Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
Supporters of the ballot measure filed a complaint saying Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene reported contributions late. The group denies the allegations. The Secretary of State’s Office has 10 business days to decide whether to start an investigation.
A complaint filed Tuesday, Oct. 20, with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office alleges that the political action committee opposing the Eugene Clean Energy Fund ballot measure failed to report $40,000 in contributions on time.
The Eugene Clean Energy Fund, also known as Measure 20-388, would charge large retailers a 2% fee on gross profits from Eugene sales to fund clean energy programs.
Oregon law sets deadlines for campaigns to report when they are receiving or spending cash or in-kind contributions.
Generally, contributions and expenditures are to be reported within 30 days of the transaction. But in the six weeks before the election, the deadline shortens to seven days. That shortened seven-day window for reporting filings this election cycle began Sept. 22.
The complaint alleges that Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene, the name of the opposition political action committee, failed to report two transactions from the Oregon Bankers PAC and Grocery Retail PAC. Public records in ORESTAR, the Oregon Secretary of State’s campaign finance database, show the following:
- Oregon Bankers PAC logged Oct. 9 in its committee ledger as a cash contribution of $15,000 to Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene, paid by check Oct. 7.
- Grocery Retail PAC logged Oct. 14 in its committee ledger as a cash contribution of $25,000 to Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene, paid by check Oct. 7.
- Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene logged Oct. 20 it received both these contributions, with a transaction date of receipt Oct. 13.
In an email to Lookout, the Eugene Clean Energy Fund campaign said it filed the complaint. Its organizers believe that the opposition campaign received or knew about the contributions before Oct. 13.
The campaign sent the following statement from chief petitioner Aya Cockram, an organizer with Breach Collective, a nonprofit that supports the measure: “We already knew Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene is backed by big corporations, through their respective trade associations, but this revelation reinforces our concern that corporate dark money could be making its way into this campaign in ways that aren’t easily traceable.”
In an email, the Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene campaign sent the following statement: “We reported the receipt of the funds in the 7-day window as the law requires.” The spokesperson declined to have their name published.
Determining whether the contributions were reported on time falls to the state’s Elections Division, should it choose to open an investigation.
The Secretary of State’s office confirmed with Lookout Eugene-Springfield it received the complaint, dated Oct. 20. The Election Division takes about 10 business days to determine whether to open an investigation, which would be Nov. 4, the day after the election.
The complaint was signed by Danny Noonan, a co-founder of the Breach Collective. In the complaint, he wrote that late reporting “conceals the identities of donors” and creates the impression that the committee “has received less funding than it has in reality.”
With the two PAC contributions, the opposition campaign has reported raising $130,060 as of Oct. 21. That is more than three times more than the $38,360 it had reported Oct. 13, when Lookout last covered the campaign’s fundraising. At the time, most of the money came from Oregon Business & Industry’s PAC and the Eugene Chamber of Commerce’s PAC, called LIFT Lane.
The campaign supporting the Clean Energy Fund Eugene raised has raised $346,780.61.
Contributions have come from chapters of labor unions including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Smart Local; the Portland-based Northwest Health Foundation; and out-of-state groups including the Jane Fonda Climate PAC and Accelerator for America Action.
