Rampant Conflicts of Interest in Oregon Exposed by Open the Books

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, has just written an eye-opening piece over at Forbes detailing indefensible, yet entirely legal, conflicts of interest in Oregon. 

Here are a few excerpts from his piece, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown And AG Ellen Rosenblum Blaze The Oregon Trail Of Political Patronage:

As the state contemplates an income tax hike, Oregon’s elites line their pockets with taxpayer money.

In 2016, as politicians across America were fleeing voter wrath, Oregon’s governor and attorney general were blazing an unlikely trail – accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from businesses with state contracts.

Since 1940, at the federal level, individuals and entities negotiating or working under federal contracts are prohibited from giving political cash to candidates, parties or committees. In Oregon, however, this political patronage is perfectly legal, at least for now. 

Our analysis at American Transparency (OpenTheBooks.com) found 207 state contractors gave $805,876 in campaign cash to Governor Kate Brown ($518,203) and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum ($287,673) since 2012. These businesses hold lifetime state contracts worth at least $2.6 billion. State contractor donations to the governor and attorney general represent 57 percent of current cash on hand in their campaign committees.

Here’s just one example (for many more, read the entire article)

We found 41 law firms holding state contracts with a lifetime value of nearly $50 million who gave political donations to Rosenblum ($196,093 in donations) and Brown ($89,958 in donations) since 2012. Oregon outsources legal work to these firms despite Rosenblum’s Department of Justice employing up to 1,228 staffers at an annual taxpayer cost of $74 million. Why put state employees to work when you can outsource it to potential donors? By comparison, the Attorneys General of Illinois and New York have 875 and 1,685 employees respectively.

Even in Illinois, where the number one manufactured product is corruption, it is illegal for state vendors with contracts over $50,000 to give campaign donations to statewide office holders. The 2011 Illinois law barred this “pay to play” practice in which contractors give campaign donations to powerful statewide office holders.

Methodology/Disclaimer: 

Upper-bound contractual payment limits are not actual billings or state payments. To the extent that the information contains government errors, our report will reproduce those errors. No quid pro quo or illegal activity by any elected official, company or individual referenced in this editorial is implied or intended. All state contract information referenced was produced via the Oregon Open Records law by the State of Oregon. Kate Brown was elected Oregon Secretary of State (top auditor) in 2008 and assumed to Governor in February 2015. Ellen Rosenblum was appointed Attorney General in June 2012 and twice won reelection.

Read the entire article here.

Open the Books is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on providing transparency in government. I’m honored to have them as a Liberty Blitzkrieg partner since 2015.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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