Hales Flip Flops on Out of State Money; Wheeler Takes it Too

Friday, October 16, 2015

Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Charlie Hales

In a departure from a pledge made during the 2012 Mayoral election, Charlie Hales’ re-election campaign has accepted large donations of over $600, including a $5,000 contribution from an out of state donor.

On Wednesday, the Hales’ campaign released records of campaign finance records for contributions received as recently as October 14. Among those records were several donations that violated Hales’ 2012 pledge not to accept donations of more than $600, and not to accept any contributions from out of state donors, including a pair of $10,000 donations and a $5,000 donation from an out of state contributor.

"From now on, this campaign will only accept contributions up to $600 and all from within the state of Oregon. And I call on Jefferson Smith to join me," Hales said in a statement during the 2012 campaign. "This is one pledge in one race. It won't cure all the ills of big money in politics. But it is a good start. And there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."

The 2012 Mayoral Primary was the most expensive in Portland’s history, prompting Smith, Hales’ opponent at the time, to call for limits to campaign fundraising. Hales, who out-fundraised Smith during the primary, then made the pledge.

Hales’ opponent in the race, State Treasurer Ted Wheeler (D) has also received two out of state contributions since declaring his candidacy. A $1,000 donation from Bill Dickey, a Vancouver, Washington resident and the CEO of Morel Inc., a commercial printing firm in Portland was accepted on September 21, and a $150 donation from Gregory Orland, a civil servant in Los Angeles, California was accepted on September 23.

Concerning Contributions

On September 24, Hales accepted a donation of $10,000 from Frank Foti, CEO of Vigor Industrial, a shipbuilding company located in downtown Portland. He accepted a donation of the same amount on September 28 from James Kelly, who is designated in the campaign finance report as "unemployed" from Kimberly. Kelly sold his business "Rejuvenation" to Williams-Sonoma.

On October 6, Hales accepted a $5,000 contribution from Ronald Wells, a retiree from Boca Raton, Florida. A native of New Jersey, Wells worked for decades in northern California as a real estate developer before retiring, including a stint as President and CEO of San Francisco-based Stacy and Witbeck Inc. He also accepted a $150 donation from Wendy Hoyt, an urban planner from Sacramento, California.

As GoLocal reported, 55 percent of Hales’ campaign contributions as of mid-September came from the real estate industry.

Sarah Bott, a consultant with the Hales’ re-election campaign, spoke with GoLocal and acknowledged the contributions and admitted they were over Hales’ self-imposed limits from the last election.

Bott also said that she did not believe the campaign would be following the 2012 pledge in this election.

“Yes, there were some contributions that were certainly higher than that number or came from different states,” Bott said. “I do not think that is the case this time around,” she said, referring to the pledge.”

A New Pledge?

When asked if the Hales campaign would consider adopting the pledge again, or adopting a new, similar limit on campaign contributions, Bott said that the subject had not yet been discussed.

“Mayor Hales is very busy running the city on a day-to-day basis,” Bott said. “He has not even officially announced his campaign yet and has a very busy schedule. He has obligations to the city and has not spent much time focusing on the campaign.”

Jake Weigler, a consultant for the Wheeler campaign, downplayed Wheeler’s contributions, saying they paled in comparison to what Hales received, particularly considering Wheeler’s largest out-of-state donor owns a business in Portland.

“Charlie has gone back and forth on this. First he is accepting large donors and contributions from out of the state, then he isn’t, then he is again,” Weigler said. “He’s all over the place.”

Weigler said that the campaign has not discussed a specific moratorium on donations of a certain amount or from out of state, but that Wheeler has called for other campaign finance reforms.

"Ted has pledged that all contributions to his campaign will be faithfully reported and publicly available for review,” Weigler said. “When Ted Wheeler makes a promise, voters can trust it is a promise he will keep. Ted has also already proposed significant new reforms, like preventing campaign consultants from lobbying the government leaders they help elect. And Ted has a history of doing more than promising - he will actually follow through."

Related Slideshow: SLIDESHOW: Ted Wheeler Announces Portland Mayoral Candidacy on Rooftop of Revolution Hall

Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler was joined by the press and many close friends, family members, and supporters on the rooftop of Revolution Hall off of SE Stark so that he could officially make his candidacy announcement for Portland mayor in the 2016 mayoral race.

Hales Flip Flops on Out of State Money; Wheeler Takes it Too

Concerning Contributions

A New Pledge?

Related Slideshow: SLIDESHOW: Ted Wheeler Announces Portland Mayoral Candidacy on Rooftop of Revolution Hall

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