In the lead-up to the November general election, Portland auditors have had their hands full with investigations into potential campaign finance violations. But the five investigations that have taken place since September center around just two candidates: Rene Gonzalez and Carmen Rubio, both current city commissioners running for Portland mayor.

In the latest round of determinations made by the Portland Auditor’s Office, two recent campaign finance investigations into Carmen Rubio’s campaign yielded no violations.  

Both complaints against Rubio were investigated by the Portland Auditor’s Office, which is responsible for reviewing election complaints related to potential violations of the city’s campaign finance laws.

One complaint alleged Rubio, a current city commissioner, used her office’s resources –namely, a regular newsletter sent to constituents– to tout her accomplishments and boost her campaign.

Auditors found no evidence to support that allegation, noting the newsletters didn’t include any claims or information outside the normal scope of communications from an elected official. 

“A review of the newsletters published by Rubio's City staff show they are reports of City business, and do not contain information related to Rubio’s campaign,” a determination letter states.

That same complaint alleged a staffer in Rubio’s office “tagged Rubio’s campaign page on their personal social media account during City work hours.” The Auditor’s Office referred the issue to Portland’s Bureau of Human Resources for further review.

Another complaint took issue with a video endorsement of Carmen Rubio released by Portland For All. Portland For All, which maintains a political action committee (PAC) with the same name, is a volunteer-run group that advocates for progressive approaches to Portland policy. 

That complaint claims the video constituted an “in-kind” contribution to Rubio’s campaign that should have been disclosed and should have included the source of funding for the video.

Auditors investigated and found that Rubio wasn’t involved in the creation of the video and her campaign didn’t coordinate with Portland For All to make it.

Investigators noted a volunteer videographer made the endorsement clip for the nonprofit group, using footage from a prior event Rubio attended in her capacity as a city commissioner. The video didn’t cost anything, so it didn’t trigger the city’s financial reporting requirement.

Despite finding no violation in either complaint, the Auditor’s Office noted a text conversation between a Portland For All board member and Rubio’s campaign manager risked appearing as a collaboration or service to Rubio’s campaign, and “walks close to the line of coordination.” 

Investigators noted that a Portland For All board member alerted Rubio’s campaign manager about the imminent release of the endorsement video, shortly before it was posted online. Auditors say the text messages signaled an acknowledgement that Portland For All made the video to benefit Rubio’s mayoral campaign.

The Auditor’s Office’s determination letter said that type of “pre-communication backchanneling is not best practice,” but didn’t rise to the level of coordination that would classify the video as a contribution to the Rubio campaign. 

Investigators also reviewed how the video was posted to social media–namely Instagram–because it was posted as a “collaboration” which is an Instagram feature that allows an account to tag another account, sending the content to the feeds of both user accounts. They found Rubio’s office didn’t ask for the collaboration or make a concerted effort to approve the tagged post.

What did raise questions for auditors is whether Portland For All has been properly logging its election contributions to candidates with the Oregon Secretary of State.

The Auditor’s Office noted candidates have reported in-kind contributions from Portland For All’s 501(c)(4) and its PAC, but only one is registered with the SoS to report campaign-related expenditures and contributions.

The group told auditors only its nonprofit entity made in-kind contributions, but the nonprofit isn’t registered with the SoS. 

“The Auditor’s Office believes further investigation into whether Portland for All has unintentionally created two political committees, and one has not engaged in proper reporting, may be warranted,” the determination letter states, noting the matter was sent to the SoS for further investigation.

Portland For All says it will cooperate with any local or state agency investigating election issues, but maintains it correctly recorded its transactions.

“Portland for All appreciates and supports the Portland Auditor's Office efforts to keep our elections fair and transparent. Even as a volunteer organization, we worked hard to make sure we gave the Auditor’s Office what it needed to complete its investigation,” Mora Bowman, a board member with the organization, told the Mercury. “If asked, we would do the same to support the Secretary State’s Office in fulfilling its role. We are confident that we have accurately reported our limited in kind donations to candidate campaigns. If the Secretary of State identifies any issues, we will work to remedy them quickly.”

The elections-related complaints and ensuing investigations are the latest in a string of recent complaints involving Rubio and Gonzalez, as well as Portland For All. 

In the case of Gonzalez, auditors looked into a complaint about an old campaign sign improperly displayed on public property, and issued a warning. Gonzalez’s campaign said a supporter likely placed the sign, and it was promptly removed. 

Another, more serious investigation stemmed from an Elections Division complaint filed by Portland For All. Auditors determined the Gonzalez camp violated campaign finance rules because Gonzalez used his position as a city commissioner to spend taxpayer funds on updating his Wikipedia page for the ultimate purposes of aiding his campaign. Gonzalez disagreed with the Auditor’s Office determination, calling the investigation politically biased.

Stephen Gomez, Portland For All’s treasurer, has also taken action targeting Gonzalez during the current election cycle, with the Don’t Rank Rene public advocacy effort and political action committee. The PAC is encouraging voters not to rank Gonzalez on their ballots, in an effort to keep him from winning the mayor’s seat.