Corporate Funded PAC’s Hire Democrats to Defeat Grassroots Campaign in Lincoln County. Did it Work?

Measure 21–177 in Lincoln County would ban aerial spraying of pesticides on clear cut forests. Corporate funded PAC’s opposed it and they hired Democrats to help them defeat it. Consultants connected to Obama, Gore, Ron Wyden and the Kerry-Edwards campaign lined up for the corporate cash.

Where the Corporate Cash Came From?

The measure was opposed by several corporate funded PAC’s, making donations of $10,000 and $30,000 at a time. Oregon Forest Industries Council PAC and Oregonians for Food and Shelter PAC provided most of the funds to fight the grassroots measure. The PAC’s used the corporate cash to hire Democrats to help them defeat the grassroots campaign.

Oregonians for Food and Shelter sounds nice but is a front for corporations like Monsanto and Dow Chemicals.

Oregon Forest Industries PAC gets its money from Koch Industries, owned by the infamous Koch brothers. They also receive large donations from Weyerhaeuser and Oregon based Stimpson Lumber. Oregonians for Food and Shelter sounds nice but is a front for corporations like Monsanto and Dow Chemicals.

Which Democrats Got Paid

Portland based political consultant Stacy Dycus made about $44,000 trying to defeat Measure 21–177. Dycus operates under the business name ProspectPDX. Her client list includes Portland area Democrats Steve Novick, Jules Bailey and Jefferson Smith. ProspectPDX also collected over $110,00 from energy companies to defeat a sustainable energy measure in Coos Bay.

Making Obama Proud? — Democrats Triple Dipping the Corporate Cash

Hilltop Public Solutions made about $13,000 for their work against the measure. Hilltops Oregon team consists of Colin Cochran and Jake Wiegler.

• Jake Weigler was Campaign Manager for U.S. Senator Ron Wyden in 2010. After that he moved on to consultant gigs.
• Colin Cochran was Campaign Manager for U.S. Representative David Woo (D — Hillsboro) in 2008. He was also Campaign Manager for Danny Boyle in his run for Beaverton Mayor.

Revolution Field Strategies received over $25,000 for it’s work against the people of Lincoln county. Senior leadership at the company worked for the Obama campaign in 2012 and the DNC.

• Pete Kavanaugh — President of Revolution Field Strategies and a partner at Hilltop Public Solutions. Served as the New Hampshire State Director for President Obama’s re-election campaign.
• Alex Carabelli, a Principal at the firm, was an Election Analyst with the DNC’s Targeting Department.
• Patrick Sheridan-Rossi lists himself as Co-chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s Field Services Committee. The MassDems.org website lists someone different as Co-Chair of that committee. An older version of the website does list Patrick as a member of the campaign services committee.

Brushfire Strategies LLC took in over $20,000 from the anti-measure 21–177 campaign. It is the second company with direct ties to Hilltop Public Solutions. According to the Linkedin profile for Brushfire Strategies it has two employees. And both of them also list Hilltop Public Solutions as an employer. Hilltop promotes them as part of their Idaho based team on its website.

Hilltop Public Solutions, using different names, collected $60,000 from the corporate backed campaign. They collected another $15,000, under the Hilltop and Brushfire Strategies names, from the Oregon Forest Industries PAC. This was in addition to their work against Measure 21–177.

Al Gore Would not be Happy

Greenlight Media Strategies, based out of Brooklyn New York, took in almost $30,000 for their work against Measure 21–177. The founding partner at Greenlight Media list her past experience as Tennessee Field Director for Al Gore. The firms other partner was the Political Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee in 2010.

Potomac Waves is another Democratic leaning political consulting group that took in $25,000. The firm does does radio ads and multi-ethnic media campaigns. The two founders worked for the Kerry-Edwards campaign and the Gore-Lieberman campaign. One partner also worked SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles.

If you want to defeat a progressive grassroots campaign in Oregon….then hire some Democrats.

Measure 21–177 passed by 61 votes.

Here are the campaign finance transactions for Coalition to Defeat 21–177