AG candidates spar over out of state contribution
By Doug DanielsThe race for Attorney General seems to be growing increasingly contentious, as the two Democratic candidates - John Kroger and Greg Macpherson – continued to spar Tuesday over the issue of out-of-state campaign contributions.
Macpherson first challenged Kroger, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at Lewis and Clark Law School, to commit to a limit on out-of-state fundraising during a joint appearance before the Portland Young Professionals, and then reissued his challenge through a statement released later in the day.
Referencing past ballot measures that would have imposed a 10% cap for all out-of-state contributions, Macpherson directly addressed Kroger’s large out-of-state donor base.
"I'm pledging to abide by the limits supported by a majority of Oregonians. And now I'm asking you to also honor the wishes of Oregon voters, and limit your out-of-state fundraising to no more than 10% of your total contributions," Macpherson said.
This seems to have ignited enormous anger within the Kroger camp, which insists he was “ambushed” by what they characterized as a negative, personal attack.
“This is not just politics as usual, this is the politics of desperation,” Kroger said. “When candidates have nothing to say about the issues, or their career, they get nasty. I’m a Marine Corps veteran. I have fought the mafia, drug lords, and Enron. I think I can handle Greg Macpherson.”
According to Macpherson’s people, 55% of Kroger’s donors have been from outside Oregon, as opposed to about 2% for Macpherson.
“Yes, I accepted contributions from fellow prosecutors who live outside Oregon who took on Enron and the mafia with me,” Kroger said. “I accepted money from environmentalists all over the nation who are excited about my endorsement by the Sierra Club and my plan to get tough on polluters. I accepted contributions from fellow Democrats that worked with me helping to elect President Bill Clinton. And I accepted money from my mom. I’m very proud of my career of public service, and I will fight as hard as I can to bring a positive tone to this campaign. My mom is proud of me too,” he said.
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Much of Kroger’s career
Much of Kroger’s career has taken place outside the state of Oregon. Naturally, one would expect much of his financial support to come from outside the state. Personally, I would like my representatives to have a longer tract record in my state but this is for voters to decide.
Just under 90% of Kroger's
Just under 90% of Kroger's money comes from Oregon, Texas (where he grew up), and New York (where he was a federal prosecutor). If you add in the two states he went to school in, MA and CT, and states that have large suburbs of neighboring states (WA for Portland and New Jersey for NY), that is nearly all of Kroger's money. Kroger has never run for office before, so its not surprising that family and friends from where he lived are giving him a lot of his early money.
Follow the Money
What a bogus issue. I'm a lot less worried about whether an out-of-state contributor (Mom) will try to influence Oregon AG than I am about the influence of the big money corporate clients of Greg Macpherson's law firm trying to influence decesions. Example: Macpherson was 1 of only 2 House members opposing SB 408 (2005) which guaranteed ratepayer relief from "phantom" income taxes charged to Pacific Power, PGE and other utility ratepayers but never paid to any government--millions not paid to the state or the fed, but taken out of customers' pockets. Why did he oppose it? He declared his conflict; his lawfirm represented PacifiCorp (now owned by Warren Buffet). Who is a bigger threat of unseemly influence--former prosecutor colleagues who respect you (Kroger)--or out of state corporations and genourmous billionaires who want to influende Oregon laws (Macpherson)?
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