Ice storms and Other Chilling Effects.

Welcome to the January edition of Stump Talk.

January 2024 will forever be remembered for the epic winter storm that blanketed the Rose City in ice for several days.

The streets may now be clear, but candidates enrolled in the city’s public campaign financing program could be losing traction for a different reason.

Small Donor Elections – the city’s 2016 initiative to take big money out of politics – is facing a roughly $7 million shortfall due to record participation.

With a whopping fourteen city seats up for election, nearly fifty candidates have joined the program. This contrasts sharply with the 2020 and 2022 elections, which attracted sixteen and seven participants, respectively.

Small Donor Elections offers a 9-1 public match on the first $20 from individual Portland donors. The Portland Elections Commission, which oversees the program, has unsuccessfully called on the city council to boost its budget. As a result, in a somber meeting on January 17, the commission slashed available public financing for mayoral candidates by almost 90% from $750,000 to $100,000. Council candidates saw their maximum public match drop 60% from $300,000 to $120,000.

“Even though we’re required to make this decision to ensure solvency for the program, it was difficult for every single commissioner to accept how deeply underfunded the program is,” Election Commission Chair Amy Sample Ward told Rose City Reform.

Lower match caps could freeze out mayoral challengers.

Why the deeper cuts for mayoral campaigns? The Elections Commission thinks candidates running for mayor are more likely to attract outside support from well-funded interest groups. During deliberations, a more drastic reduction to $50,000 was considered. However, commission member Kevin Neely argued that such a severe cutback could skew the election in favor of the three council members running for mayor.

“It almost ensures that an outside candidate has zero chance of winning,” Neely said, noting that city commissioners Gonzalez, Mapps, and Rubio have all used the program to fund their previous campaigns and build their name recognition. (According to the City of Portland, Gonzalez collected roughly $443,000 from the program in 2022, while Mapps and Rubio received around $374,000 and $164,000 for their 2020 races.)

Amy Sample Ward says the Elections Commission will increase the public match if the city council finds more money for the program. Likewise, if some candidates don't qualify for public dollars (they must participate in training and collect a minimum number of small donations), there could be more money for those who do. The commission is also considering raising the maximum political contribution Portlanders can make from $350 to $500, Ward said.

Council vote could get awkward for those enrolled in the program.

As spring budget talks approach, council members who are enrolled in Small Donor Elections may face a dilemma. Boosting funding for the program could seem self-serving while opposing an increase could be viewed as giving themselves an unfair advantage.

All current city commissioners are running for office and have filed to receive matching funds. While Gonzalez, Mapps, and Rubio are vying for mayor, Dan Ryan is a council candidate in District 2 (he has received approximately $459,000 in matching public funds over two previous election cycles). Mayor Wheeler, responsible for preparing the budget, will not seek re-election.

At the January 17 meeting, it was still unclear if council members participating in the program could debate and vote on its funding. Shortly thereafter, Bob Weinstein, a District 4 candidate, sought guidance from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission about whether participating commissioners had a conflict of interest. The response: no conflict exists since the funds would benefit their campaigns, not the commissioners personally.

The Portland City Attorney's office has now advised the Elections Commission that all council members are free to weigh in on the program's funding, Susan Mottet, director of the Small Donor elections program, told Rose City Reform.

“Now that the City Attorney’s Office is saying that councilmembers who are running for office using the program can amend the mayor’s budget proposal for Small Donor Elections, the Portland Elections Commission won’t know how much funding the program will have until June 2024,” Mottet said, adding that no changes will be made to the match caps until the outcome of that vote is known.

Council candidates urge the city council to fund the program.

The uncertainty of the program’s funding could mean that some participating candidates have to wait until the summer to make critical strategic decisions, such as whether to hire campaign staff.

Bob Weinstein says the council should fully fund the Small Donor Elections program as soon as possible.

“Voters want and deserve clean elections and equal representation. I urge the Council not to let them down,” he said.

Chad Lykins, who’s also running for council in District 4, attended the Elections Commission’s meeting on behalf of a dozen council candidates calling for more funding.

“This is the only time the council will have twelve open council seats. The City should look at this election as a one-time-only investment in good governance, election integrity, and making sure that our new council is chosen by Portlanders and not lobbyists," said Lykins, a former public policy professor and the founder of Rose City Chess, an organization running camps and after-school programs throughout Oregon.

Amy Ward says Portland’s city council should consider adopting a funding formula that provides sustainable funding for the Small Donor Elections Program.

”I’m hopeful that the new city council will see the value of doing that," they concluded.

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Should the city council allocate additional funding to the Small Donor Elections program? Contact the mayor and the city council with your opinion here.

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What else happened in January?

• City Commissioner Carmen Rubio joined the race for Portland’s mayor, challenging her council colleagues Rene Gonzalez and Mingus Mapps. Rubio, a self-described “no-drama leader,” spoke about her decision to run on KOIN’s Eye on NW Politics.

• Cayle Tern, who unsuccessfully ran for state legislature in 2021, is a new candidate in District 1. Tern is a community advocate and organizer with Apano, which supports Oregon’s Asian and Pacific American communities.

• City Commissioner Dan Ryan announced his run for council in District 2. Ryan was a guest on KGW’s Straight Talk, where he said Portlanders want “less ideology and more pragmatic solutions.” Ryan politely declined to endorse any of his colleagues for mayor.

• In addition to Ryan, two new candidates have declared their candidacies in District 2. Tiffani Penson is a people and culture manager at the City of Portland and serves on the board of directors of Portland Community College. Jennifer Park is a programs director for The Shadow Project, a nonprofit supporting children with learning or attention challenges.

• Bob Weinstein, a former city councilor and mayor of Ketchikan, Alaska, is running for council in District 4. Also running in District 4: energy economist Mitch Green and environmental justice advocate Andra Vltavín.

• For more media links and information, head over to Rose City Reform’s candidate tracker.

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Top fundraisers according to the City of Portland:

1. Rene Gonzalez (Mayor) $92,494*.

2. Mingus Mapps (Mayor): $44,031*.

3. Angelita Morillo (Council District 3): $32,413

4. Olivia Clark (Council District 4): $28,061.

5. Steph Routh (Council District 1): $26,921.

Source: Portland’s Small Donor Elections Program.

*The totals for Gonzalez and Mapps include carryover funds from a previous campaign cycle.

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Candidates for Portland Mayor:

Declared (most recent on top)

1. Carmen Rubio (Current City Commissioner)

2. Rene Gonzalez (Current City Commissioner)

3. Durrell Kinsey Bey (Youth Essentials Coordinator, Reap, Inc.)

4. Mingus Mapps (Current City Commissioner)

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Candidates for Portland City Council:

Each district elects three representatives.

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DISTRICT 1 - EAST PORTLAND

Declared (most recent on top)

1. Cayle Tern (Community Advocate and Organizer, Apano)

2. Terrence Hayes (President, Restore Nuisance Abatement)

3. Thomas Shervey (Office Assistant, Multnomah County)

4. Candace Avalos (Executive Director, Verde)

5. Deian Salazar (Autism Rights Advocate)

6. Jamie Dunphy (Government Relations Director, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network)

7. David Linn (Executive Assistant, Oregon Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology)

8. Timur Ender (Project Manager, WSP)

9. Steph Routh (Organizational Development Consultant, Steph Routh & Team)

Potential

• Sonja McKenzie (candidate committee)

• Former County Commissioner Loretta Smith (rumored)

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DISTRICT 2 - NORTH/NORTHEAST

Declared (most recent on top)

1. Jennifer Park (Programs Director, The Shadow Project)

2. Dan Ryan (Portland City Commissioner)

3. Tiffani Penson (People & Culture Manager, City of Portland))

4. Alan Blake (information pending)

5. Reuben Berlin (Banker, U.S. Bank)

6. Laura Streib (Executive Director, Vibe of Portland)

7. Jonathan Tasini (Organizational and Communications Strategist)

8. James Armstrong (President, Alberta Eye Care)

9. Mariah Hudson (Senior Communications Specialist, OHSU)

10. John Middleton (Entrepreneur)

11. Marc Koller (Senior Learning Consultant)

12. Christopher Olson (Communication Specialist, Neighborhood Health Center,)

13. Brooklyn Sherman (Bus Driver, Portland Public Schools)

14. David Burnell (Substance Abuse Counselor, Fora Health)

15. Debbie Kitchin (Owner, InterWorks LLC)

Potential

• Former Mayor Sam Adams (rumored)

• PPS School Board Chair Michelle dePass (rumored)

• Marnie Glickman (rumored)

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District 3 - Central/Southeast

Declared (most recent on top)

1. Steve Novick (Attorney, former City Commissioner)

2. Rex Burkholder (Strategy and Story guy, The Oxalis Group)

3. Tiffany Koyama Lane (Teacher, Portland Public Schools)

4. Matthew Anderson (Air Force Veteran)

5. Daniel DeMelo (Software Engineer, Appfigures)

6. Robin Ye (Political Director, East County Rising)

7. Angelita Morillo (Policy Advocate, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon)

8. Jesse Cornett (Client District Manager, ADP)

9. Sandeep Bali (Pharmacist, CVS)

10. Chris Flanary (Housing Program Specialist, City of Portland)

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District 4 - West

Declared (most recent on top)

1. Mitch Green (Army Veteran, Energy Economist & Professor)

2. Andra Vltavín (Environmental Justice Advocate)

3. Bob Weinstein (Neighborhood Activist, Former Mayor of Ketchikan, Alaska)

4. Eli Arnold (Police Officer, City of Portland)

5. Moses Ross (Chair, Multnomah Neighborhood Association, Community Activist)

6. Michael DiNapoli (Event Technology Engineer, People's AV Co.)

7. Sarah Silkie (Engineer, City of Portland)

8. Olivia Clark, (Neighborhood Activist, Former Legislative Director)

9. Chad Lykins (Founder, Rose City Chess)

10. Tony Morse (Policy & Advocacy Director, Oregon Recovers)

Potential

• County Commissioner Sharon Meieran (rumored)

• Nik Blosser (rumored)

• Soren Underdal (candidate committee)

• Stephen Hall (candidate committee)

• John Toran (candidate committee)

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Candidates for Portland Auditor

Declared

Simone Rede (Portland City Auditor)

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