Fundraising by opponents of the proposed Eugene Clean Energy Fund has jumped in the closing weeks before the election, though supporters of the measure still hold a commanding financial lead.
Measure 20-388 would take a percentage of corporate retail profits to set up a new fund for climate projects. It reached the ballot after a successful petition drive earlier this year. Debate over the proposal has centered on how the fund would be managed and whether large companies would pass the fee on to customers.
The campaign opposing it, called Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene, had reported more than $130,000 as of Tuesday. That figure includes five-figure donations from the Oregon Business & Industry Issues PAC and the Grocery Retail PAC, and it is more than five times what the campaign had reported early this month. More than half of the money has gone to Rushlight, a Salem-based marketing firm.
Among the campaign's materials is a letter from Laura Sedwick, a Eugene resident and campaign volunteer, who called the initiative a "blank check with no accountability." A campaign representative shared the mailer with KLCC. "If you're willing, talk to a few neighbors," Sedwick wrote. "Most people haven't heard what's in this measure yet, and once they do, they vote no."
Supporters, by comparison, had reported raising more than $727,000 as of Tuesday, counting both the petition and ballot campaigns. Contributions include six-figure gifts from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters and the Breach Collective, an Oregon-based nonprofit. Aya Cockram, the initiative's co-chief petitioner and an Oregon Energy Transition Organizer with the Breach Collective, said the backing is broad. "It's national philanthropists and advocate groups that want to see this pass, as well as a huge number of local folks who are just really excited," Cockram said.
Supporters have put hundreds of thousands of dollars toward the advertising agency Untidy Origins and the strategy firm The Pivot Group. Residents have received messages from local business owners backing the measure, and one video ad says it would "make billion-dollar corporations pay their fair share." Dylan Plummer, a Sierra Club campaign advisor and Breach Collective co-founder, said the campaign had knocked on more than 17,300 doors and sent more than 90,000 texts as of Monday.
The campaign also announced Tuesday a tentative union deal with its staff, including paid canvassers, and described it as the first union of its kind in the country. Plummer said supporters had expected big businesses to spend more against the measure than they have so far, but that they remain watchful in the final days. He said the sponsoring organizations had spent years planning the campaign and building up funds for it.
Oregon law does not require campaigns to report contributions immediately, so the true totals for both sides could be higher than those on file.
A dispute over disclosure has also emerged. Earlier this month, supporters accused Stop the Hidden Tax on Eugene of failing to report two contributions totaling $40,000 by the required deadlines. Those contributions now appear in Oregon's online public records system, and the campaign lists them as filed on time, but the transaction dates in the contributors' filings differ from the campaign's. Supporters filed a complaint with the state elections division, saying it was implausible the campaign was unaware of the transactions earlier and that penalties should apply. The campaign told KLCC it had followed the law to the letter, adding that "it is a common political tactic to file frivolous campaign finance allegations."
