EVEN THOUGH Commissioner Sam Adams became Mayor-elect Adams on May 20, his campaign wasn't over. He still has nearly $30,000 worth of debt to deal with.

During the campaign, Adams spent over $367,000 on everything from staff to airtime for campaign commercials. As of July 16, Adams says he still has bills mounting up to $6,097 more than he has cash in his campaign account. Plus, he owes his former partner Greg Eddie $23,800: "During the 2004 Primary City Commissioner election campaign, Greg and I jointly loaned the campaign $50,000," Adams explains. "As part of the dissolution of our domestic partnership and overall dividing of all our joint assets and liabilities, Greg agreed to wait to be paid until our legal efforts to divide my PERS [Public Employees' Retirement System] account were resolved." In early 2007, Adams and Eddie filed a lawsuit asking the state to divvy up Adams' public employee retirement account.

But the legal fight to divide Adams' PERS funds "is going on longer than I thought, [and] I just want to get Greg paid off," Adams adds.

As we went to press, Adams was planning a 45th birthday party on September 3 at Blitz bar in the Pearl District, to "celebrate and raise some money at the same time."

But donors aren't waiting to wrap up checks as birthday gifts: From July 16 through the end of August, Adams pulled in $21,200. Of that, $14,000 came from $1,000 contributions, after Adams upped the $500 contribution limit he self-imposed during the primary.

Those most recent donors certainly aren't giving dough because they want to see Adams elected—he already won the mayoral job. So Adams' most recent donors are either selflessly generous, or they're hoping to be on the new mayor's good side.

According to ORESTAR records, the $1,000 club includes the likes of Nike Inc, the Trailblazers, the R. B. Pamplin Corporation (which heads up both the Portland Tribune and the Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co.), Qwest's employee Political Action Committee, and Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf, a law firm that represents Portland General Electric, among others. Frozen yogurt makers YoCream International—based in NE Portland—also gave $1,000, as did downtown-based Oregon Pacific Investment Development and Diamondandjewelrybuyers.com.

Local heavy hitters Arlene and Harold Schnitzer, developers Mark Edlen, Jim Mark, and Joseph W. Angel II, and attorney Karen Williams also chipped in $1,000 each. Of those donors, the Pamplin Corp and YoCream also chipped in the maximum $500 during Adams' primary run, earning them each the title of Adams' top cash contributors.