Good news for Portland?
An attempt by the downtown business community to overturn a new city law providing public financing to candidates running for city office may have failed.
The First Things First Committee, the group put together by the Portland Buinsess Alliance to fight public financing of campaigns (and therefore keeping downtown business interests firmly in the driver’s seat of Portland politics), turned in over 40,000 signatures to put their issue on the ballot. They only needed 26,691 signatures. It turns out many of their signatures weren’t real. So many false or duplicate signatures have been counted that the business effort might not make the 26,691 cutoff.
Here’s my question: is the Portland Business Alliance so desperate to keep their hold on power that they or their allies would turn in false names – an illegal act? Or is the downtown business community just a little more incompetent than we give them credit for?
Blue Oregon has all the details.
Stay tuned for the final outcome.
Related Post: Portland Business Alliance: Profits Before Open Democracy
