Two Portland city councilors are facing a potential state ethics investigation after missing most of a public meeting to instead attend a local chamber of commerce event last week.
A complaint filed with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) and shared with the Mercury July 2 alleges Council Vice President Olivia Clark and Councilor Loretta Smith violated state ethics law when they attended a $350 per ticket event at no cost, alongside roughly 800 people at Moda Center last week. The main topic of discussion at the Portland Metro Chamber’s annual event, headlined by the Trail Blazers’ new owner Tom 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.”
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.
It is unclear if the councilors paid for their own tickets, but 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 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.
Councilors Clark and Smith did not immediately respond to the Mercury’s questions asking if they were aware of the $50 limit, or if they sought advice from Dunphy or the city attorney’s office prior to attending the event.
This story will be updated.
