QuickTake:

The two candidates for East Lane commissioner have spent a combined total of more than half a million dollars on their campaigns beginning with the spring primary. They’re just getting started.

The two-way race between Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch and challenger Jake Pelroy is picking up as the candidates enter the fall campaign season.

Neither candidate obtained more than 50% of the vote in the three-way race in May that included Bob Zybach, setting the stage for a November runoff election.

The winner in November will be the commissioner for the East Lane District 5, which includes Cottage Grove, Creswell, Coburg and rural communities along the McKenzie River.

The race is already shaping up to be expensive: Pelroy and Buch have each spent more than six figures up to this point. What’s less clear is how much they’ll spend — and how far their money will last between now and the November election. 

On the campaign cash front, the two candidates appear to be far apart. Ahead of the May election, Pelroy burned through campaign cash at a faster rate than Buch, and he outspent her.

Pelroy’s account shows just $933 cash on hand as of Friday, Sept. 4, and his campaign has spent $314,790 this year, according to Secretary of State campaign filings. 

Meanwhile, Buch’s campaign reports $172,975 cash on hand. She’s spent $227,622 this year.  

“I feel really supported by the community,” said Buch, who is running for a third term. “We’ve had well over 1,000 individual donors between the primary and the general election showing strong community support.”

Pelroy’s campaign is not dormant: His campaign has billboard advertising, he’s meeting people and showing up at events.

“The support’s there,” Pelroy said. “We set records in the primary. The only reason I had to raise so much money is because she raised so much money.”

Campaign finance records show Pelroy’s top donor is Community Action Network, a political committee supported by timber, construction and fuel companies. Among them: Sierra Pacific Industries, Wildish Land Co., Goshen Forest Products and Swanson Brothers Lumber Co. The organization has given $66,000 to Pelroy’s campaign. 

Pelroy also has received $57,656 in donations from Kathleen Jones-McCann, whose family owned Seneca Sawmill before selling it to Sierra Pacific Industries in 2021. 

Buch’s top donors include Tom Bowerman ($15,000) and former state legislator Phil Barnhart ($12,000) and his wife Florence Barnhart ($12,000). Buch also has strong support from unions: $8,500 from Citizen Action for Political Education, a political action committee for the Service Employees International Union 503; and $7,500 from the political action committee for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 280. 

On paper, it looks like Pelroy is almost out of money. That’s not necessarily the case and it’s simply a reflection of how the campaign finance reporting schedules are set in Oregon under state law. 

Campaigns, and voters, for that matter, are now in a season when candidates have longer deadlines to report donations and expenditures to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, which publicly posts the data. 

For candidate donations and spending that takes place Aug. 31 to Sept. 21, the deadline to file contributions and expenditures is Sept. 29 under the state’s schedule. 

That tightens up as Election Day nears. From Sept. 22 to Election Day, Nov. 3, campaigns have seven days to report.  Earlier this year, the seven-day deadline started April 7, shortly before the May 19 election.

After the May election, campaigns have up to 30 days to report transactions that happen on or before Aug. 30. This means that the publicly available financial picture can change significantly.

Noting the lag in reporting, Pelroy said he expects to fund a full campaign. 

Both candidates disagree on issues but agree on at least one point: It’s a challenge to reach voters in the widespread rural district and there’s not one single tool to do that before Election Day.

It’s also harder to get the message out with fewer local media outlets, they said. The Highway 58 Herald and The Chronicle, both newspapers that covered small communities in the district, have shuttered in recent months, giving candidates fewer options. Other tools include digital media, mailers and billboards. 

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Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.