HONEST ELECTIONS MULTNOMAH COUNTY

For immediate release:
April 06, 2017

For more information, contact:

Multnomah County Commission votes to throw voter-enacted campaign finance reform measure into the courts, without defending it

Today the Multnomah County Commission voted to throw the voter-enacted campaign finance reform Charter Amendment (Measure 26-184) into the courts, without defending it from any claims that is it not valid or constitutional.

Voters enacted Measure 26-184 by a count of 89% to 11%.

"Throwing the measure into court, without defending its validity or constitutionality, is certainly not implementing the will of the voters, who clearly demanded campaign finance reform," said David Delk of the Alliance for Democracy and Honest Elections Multnomah County, the group that spearheaded the campaign for Measure 26-184.

"The corporations and other donors can now challenge Measure 26-184 and not face a defense from the Multnomah County Attorney," noted Dan Meek, volunteer attorney for Honest Elections Multnomah County.

The measure amended the Multnomah County Charter to:

1. Requires that each Communication (defined) to voters related to a Multnomah County Candidate Election prominently disclose the five largest true original sources of funding (in excess of $500) for the Communication.

2. Limits contributions to support or oppose candidates for public office in Multnomah County elections to $500 per person or political committee.

3. Requires any entity that spends more than $750 per election cycle on independent expenditures to register as a political committee, which requires reporting of the sources of its funding.

4. Limits independent expenditures in any Multnomah County candidate race to:

• $5,000 per individual
• $10,000 per political committee, but only from contributions by individuals of $500 or less per year.

For more information: honest-elections.com info@honest-elections.com