Subscriber Special: Is OR Gov. Kate Brown Forcing Taxpayers to Fund Her Campaign?

September 14, 2018 08:00 AM

"By campaigning under the guise of 'official' business, Governor Kate Brown is keeping Oregon’s "new day" permanently beyond the horizon."

According to Oregon law, public funds cannot be used for a political purpose. Yet, data we’ve compiled at OpenTheBooks.com shows a troubling pattern of Governor Kate Brown mixing taxpayer-funded travel with campaign fundraising events.

Our auditors found Brown repeatedly blurred the lines between state agency resources and campaign activities – for years. Here are some examples:

On May 10, 2018, Brown was the commencement speaker at the University of Colorado Boulder. Over a two-day period, the governor’s office, which includes her security detail, racked up $8,277 in expenses including hotels ($4,148), airline flights ($2,222) and rental car charges ($1,046). The trip was packed with ten campaign events. Brown spent only four hours on Boulder’s campus.

During the week of February 22, 2018, Brown attended the National Governor’s Association conference in Washington, D.C. Landing two days early, Brown scheduled twelve campaign events. In total, Brown spent a full day and a half of the three-day trip campaigning. Taxpayers paid $11,984 in total charges including airfare ($5,796), the expensive Marriott hotel near the White House ($4,627), car rental ($927), plus food and beverage costs ($600).

On February 2, 2018, Brown flew to Seattle to share a panel discussion with Governor Jay Inslee on the topic of off-shore drilling. Once she arrived, Brown did four campaign events in six hours. Oregon taxpayers covered nearly $2,000 in costs including airfare ($1,156) and charges at the self-proclaimed "best wine bar in Seattle" ($79).

Brown is exercising the power of incumbency and engaging in old-school politicking on the public’s dime. Repeatedly using taxpayer money to lower the cost of campaigning and leveraging her office to raise campaign cash seems to be a violation of Oregon law, and the governor’s ethics standards.