Campaign Finance Reform - in Oregon

State ethics watchdogs have launched a full investigation into former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s conduct while in office.

New campaign finance filings show Senator Wyden and Rep. Hoyle have belatedly purged their campaign coffers of legally and/or politically suspect contributions

Fagan, once a rising star in Oregon Democratic politics, has said she broke the public’s trust in taking the $10,000-a-month consulting contract.

Professor Renée Irvin has developed a new method for evaluating fundraising groups

Anheuser-Busch gave $49,250 to the Jobs Political Action Committee in Oregon on Tuesday.

Longtime political and education editor Betsy Hammond joins Therese Bottomly to talk about the recently completed legislative session.

Letter to the editor

Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, writes that big-dollar contributions to elected officials and Oregonians' distaste for such donations underscore the simple need for Oregon to adopt strong campaign finance regulations.

Letter to the editor

As the Eugene School District 4J election wraps up, so does the campaign spending. Lawn signs are slowly being taken out of yards, and advertisements on Facebook and in local newspapers have stoppe…

While Oregonians have shown many times that they want campaign finance reform, House Bill 2714 - which concentrates the power to make large or unlimited donations in the hands of far fewer entities - isn't the answer.

The current version of House Bill 2680, which would set campaign finance limits, has too many flaws and loopholes embedded in it to do anything to alter the influence of big money in Oregon politics, the editorial board writes. Legislators should ditch HB 2680, revive the more straightforward HB 3343 instead and enact the kinds of limits that Oregonians want.

Despite headlines over the past several months showing why campaign contribution limits are so critical, legislators have been unable to pass a bill with robust, fair caps, the editorial board writes. Legislators need to focus on such a bill for the February short session, or voters will have to do it for them.

This year’s 160-day Oregon legislative session featured a 42-day walkout by conservative senators, all Republican except our own Brian Boquist, a longtime Republican ...

Oregon's lack of campaign finance restrictions means legislators can give as much money to each other's campaigns as they like. And they have.

The Oregon law dealing with ethics itself raises ethical questions.

The limits would give Oregon its first controls on campaign money in more than two decades.

The Oregon House passed a trio of campaign finance reform bills Thursday, including one bringing the state a step closer to limiting contributions.

Oregon is one of only five states to have absolutely no limits on how much money can be donated to political campaigns. But lawmakers took a step to change that Thursday, when the House passed a measure approving the state's first campaign contribution limits in decades. The proposal caps contributions to House and Senate candidates at $1,000 and $1,500, respectively. Contributions to all other statewide candidates would be capped at $2,800.

Former Independent Party gubernatorial nominee Patrick Starnes writes that the word "unlimited" does not belong in any bill about campaign finance reform. He urges Oregonians to contact state senators to add caps to HB 2714.

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is one of only five states to have absolutely no limits on how much money can be donated to political campaigns.