SALEM -- Cash from the fossil fuel industry? Another try at a "right to work" ballot measure? Looking to catch TV ads for the Republican trying to unseat Gov. Kate Brown?
Welcome back to our roundup of campaign finance highlights from Oregon's 2016 races. Here are this week's top five takeaways:
Fossil fuel pipelines: Oil Check Northwest, an anti-fossil-fuel environmentalist watchdog group that tracks political spending, put a number on how much money the industry has poured into Oregon since 2009: $7.9 million.
The figure, released in a report last week, comes from state campaign finance reports and data collected by nonpartisan money-in-politics organizations such as the National Institute for Money in State Politics.
So far this year, the report says Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, has received the most from fossil fuel interests, or just more than $2,500. In March, McKeown joined four Democrats in voting against controversial legislation enshrining the state's low-carbon fuel standard. Lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry are mulling over ballot measures to next year in hopes of repealing clean fuels.
About this roundup:
How much money is being spent in Oregon's 2016 campaigns? We're launching a weekly roundup to give you the highlights.
Oregon is one of six states with no limits on how much cash a campaign committee can collect, but campaigns must report every cent they earn and spend to a statewide database.
We routinely check those reports to keep tabs on how money is shaping our political system. Our weekly feature, typically posting Monday mornings, will spotlight transactions and trends in one convenient place.
McKeown has taken $1,000 apiece this year from Tesoro and the state's Natural Gas Political Action Committee, her campaign finance reports show. British Petroleum also kicked in $250. She also had a hotel stay paid by the Western States Petroleum Association, among of the most influential petroleum lobbying groups in Oregon, Washington and California.
She also has vigorously championed Coos Bay's proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal -- opposed by environmentalists but prized by players in the building trades unions.
Mostly, though, money in past years has flowed to Republicans. Notable recipients include House Minority Leader Mike McLane of Powell Butte, Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner, and swing district legislators such as Sen. Alan Olsen of Canby, and Rep. Julie Parrish of West Linn.
"Right to work" is back? Attorney Jill Gibson withdrew her past attempt at a measure that would let public employees avoid paying "agency fees" when they choose not to join unions -- after the state's ballot title emphasized the benefits those non-member employees would still receive because of union contracts.
Gibson, however, is trying again. And a new Public Employee Choice Act Committee just reported spending $2,000 on signature gatherers who helped the new initiative reach a major milestone. On Friday, the Secretary of State's Office found backers of the replacement proposal, Initiative Petition 69, had submitted enough names to deserve what those supporters are hoping will be a new ballot title.
Bud Pierce is spending a lot of money: After giving his consultant $100,000 to negotiate TV ad buys with Portland networks and state cable providers, Bud Pierce, the Republican oncologist hoping to unseat Democratic Gov. Kate Brown next fall, has less than $71,000 in the bank.
But that spending, according to publicly available contracts with TV stations, means Pierce is getting his name and message out to people who watch the evening news and programs such as Good Morning America and This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
Much of the $433,000 Pierce raised this year comes from two sources: $50,000 from a medical industry PAC and $250,000 from his family finances. The largest chunk of Pierce's money, nearly $177,000, has gone to consultant Chuck Adams, who runs the firm New Media Northwest.
Adams isn't keeping all of that money, of course. It's being used on staffing and campaign work -- and on paying for choice ad spots. But the TV money still seems poised to bring his firm a decent payout. Contracts with KATU and KPTV both show Adams receiving a 15 percent commission.
Brown, meanwhile, has more than $575,000 to spend, after raising more than $787,000 this year.
Taking charge: Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, has been on a fundraising tear since her fellow Democrats made her their new majority leader during a closed-door meeting Sept. 28. She's raised $41,000 since then -- almost all of the $49,600 she's collected since the legislative session ended in early July.
Caucus leaders, of course, are supposed to be diligent fundraisers. That's because they're expected to kick down money to help their party win tough races around the state. And Burdick's already begun. Since Oct. 20, records show, she's written a pair of $15,000 checks to Senate Democrats' campaign committee.
That's a touch more than Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, who's given $20,000.
Emptying the account: Bruce Hanna, who served as Republican co-speaker of the House during the 2011 session, is doing something similar in what appears to be his political retirement. Hanna has given House Republicans $14,500 this year -- led by a $5,000 check to McLane.
He says he's merely giving back some of the money he raised during his time in leadership. He's planning one more money dump and then, he says, he expects to close the account for good.
He also knows his campaign account currently lists him as a candidate in 2016. He's not, he assures: "I am not running," he said. "I'm just trying to do cleanup and get the money out to people who I know will do the right thing."
-- Denis C. Theriault
503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX