Who’s behind dark money group Priority Oregon? Part II: Knute Buehler edition
Who’s behind dark money group Priority Oregon? Part II: Knute Buehler edition
Several points of information make clear that Republican Gubernatorial hopeful Knute Buehler and “right flank” dark money group Priority Oregon are working together.
1. James Young, co-founder of Entek and a key backer of Priority Oregon, is one of Buehler’s top campaign contributors — $305,000 since 2011. An Entek email address and phone numbers were used to register the priorityoregon.com site.
2. Priority Oregon is running attack ads against Governor Kate Brown, Knute Buehler’s opponent. They have not released any ads in 2018 that do not explicitly mention Oregon’s current governor.
3. The Republican Governors Association gave $30,000 worth of research work to Priority Oregon on May 11, 2018. Less than one week later, the RGA launched a digital campaign against Kate Brown, to sway the election for Knute Buehler.
4. Kim Sordyl was featured in Priority Oregon’s most recent attack ad. She is also stumping for Knute Buehler and his campaign online.
Yet, questions still remain about who is behind Priority Oregon and how the group is funded.
Despite telling Jeff Mapes that the group would come clean on their finances, they have yet to disclose anything. The big money behind Priority Oregon remains a big secret.
Oregonians deserve to know what sorts of interests are peddling half truths and spending untold amounts of dark money in an attempt to influence state election.
So, it’s time to ask Knute Buehler, for the sake of transparency, who’s behind Priority Oregon? Clearly, either you or someone on your team is coordinating.The evidence shows strong links between the two groups, and it’s increasingly likely that these are not mere coincidences, but clear connections between the Buehler campaign and Priority Oregon.
Knute Buehler has a history of struggling with transparency — his financial records are murky at best. His office drags their feet in fulfilling public records request. He hasn’t had an open meeting with his Bend constituents in over 14 months. It makes sense, then, that he would cozy up to one of the least transparent organizations in Oregon politics, Priority Oregon.
