Update: Councilors Dismissed From State Ethics Complaint Over Moda Center Event

Updated: 1:53 pm October 14

Originally published: 3:35 pm July 2

UPDATE: The Oregon Government Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint against Portland City Councilors Olivia Clark and Loretta Smith, after both were named in a state ethics complaint over their attendance at a Portland Metro Chamber event earlier this year.

Clark said her office purchased a ticket for her to attend the local chamber of commerce event on June 24 held at the Moda Center in Portland, which featured Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon as the keynote speaker.

According to the state Ethics Commission, Councilor Smith also purchased tickets, though September 10 meeting documents indicate Smith didn’t respond to follow-up requests for information from the agency.

“Commission staff attempted to clarify whether Ms. Smith purchased the tickets using funds from her office budget or her own personal funds. However, Ms. Smith did not respond to requests for clarification,” a preliminary review report states.

The two city councilors missed most of a public meeting to instead attend the Portland Metro Chamber event in June.

A complaint filed with the Ethics Commission and shared with the Mercury July 2 alleged Clark and Smith violated state ethics law when they attended a $350-per-ticket event at no cost, alongside roughly 800 people at the Moda Center on Wednesday, June 24. The main topic of discussion at the Portland Metro Chamber’s annual event, headlined by Dundon, was whether the city, county, and state should put hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars toward renovating the arena, as Dundon has requested.

“The complaint is to highlight the violation of Oregon Government Ethics Law in ORS Chapter 244 which prohibits gifts to public officials,” the complaint reads. “The councilors were given complementary tickets to the event that exceeded the $50 limit while also choosing to skip a public meeting where the official capacity was required.”

The complaint was filed before it was known that the councilors purchased tickets.

Initially, Clark defended her attendance as within the guidelines of state law, saying a public official “can attend an event that might exceed the gift limit provided they’re attending in an official capacity.” The councilor later followed up with the Mercury to clarify that her office purchased a ticket on her behalf for the event back on May 18, meaning she wasn’t gifted a ticket.

Clark told the Mercury that as the Council’s vice president, she felt it was important for her to attend the event and hear what Dundon had to say.

“As Council V.P., I wanted to hear directly from the new owner of the Portland Trail Blazers as Council makes pivotal decisions about the future of the City-owned Moda Center,” Clark said via email.

The Portland Metro Chamber is one of the biggest lobbying entities in the city, and city officials are on the cusp of trying to negotiate a long-term, multi-million dollar lease with Dundon at the Moda Center, where the Blazers play.

Under state law, public officials are not allowed to accept a gift valued over $50 from a single source “that could reasonably be known to have a legislative or administrative interest” in a calendar year. Exemptions exist, including for elected officials attending chamber of commerce events in their official capacity. But when they are not officially representing the government, that exemption does not apply, which could complicate matters for the councilors. 

A Metro Chamber spokesperson told the Mercury June 16 that the organization’s policy is to offer elected officials a complimentary ticket to its events. That is typically above board for officials speaking or otherwise representing the government, but could violate state law if they are not attending in an official capacity. 

As the Mercury reported June 15, Portland Metro Chamber President and CEO Andrew Hoan had requested that Council President Jamie Dunphy move a public work session on Moda Center to accommodate the Metro Chamber’s event.

“Scheduling a session about Oregon’s Arena, while simultaneously declining an opportunity to have an authentic face to face conversation with the owner, state partners and others is my observation,” Hoan wrote, according to public records. “I’m curious if there is flexibility on the start time and /or date and would be happy to work with you and your office on what could make both, possible.”

Dunphy declined to do so, saying he had “every intention of holding the work session as scheduled here in city hall that day.”

Ultimately, the work session went ahead as planned. But Smith and Clark were both absent for the majority of the meeting, and were present for the Moda Center festivities. The complaint, filed by Portlander and Council District 4 resident Ashley Schofield, asserts that exemptions outlined in state law do not apply, because the councilors were not working in their official capacity.

“Additionally, because it was publicly known that Council President Dunphy refused to cancel the work session to allow councilors to attend the event, Councilors Clark and Smith cannot rely on exemptions in the law for attending events in their official capacity,” the complaint reads.

The state Ethics Commission didn’t see it that way, and considered the councilors’ attendance to be on behalf of the city, despite the fact that they weren’t speaking at the event.

The day of the dueling events, which both began at 2 pm on June 24, Clark was scheduled for a personal absence from 9:30 –11 am, according to city records. Smith was scheduled as absent from 2 – 5 pm, for personal reasons. Councilor Eric Zimmerman was also absent from the Council’s work session, but was on an extended leave from June 18 to June 30 for personal reasons, and was not reported to have attended the Metro Chamber event either.

OGEC spokesperson Casey Fenstermaker confirmed on July 2 that the commission had received the complaint.

“We can confirm that a complaint was filed against Loretta Smith and Olivia Clark, but we are unable to say when, by whom, or what that complaint is about,” Fenstermaker said.

Schofield wrote in her complaint that she had tried to get tickets to the Metro Chamber event, and had requested a nonprofit discount for her work as an advocate for public schools, to no avail. She said by the time she found funding to purchase tickets, non-member tickets were unavailable.

“As an advocate for public education, I wanted to attend the event that included many of our state legislators, to better understand how they are talking about the investments we should be making as a state,” Schofield wrote. “These are the same state lawmakers who have continued to underfund our public schools while having little to no public engagement about spending millions on an investment that will benefit one out of state billionaire.”

When OGEC receives a complaint, it has 60 days to do a preliminary review and provide a report to the full nine-member commission. The complaint details remain confidential through that phase of the process, until commissioners decide whether to dismiss or investigate the complaint.

Councilor Smith’s office did not immediately respond to the Mercury’s questions asking if she was aware of the $50 limit, or if she sought advice from Dunphy or the city attorney’s office prior to attending the event.

This story will be updated.