nominated 33 Democrats and 1 Republican seeking House seats (the Republican, Alistair Firmin, lost by 36%) .  In choosing candidates, IPO excluded election deniers, climate change deniers, and campaign finance reform opponents.