Portland’s capitalist class animates an opaque network of political action committees & non-profits tasked with pushing Portland politics to the Right.
In a post-Citizens United world, this incestuous network of wealthy donors and corporations relies on weak campaign finance rules, splashy websites, and endless permutations of the words progressive, Portland, and action!
The Portland Metro Chamber of Secrets
The OG lobby of the capitalist class. The Portland Metro Chamber executive committee is helmed by giant multinationals like Bank of America, Amazon, Google, Nike, and Wells Fargo, but it also features local investor-owned utilities, contractors, and health insurers.
The Chamber is the main clearinghouse for right-wing candidates who want to hide campaign contributions from the country’s least popular companies, including data center operators, union-busting law firms, and weapons manufacturers.
The Chamber distributes money to corporate political candidates through 4 ‘separate’ PACs, which are all headed by the Chamber’s hardest working employee, lobbyist Jon Isaacs. According to campaign finance records, Isaacs is the Treasurer/Director of all four groups.
Dishonorable Mention: Working Waterfront is not (yet) a PAC, but the Chamber operates the organization on behalf of major corporate polluters, by fighting against accountability for the dangerous CEI hub and the Portland Harbor Superfund site (e.g. Zenith, Chevron, Exxon, etc).
Some current and recent endorsements:
- State Senate District 15: Janeen Sollman (lost to data center opponent and DSA member Myrna Munoz)
- Portland City Council: Eric Zimmerman (incumbent), Olivia Clark (incumbent), Steve Novick (incumbent), Eli Arnold (current candidate).
- Safer Portland, the failed effort to raid the Portland Clean Energy Fund and hire more cops.
People For ‘Portland Sucks’
This group is like your co-worker who says, “it’s not political” before launching into a pro-cop tirade about how homeless people are at fault for their circumstances. Rising rents and falling wages don’t come up.
These PACs are mostly jobs programs for failed candidates and fired chiefs of staff (e.g. Vadim Mozyrsky, Bob Weinstein, and Eli Arnold, and Julia Brim-Edward’s former staffer, Vikki Payne):
- Go, Portland, Go
- Future Portland
- Partnership for Progress
However, their big money originates with some of the largest check-writers funding right-wing politics across Oregon, including Columbia Sportswear head Timothy Boyle.
Their steering committees all feature each other’s principal members, according to reporting by the Portland Mercury:
“Partnership for Progress donated $32,000 to the new effort, Go Portland Go, in June, according to state records. The organizations also share some leadership; Partnership for Progress co-leader Vadim Mozyrsky also sits on the steering committee for Go Portland Go. The group is also listed as a coalition member on Go Portland Go’s website.”
‘Go, Portland, Go’ attached several famous restaurant-owners to its list of supporters, but this grassroots is already bailing:
“Earl Ninsom’s constellation of Thai restaurants—Eem, Langbaan, Hat Yai, Paadee, Phuket Cafe, and OK Chicken & Khao Soi (the latter was erroneously listed as two separate restaurants on the Go Portland Go website)—all appeared on the coalition’s list as of Friday, August 28. But after the Mercury asked about the restaurant’s group decision to join, Ninsom said the company would be withdrawing its support.”
Among the restaurateurs still aboard the PAC is the owner of dessert-forward restaurant Papa Haydn’s, which is currently subjecting employees to a nasty union-busting campaign.
Landed Gentry
Portland’s rent-seekers. Rent-seekers are individuals or organizations that try to increase their own wealth by manipulating public policy or economic conditions rather than by creating new wealth or providing productive goods.
These PACs represent the inheritor class; Portland’s ‘old money’ leveraging vast birthrights to buy property and extract rent from tenants, residential and commercial.
- Revitalize Portland Coalition
- Multifamily NW PAC
- Equitable Housing PAC (statehouse PAC)
- Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors PAC
The Revitalize Coalition is typical. A pet-project PAC of Portland property-inheritor Jordan Schnitzer, Revitalize bills itself as a “real estate collective” of commercial real estate owners, lawyers, builders, and property managers who want more public money to flow into their pockets.
They insist this personal windfall will ‘trickle-down’ to you, despite their twin-objective of cutting public services. This PAC has an extremely high density of Preschool-for-All haters, and they are licking their lips at Julia Brim-Edwards’ persistent effort to degrade the program.
Also, unrepentant racist and sockpuppet account operator Brian Owendoff is a Revitalize member:
Revitalize’s candidates for the City elections, prior and current, include right-wingers Rene Gonzalez, Loretta Smith, Dan Ryan, Eli Arnold, Olivia Clark, and Eric Zimmerman.
On the residential side of wealth extraction, landlord lobby Multifamily NW (aka “Equitable Housing PAC”) collected and distributed over $1,000,000 since 2020 to local and state politicians, across various efforts to oppose rent control, relocation assistance, and free tenant representation.
Recent large campaign donations include all of the statewide Democratic Party Leadership (Tina Kotek, Kayse Jama, Rob Wagner, Julie Fahey, and Ben Bowman) as well as Brim-Edwards.
Police-Industrial Complex
Not much to say here that hasn’t already been said by police reformers and abolitionists for 50+ years. These PACs are funded by cops or by the capitalists who love the cops.
“More police” is their hammer, and every social problem is a nail. Increased homelessness? Hire more cops. Grandpa watching too many Fox News ‘Antifa’ segments? Hire more cops? Neighbor’s dog pooping on your lawn? Hire more cops.
The PACs:
- Keep Portland Safe PAC
- Portland Police Association PAC
- Community Safety Coalition PAC
- Portland Police Association
- Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff’s Association
- Heavy crossover with the Landed Gentry and the Portland Metro Chamber of Secrets
Yet, for a bunch of “law enforcement” officers, they can’t seem to avoid breaking the law. Complainants allege canvassers were instructed to lie to potential voters during the unrealized bid to raid PCEF for cop salaries. The Portland Police Association wasted almost $1,000,000 backing the effort and were humiliated in federal court before finally giving up their campaign.
Canvassing Calendar
With election season in full swing from now until November, it’s time for the DSA Difference. This calendar is your one-stop shop where you can find all our canvassing dates.