Portland City Council candidate violated campaign finance law, audit finds
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The Portland City Auditor's Office released the results of an investigation on Monday, finding Portland City Council candidate Sarah Silkie had two campaign finance violations after leaving out a disclaimer in a newspaper advertisement.
The findings come after Silkie reported the violation to the Elections Division -- which is within the Auditor's Office -- on Oct. 1, telling officials the disclaimer was unintentionally omitted from the ad, which kicked off the investigation into the District 4 candidate.
The auditor’s investigation found evidence of two campaign finance violations.
The Elections Office found the ad, which included a quote from State Rep. Mark Gamba and a list of endorsements, violated disclaimer requirements by omitting the political committee and its dominant contributor.
Officials explained that communications costing $250 or more require a disclaimer with the names of all political committees, individuals, or entities that paid for the communication, along with the names of the top five contributors. According to the audit, Silkie paid over $1,150 for the ad to run once.
The second campaign finance violation stemmed from funding Silkie gave to her own campaign. According to the audit, Silkie loaned her campaign $2,500 on Aug. 2, which qualifies as a campaign contribution, but the ad didn't identify Silkie as a top contributor in a disclaimer.
As a result of the findings, the Auditor’s Office issued a Letter of Warning and Education because of the campaign’s self-reporting, cooperation, and lack of previous violations.
In a statement, Silkie told KOIN 6 News, “When the October edition of the Sellwood Bee arrived, I excitedly opened it to see my campaign ad. It looked great, but my heart sank when I looked more closely and realized it did not include the required ‘Paid for by…’ disclosure.
“I should have been more careful when preparing the ad. I immediately realized my mistake and sent a picture of the ad to the Secretary of State, Auditor, and Small Donor Elections Office disclosing my error and apologizing that same evening. Those offices provided us with good training about disclosures,” Silkie added. “Since uncovering my oversight, my campaign has implemented additional checks to ensure it won’t happen again.”