Gov. Kate Brown refused to say on Thursday how many of her state-paid staffers also volunteer on her campaign.
Although Brown cannot run for re-election in 2022, she continues to fundraise and spend campaign cash on polls, ads, fundraising and political advisers. As of Thursday she reported raising more than $900,000 this year and spending nearly $500,000, according to campaign finance records.
And as The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on Aug. 3, at least one of Brown’s state staffers — deputy press secretary Nikki Fisher, who plans Brown’s events and handles messaging on topics including climate change and energy — has also volunteered on the governor’s campaign. Fisher, who was reimbursed $56 in July by the campaign for a lunch she paid for while volunteering, would not say whether any of her taxpayer-paid colleagues also volunteer on Brown’s campaign.
Oregon law prohibits public employees from engaging in political activity, whether to support a ballot initiative or political candidate, while they are working. Employees can work on campaigns on their own time, but elected officials and other government employers cannot require their employees to do such work. The issue arose during the 2016 secretary of state’s race, when it was reported that Democratic candidate Brad Avakian’s employees at the Bureau of Labor and Industries also volunteered for — and were paid bonuses by — his campaign.
During a call with reporters on Thursday, the governor also avoided answering questions about what Fisher does for her campaign and whether any other state staffers volunteer on Brown’s political effort.
“All of my state employees follow the rules and the law with regards to their employment,” Brown initially responded.
When the questions were re-stated, the governor said a reporter should direct the questions to her privately paid political adviser.
“You can get in touch with Thomas Wheatley and he’ll be happy to answer that question,” Brown said.
Asked whether she knows how many of her state staff volunteer on her campaign, Brown said, “Thomas Wheatley can provide that information to you.”
In an email, Wheatley wrote that “during her personal time, Nikki (Fisher) participated a discussion over lunch” with the campaign. He did not address whether Fisher volunteered with Brown’s campaign on other occasions, and he ignored a request for a list of any other state staffers in the governor’s office who volunteer on the campaign.
The governor’s campaign typically does not report payments to specific people, opting instead to report aggregate payroll spending. Oregon does not require campaigns to disclose individuals on their payrolls, something that is required at the federal level.
Thursday was the first time the governor answered questions about her ongoing campaign; she declined interview requests from The Oregonian/OregonLive for the story earlier this month.
The governor was more forthcoming when a reporter for OPB asked on Thursday why she continues to fundraise.
“I think it’s really important,” Brown told reporter Jeff Mapes. “We’ve had a very broad and aggressive agenda in my first four years as governor and I want to continue to defend that agenda and communicate with Oregonians.”
When Mapes asked whether it bothered the governor to accept large contributions from businesses with an interest in state policy, at the same time she is supporting an effort to allow campaign contribution limits in Oregon, Brown said it did not.
“I’m gonna follow the rules of the game, the rules of the campaign law,” Brown said.
Among the large contributions Brown has accepted recently are $10,000 from the dialysis giant DaVita, $10,000 from the Motor Vehicle Software Corporation which has a state contract and has donated to Brown before, and $10,000 each from the two major power companies in the state, Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp.
Money in Oregon politics also came up later in Brown’s news call, when reporter Claire Withycombe of the Oregon Capital Bureau asked whether the Oregon Legislature should change its rules to allow lawmakers to recuse themselves from a vote when they face a conflict of interest. Oregon House and Senate rules mandate that lawmakers who are present for a vote must participate, regardless of whether they have a conflict of interest.
Newspapers affiliated with the Capital Bureau have reported extensively on the overlap between Rep. Greg Smith’s role appropriating public dollars in the Legislature, and his multiple full-time jobs at economic development entities and Eastern Oregon University, which both receive state funding. Recently, the coverage made national headlines after a lawyer for Malheur County, which employs the Republican lawmaker from Heppner, asked the local sheriff to investigate reporters for calling Smith’s employees after business hours.
Brown said Oregon’s elected leaders “haven’t figured out what the alternative is” to requiring lawmakers to vote even when they have a conflict of interest. She suggested Smith’s situation is inevitable in a state with part-time lawmakers, who often need to earn income on top of their $31,000 annual salaries.
“One of the challenges is, Claire, is that when you have a citizen Legislature — and this is the broader context, right — when you have a citizen Legislature and expect people to continue to work in their outside jobs or in their day jobs while they’re serving as legislators, it provides frankly a wealth of experience and expertise and first-hand knowledge.
“At the same time, you are always challenged with these types of conflicts,” said Brown, who served nearly two decades in the Oregon Legislature. “That’s a balance and a tension that it’s important for the Legislature to continue to wrestle with and for Oregonians to continue to talk about.”
— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud
Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.