April 26, 2004
City Posts Campaign Finance Reports Online
Access To Money Trails Now Open To All
We came home from our routine visit to our downtown branch office (otherwise known as the downtown Stumptown Coffee Roasters) to find that whopping 41 emails sitting in our Portland Online folder, where all notifications of new content to the City's website end up.
At it turns out, these were notifications of new content as described by the City Auditor in one of the messages:
The Federal Elections Commission and many other states and local jurisdictions are posting campaign finance reports on the internet. Some Oregon jurisdictions are posting reports on-line, including the City of Eugene and the Secretary of State's Elections Division, which posts the smaller supplements to the Pre and Post Election reports.
My office will be exploring online reporting options as part of our campaign finance reform proposal. In the meantime, we will begin posting complete campaign finance information for the May 2004 Primary Election on the City Elections Website in PDF format. We anticipate posting the 1st Pre-election reports already filed in my office by the end of this week, and will begin posting the 2nd Pre-Election reports when they are filed on May 6th.
All of these reports will be available from a central page, which currently is ready and waiting with the first seventeen 1st Pre-Election reports for the accounting period which closed on April 1, 2004.
For those of us who have not had the chance to sit for hours at City Hall culling through these reports, we now get to play the game of campaign finance research for ourselves.
Have at 'em.
Comments (28)
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
If you spot any interesting names in any of these reports, post them here. We'll do sort of a "who's who" of notable people.
I'll start.
Local historian E. Kimbark MacColl gave Jim Francesconi $500 on October 17, 2003.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Mark Wattles, CEO of Hollywood Entertainment, gave Francesconi a whopping $10,000 on November 13, 2003.
(No, I'm not picking on Francesconi's reports, it's just that they are the first one's I am reading.)
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
There's an Alexandra Mazziotti who so far (we're into the second part of the multi-part Francesconi report, so this figure is only as of November of 2003) in our reading gave Francesconi $300. We are not sure if she is related to Don Mazziotti, executive director of the Portland Development Commissioner -- but I'm willing to bet a reader knows and can fill us in.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Ed Grosswiler gave $1,000 to Francesconi on November 18. 2003. I'm not sure if this is before or after he became the spokesman for Francesconi's campaign.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Still in the early timeframe, but as of November 18, 2003, the Rose Quarter had given Francesconi $3,750.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On November 26, 2003, RB Pamplin Corporation gave Francesconi $10,000.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Neighborhood insurgent candidate Leonard Gard (before he was running for City Council) gave Francesconi $200 on December 26, 2003.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On January 12, 2004, Naito Corp gave Francesconi $5,000.
Cicolini on 26 Apr 2004
Can you post how to sign up to get updates from the City website?
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
At the top of the City website there are links to sign up for an account on the site and then "subscribe" to various update lists the site makes available.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On February 6, 2004, County Chair Diane Linn gave Francesconi $100.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
As of Feburary 20, 2004, Schnitzer Investment Group had given Francesconi a total of $5,700.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On Feburary 27, 2004, Robert Pamplin Corporation gave Francesconi another $10,000, bringing its total contribution to that date to a massive $20,000.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Here's a good one, perhaps worth an item of its own later on.
On February 27, 2004, local real estate bigwig Melvin Mark gave Francesconi $125. Problem is, the campaign forgot to fill out the "contributor aggregate" portion of this entry, which needed to happen because way back on November 5, 2003, Mark gave Francesconi $1,000. The contributor aggregate entry for the Februrary 27 contribution shuld read "$1,125" but instead remains entirely blank.
Oops.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Oops. Found another one.
On December 26, 2003, one Christina Lee contributed $50.00 to Francesconi. And then on February 27, 2004, Lee contributed $125 -- but the campaign neglected to fill out the "contributor aggregate" slot for the entry, which should read (but doesn't) "$175" total.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Switching over to Phil Busse's CFRs (we thought it was fair to do his next, since we're anti-Francesconi but pro-Busse), we notice that Ashley Henry -- of the Nick Fish campaign -- gave $100 on March 27, 2004.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Schnitzer Investment Group also contributed $5,000 to Sam Adams on February 6, 2004.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
RB Pamplin Corporation gave Adams $2,000 on Feburary 19, 2004.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Rose Quarter gave $1,000 to Adams on February 24, 2004.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
As of March 31, 2004 (as far as we've gotten reading so far), AFSCME Local 189 gaves a total of $12,500 to Nick Fish.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On March 1, 2004, Comcast gave Fish $3,000. They gave to other candidates we've mentioned here, too, but we forgot to post those.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
On October 20, 2003 (I think Fish's reports were posted online in reverse order), Gerding Edlen Development Company (they've done work in the Pearl, amongst other places in town) gave Fish $5,000.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Hoyt Street Properties gave Fish $1,000 on March 23, 2004. They are another one that's given to at least one of the other candidates I've mentioned so far but we forgot to post them.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Melvin Mark also gave $1,000 to Fish on January 13, 2004.
The One True b!X on 26 Apr 2004
Rose Quarter also gave Fish $1,000, on Feburary 21, 2004.
Karin on 27 Apr 2004
A little old man living on SSI gave Tom Potter $10 and wished he could do more. And, folks, that's the truth.
Karin on 27 Apr 2004
A little old man living on SSI gave Tom Potter $10 and wished he could do more. And, folks, that's the truth.
Charlene on 19 May 2004
Contributor Alexandra Mazziotti has the same name as the wife of PDC Director Don Mazziotti