Political spending on the Oregon governor’s race exceeded $37 million this cycle, fueled by public employee unions, one in-state mega donor, and national political parties and advocacy groups.
With campaign finance filings now showing transactions through Election Day, it’s clearer exactly how much Democratic Gov. Kate Brown spent to win re-election and how much Republican Rep. Knute Buehler poured into trying to unseat her.
Together, Brown and Buehler spent roughly double the previous record of $18 million set by Democrat John Kitzhaber and Republican Chris Dudley in 2010.
Brown raised approximately $18.5 million and spent $16.4 million through three political action committees she directed this cycle, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive’s analysis of campaign finance data. The governor is still sitting on nearly $1 million in cash in her primary political action committee.
Buehler raised $19.3 million and spent nearly all of it through one political action committee, according to state records.
Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, said the public generally opposes big political spending, but political parties and deep-pocketed donors oppose contribution limits. Oregon has no political contribution limits, thanks to broad free speech protections in the state Constitution.
“The people already get it and they’re furious about the situation,” Titus said. “It’s the political parties and the big money spenders in the elections that need to wake up to it and make a change.”
A week before the Nov. 6 election deadline, Independent Party of Oregon candidate Patrick Starnes dropped out of the race and endorsed Brown after asking her to pass a bill referring a constitutional amendment to voters that would allow campaign contribution limits. The governor did not publicly commit to passing such a bill in 2019, and her spokesman Chris Pair did not respond to a question Tuesday afternoon about whether she plans to introduce legislation.
“Maybe now in a situation where she’s not running for office and can provide riskier leadership, she might stand up and really champion a move forward,” Titus said of Brown and contribution limits.
Meanwhile, a group of citizen activists is once again trying to get voters to amend the Constitution to allow contribution limits. Dan Meek, a Portland attorney involved in the effort, said volunteers are now collecting the 117,578 signatures necessary to put Initiative Petition 1 on the 2020 ballot, after prevailing against objections raised by Trent Lutz, a registered lobbyist for Oregon’s statewide teachers union and former executive director of the Democratic Party of Oregon. They also faced opposition from Kyle Markley, chair of the Libertarian Party of Oregon, who is now trying to get a judge to stop the effort, Meek said.
Oregon’s powerful public employee unions provided a large chunk of Brown’s support: roughly $3.3 million in contributions to her three political action committees.
She also received $2 million from the Democratic Governors Association; $827,000 from EMILY’s List, the Washington, D.C.-based group that supports Democratic pro-choice women candidates; and $750,000 from Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
The Oregon League of Conservation Voters gave the governor $745,000 and Barbara Lee, a self-described “philanthropic activist” from Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave Brown more than $160,000. Nike gave her $110,000.
Buehler’s largest individual donor was Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who gave the Bend Republican $2.5 million directly and also sent $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. The governors’ group gave Buehler a total of $3.4 million, according to state campaign finance records.
Newberg dental equipment company CEO George Austin, Jr. gave Buehler nearly $347,000 and Henry “Hank” Swigert, the former chairman of Portland industrial manufacturer ESCO donated $258,000 to the Republican’s campaign.
– Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com |503-294-4034 | @hborrud