Current News

The campaign to legalize political contribution limits in Oregon is heading into election season with less than $10,000 on hand, after spending heavily during the summer on staff salaries and a statewide poll by a Washington, D.C. firm. The poll found voters of every age, party and region of Oregon overwhelmingly favor campaign finance limits and disclosure requirements.

Oregon lawmakers are considering whether to adopt limits on how much individuals and groups can contribute to political candidates, after voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment in November to make clear such limits are allowed.

People who want Oregon to adopt campaign contribution limits on Tuesday acknowledged it looks increasingly unlikely the Legislature will pass limits this year, after a key lawmaker suggested scrapping limits and instead focusing on a public match program.

Oregon lawmakers’ interest in capping political money was never particularly high this session — no Democratic leaders listed it as a priority — and now appears to be withering.

House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, convened a group of Democratic lawmakers this spring to hammer out limits on political spending. But Tony Lapiz, Rayfield’s legislative director, told a House committee June 8 that the legislators couldn’t agree on a proposal during that process.

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 ...

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.

At Mutlnomah County, citizen involvement spiraled out of control last year.

The ruling reverses an earlier decision that barred the limits. The county elections division will implement the $500 individual cap on campaign contributions, spending limits and disclosure requirements for candidates moving forward.

In 2018, just outside Portland, Oregon, longtime Washington County District Attorney Bob Hermann announced his retirement. To those in the know, it was obvious that Kevin Barton, a moderate independent and Hermann’s longtime lieutenant, was the best man to fill the spot. Well-liked and with no Republican challengers, Barton was running unopposed. However, hundreds of miles away a “dark money” group with $10 million from Mark Zuckerberg and zero connection to Washington County decided that this was unacceptable. To them, it was obvious that Washington County really needed a high-dollar competitive election with a radical left-wing contender. The people just didn’t know it yet.

Academics and board members say it’s unlikely things will change anytime soon.

Cash from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg appears to have leaked into prosecutor races as part of his foundation's larger mission to reform the criminal justice system, a review of tax forms show.

As this year’s legislative session was nearing its end, Patrick Starnes, in a meeting with Gov. Kate Brown, said he got news he didn’t want to hear: Lawmakers wouldn’t be passing bills to reform the state’s campaign finance system.

The strongest belief that pulled me back into politics three years ago is this: we won’t make much headway solving Oregon’s core problems until we dramatically reduce the power of big money in Salem. ...

Letter to the editor

The 2021 session was supposed to be focused responding to wildfires and COVID-19, but lawmakers accomplished a great deal more in a tumultuous -- and historic -- five months.

Kate Titus and Eric Richardson call on Oregon legislators to stand up against Oregon special interests.

Oregonians who want credible campaign contribution limits and an independent commission to redraw legislative and congressional boundaries should organize behind initiative petitions that will accomplish what legislators refuse to do, the editorial board writes.

Oregon lawmakers are considering creating a public match program for state legislative candidates, similar to the system in Portland. It's the one possible win still available to advocates of campaign finance reform in the final weeks of the legislative session.

Bills to limit political contributions always faced an uphill battle in 2021. Now, a less contentious proposal to publicly finance campaigns faces skepticism in the Senate.

Oregon voters in November cleared the way for the state to impose campaign finance limits. Now the Legislature needs a plan.

Campaign finance databases reveal much about cultural values, political influence and interesting trends. We found that, and more, in a recent News-Register investigation ...

Our Oregon alleges that a committee to pay costs for Republican state senators participating in a walkout broke state campaign finance rules.