Last month, canvassers began collecting signatures for a Portland ballot initiative seeking to use clean energy funds to hire police. Since then, the Oregon Secretary of State has received 28 complaints alleging campaign petitioners are misleading the public about the proposal. The Secretary of State’s office has opened an investigation into the allegations, many of which describe conduct expressly prohibited by Oregon’s election laws.
The petition, known as the Enhanced Community Safety Initiative, sets out to create a new fund for police hiring using an ongoing 25 percent allocation from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF). In order to qualify for the November ballot, petitioners must collect 40,437 signatures from Portland voters by early July.
Petition backers hired a company called FieldWorks to hire and train canvassers for the campaign, which has been dubbed “Safer Portland.” Several people hired to gather signatures for the initiative told the Mercury FieldWorks trained them to highlight a set of misleading talking points about the petition, with their canvassing script saying the policy would reduce 911 wait times and improve police coordination with mental health co-response programs. (FieldWorks did not respond to the Mercury‘s requests for comment.)
The Mercury also heard from several people who say they signed the petition after hearing canvassers outline its supposed intent to hire more 911 dispatchers or mental health crisis responders.
The actual text of the petition, which is what would be implemented if voters approved the measure, describes something different. According to the petition’s ballot title, the policy would ensure Portland has at least two sworn police officers per 1,000 residents, using PCEF as a funding mechanism. (This would mean hiring more than 400 additional officers, compared to current numbers. The Portland Police Bureau currently employs 793 total sworn members.) While supporters argue more sworn police officers would mean shorter 911 wait times and better mental health outcomes, the petition itself doesn’t explain how it would meet those goals.
Oregon election law prohibits petition circulators from making “false statements to anyone who signs the petition or requests information about it.” According to Oregon Revised Statute 260.715, those who fail to comply with state circulator requirements could face felony charges and/or a fine of up to $125,000. An initiative’s chief petitioners are liable for “violations of law or rule by the circulator, if known or if they should have known.”
Connor Radnovich, a communications specialist in the Secretary of State’s office, said the office is “investigating the allegations [they] received evidence for.”
“As part of the investigation, we will later identify the relevant subjects for any potential violations,” Radnovich said.
Safer Portland campaign manager Cameron Smith told the Mercury the complaints submitted to the Secretary of State are “manufactured” by those opposed to “creating safe police staffing levels in Portland.” He tied the complaints to two lawsuits filed earlier in the petition process, which stalled progress on the campaign for several months.
“Opponents…are doing everything they can to deny democracy for voters,” Smith said. “There is zero confusion about what this measure does except among those who want to maintain dangerously low police staffing levels that leave Portlanders less safe.”
But many people who have interacted with petition circulators say there is confusion. In addition to the reports of misleading talking points about 911 and mental health services, some say the canvassers were elusive about where the proposal’s funding would come from, or seemed to alter their talking points to reflect what they thought the voter wanted to hear. Several people indicated their desire to have their signatures removed after finding out more about the proposal.
Smith said Safer Portland will try to strike signatures if signers make the request.
“If we can find it, we will remove it,” he said.
It’s unclear how long the Secretary of State’s investigation will take. Petitioners must submit their signature sheets by July 6 in order to qualify for Portland’s fall ballot.
