October 16, 2003
(Updated) Attorneys With Ties To Private Utility Industry Pad List Of Contributors To Bogus 'Citizens' Group Opposing PUD
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
We already know that the vast majority of the money backing the Citizens Against the Government Takeover is coming from Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp (which does business in Oregon under the name Pacific Power). But who are the other financial contributors?
According to the Summary Statement of Contributions and Expenditures filed by the group and dated as received by the Director of Elections on September 29 (the document was being distributed by the Oregon Public Power Coalition at its event in Pioneer Courthouse Square yesterday): four work for PGE (two of these are listed as executives with the company); four work for PacifiCorp (three of these are listed as executives with the company); one is an executive with NW Natural; twenty-three are listed as being either lawyers or attorneys; and ten are either from (or are) other companies, retired, or have no occupation listed.
It's the lawyers and attorneys I want to address here. Having spent part of last night and part of this afternoon searching the Web, I can now report on their links to the local private electrical industry.
Of the twenty-three contributors listed as lawyers or attorneys: fifteen of them are (or have been) affiliated with Stoel Rives LLP, a law firm with ties to Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp; and two are affiliated more directly with PGE. Of the remaining six, at least one has ties to PacifiCorp.
This would, no doubt, explain why Brian Gard (of Gard & Gerber, the PR firm behind the group which also has counted PGE among its major clients) at yesterday's Portland Business Alliance forum requested contributions from those assembled, explaining that it was "crucial that the message be sent this campaign is supported by lots and lots of people, not just PGE."
Update
Unbeknownst to me, although not at all surprisingly, the local media sat down to dig into this as well. KGW has an analysis whose headline itself ("Anti-PGE takeover group fueled by utility industry, not citizens") exposes the industry-backed nature of the front group. It does not, however, identify the industry ties of the lawyers and attorneys who pad out the list of contributors.