PORTLAND, Ore. — Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's mayoral campaign has been fined $9,180 by the Portland Auditor's Office for a series of campaign finance law violations during the 2024 election season. Gonzalez was one of three current city commissioners who ran for Portland mayor, a race which was ultimately won by political newcomer Keith Wilson.
The Rene for Portland campaign accepted a total of 18 contributions that exceeded the limits mandated by the city's charter, for a total overage of $3,060, according to a Thursday news release from the Auditor's Office. The resulting fine is three times the value of the overage.
The contributions were eventually refunded, according to the Auditor's Office, but not within the 7-day grace period. The refunds took "weeks or months" or, in the longest case, 223 days.
Eight of the contributors have also been fined, according to the office, with a penalty of two times the overage amount, ranging from $42 to $1,082. All of the contributors in question were first-time violators. The Auditor's Office said it raised the penalty to three times the overage for the Gonzalez campaign itself because of "the repetitive nature of the violations."
"Campaign finance limits were initiated and approved by Portland voters in 2018 by a wide margin," Elections Division Manager Deborah Scroggin said in a statement. "Ultimately, it is every campaign's duty to comply with the City Charter's campaign finance regulations and issue timely refunds when a campaign receives an unlawful contribution. We urge all campaigns to take financial bookkeeping seriously to avoid putting their campaigns and contributors at risk."
The investigation into the violations began with a complaint received by the Auditor's Office on Oct. 17. The complaint cited campaign transaction records in Oregon's ORESTAR campaign finance database to allege "dozens" of violations.
Portland prohibits candidates from accepting more than $579 in total contributions from any one individual person or political committee, with certain exceptions. The investigation ultimately confirmed 18 contributions to the Gonzalez campaign that ranged from $21 to $841 over the legal limit.
Several other cases flagged in the complaint were not found to be violations because they consisted of an initial contribution of less than $579 and then a second contribution after Gonzalez joined the Small Donor Elections Program. The program has its own contribution limit of $350 per donor, but those contributions essentially don't count toward the separate $579 limit.
"There is, admittedly, a loophole here that the Gonzalez campaign made use of, but it is a legal one," Chief Deputy Auditor Reed Bordersen wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to the Gonzalez campaign.
This is the third time the Auditor's Office has cited the Gonzalez campaign for a violation. The first and most prominent case involved a complaint that Gonzalez had spent city funds to pay to have his Wikipedia page edited in a way that would benefit his campaign.
The Auditor's Office initially issued a finding of no violation in September, but then announced in early October that it was withdrawing its determination and reopening the case in response to new evidence. A revised determination issued Oct. 21 said the campaign did in fact commit a violation and issued a $2,400 fine.
The second case involved a complaint that the campaign had publicly displayed a large banner without including a required disclaimer to state who paid for it. That case also resulted in a determination of a violation on Oct. 3, although in that case the only penalty was a warning letter.
