PORTLAND, Ore. — An investigation found "insufficient" evidence that Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, who is running for mayor, violated campaign finance law for using city funds to edit his own Wikipedia page.
The City of Portland Auditor's Office called its decision "an exceedingly close call" and referred the matter to the Oregon Secretary of State's Office for a "fuller investigation" to determine whether city employees engaged in prohibited political activities or if Gonzalez violated the law by asking employees to participate in political advocacy during working hours.
“We are pleased to see the Auditor’s office has deemed insufficient evidence in this complaint," Gonzalez's campaign said in a statement. "We will continue to focus on what's important in this election. Portlanders want a Mayor who is focused on addressing the issues facing our city: homelessness, public safety and making Portland the beautiful and healthy city it can be.”
In August, a board member for the organization Portland for All filed a formal complaint with the city, pointing to $6,400 in city funds Gonzalez's office used to edit his Wikipedia page. The Portland auditor's investigation found that claim to be undisputedly true.
The auditor's office said Gonzalez used the city funds to hire an independent contractor, WhiteHatWiki, to help make a series of edits to Gonzalez's Wikipedia page, namely to remove a section saying that he was "criticized" in a Portland Mercury article for tagging a member of a far-right group, Patriot Prayer, on X, formally known as Twitter.
Another edit requested by Gonzalez's staff, on his behalf, related to "key elements of his mayoral platform," which the auditor's office said had "no obvious relation" to city business.
In total, Gonzalez was aware of and approved eight edits to his Wikipedia page and used WhiteHatWiki's services to help, the auditor's office said.
According to WhiteHatWiki's website, the contractor provides "Wikipedia strategy and problem solving, including crisis management" services.
"Depending on the particular facts and circumstances, such conduct could constitute a campaign finance violation," the auditor's office said. "In this particular case, there is mixed evidence about the motivations behind the Wikipedia edit project spearheaded by Gonzalez’s office."
Due to this, the auditor's office said that there is not strong enough evidence to determine "that it is more likely than not" Gonzalez used city funds for his candidacy and not his role as a commissioner — despite some of the facts suggesting otherwise.
But this is not the final ruling. The auditor's office said that it could revoke its determination within the next 30 days, if any additional evidence is received that would alter their ruling. Because of the short timeline to the investigation, the auditor's office is still waiting on documents from a public records request with the city.
During the investigation, Gonzalez and his staff were interviewed and provided emails and other documents. The auditor's office said that not all documents requested have been received.