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Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly. |
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closeThe state’s Public Disclosure Commission on a 3-2 vote last week determined that the Oregon Death With Dignity Political Action Fund must identify donors who are providing the money it is contributing to the Initiative 1000 campaign.
It was no easy call, judging by the staff report and the split commission. Chairman Ken Schellberg and Dave Seabrook voted against it. Commissioners Jim Clements, Jane Noland and Bill Brumsickle voted to require the additional disclosure.
The organization is the single largest donor to the I-1000 campaign, providing $313,350 of the more than $1.8 million the campaign has most recently reported having raised.
But it has disclosed the sources of only $123,380 of that money under the auspices of being an out of state political committee. Such committees only have to report donations they’ve received during the current calendar year. And they don’t have to report any out of state donations save for donors who have contributed at least $2,500.
But the commission decided the PAC should be required to provide a fuller accounting of where the money it’s spending in Washington has come from. Agency spokeswoman Lori Anderson said Tuesday it’s unclear how or when that full accounting will take place.
She said the near $190,000 in unaccounted for contributions was simply too much.
“We just want the public to know where the rest of the money came from,” she said.
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