Auditor’s Office finds Rene Gonzalez violated City’s campaign finance law by accepting 18 contributions over Charter-mandated limits, assesses penalty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 14, 2024

Contact:

Deborah Scroggin, Elections Division Manager

Yesterday, the City of Portland Auditor’s Office issued a determination following an investigation into a complaint that Rene Gonzalez’s campaign, Rene for Portland, violated campaign finance law. The Office finds the campaign in violation for accepting funds from several contributors over the City Charter-mandated contribution limits totaling a $3,060 overage. As a result of the violations, the Office assesses the Rene for Portland campaign a penalty of three times the unlawful contribution, or $9,180.

On October 17, 2024, the Elections Office, a Division within the Auditor’s Office, received a complaint alleging that Rene Gonzalez’s campaign had violated Portland’s campaign finance law — which is enforced by the Auditor’s Office — by receiving dozens of unlawful contributions. The complaint included a detailed spreadsheet of transaction with information downloaded from the statewide campaign finance database (ORESTAR).

Rene for Portland and multiple contributors found in violation

The City’s Charter limits amounts and sources of candidate contributions. Candidates can receive, and contributors can make, only the following contributions: 1) up to $579 from individuals or political committees, 2) any amount participating candidates in the City’s Small Donor Elections program allows, and 3) any amount from qualifying “Small Donor Committees.” After receiving the complaint, the Auditor’s Office conducted a thorough investigation. The Auditor’s Office reviewed the transactions, confirmed their veracity, and considered Rene for Portland’s and several contributors’ responses to its inquiries.  As described in the determination letter, the Auditor’s Office concluded that the Rene for Portland campaign accepted several contributions in violation of the Charter’s $579 limit, ranging from $21 to $841 over the limit. The unlawful contributions total $3,060.

These unlawful contributions were not otherwise allowed by the City’s Small Donor Elections Program and were repeated in nature. In addition, while all of the unlawful contributions were refunded, they were not refunded during the 7-day grace period that City regulations extend to campaigns and contributors.  Instead, the campaign took weeks or months to refund the unlawful contributions, with the longest period being 223 days after the unlawful contribution.

In addition, several contributors violated the City Charter’s limits by giving more than $579 to the Rene for Portland campaign and are assessed the minimum penalty under City Charter — which is two times the amount of the unlawful contribution. Contributors were all first-time violators of the City’s campaign finance law.

Other transactions highlighted by complainant not in violation

Several other transactions highlighted by the complainant and listed in the determination letter were found not to be in violation. In contrast to the above contributions, these sets of transactions span a time both before and after Rene Gonzalez was a participating candidate in Small Donor Elections program. Taken in aggregate, the contributions are over the Charter-mandated limit, but taken individually, the second set of contributions was found to be allowable by the City’s Small Donor Elections program and therefore allowable under City Charter. As discussed in the determination letter, for this set of transactions, none of the contributors giving to the campaign were found in violation nor was the Rene for Portland campaign in violation for receiving them.

Penalty reflects repeated nature of violations, resources available to the Rene for Portland campaign

The Auditor’s Office finds that the repetitive nature of the violations along with the campaign’s access to numerous resources throughout the elections cycle requires an increased penalty from two to three times the amount of the unlawful contributions.

The Auditor’s Office offers free trainings to candidates and the public on the City ‘s campaign finance law, and publishes a campaign finance manual on its website that is regularly updated. In its trainings, the Auditor’s Office strongly encourages candidates to educate their own donors about contribution limits so that donors do not violate the law.

“Campaign finance limits were initiated and approved by Portland voters in 2018 by a wide margin. Ultimately, it is every campaign’s duty to comply with the City Charter’s campaign finance regulations and issue timely refunds when a campaign receives an unlawful contribution. We urge all campaigns to take financial bookkeeping seriously to avoid putting their campaigns and contributors at risk.” said Deborah Scroggin, Elections Division Manager.