Less than a year ago the Portland City Council hired a Florida-based law firm, where one Mr. Abramoff once worked in their PR division, and the legal contract provided for the contingent payment of roughly 7.5 million dollars in the event that the City of Portland obtained extraterritorial jurisdiction over PGE's far-flung operations.

Was this a genuine legal representation contract or a purely public relations gambit in the guise of a legal representation? That is of course a matter that directly points back to the Oregon State Bar association and their own rules on ethics.

Mr. Abramoff is credited with building the PR division of the Florida outfit at issue but was no longer with the firm when the deal above was struck. However, the formula for obtaining "legal fees" for PR work is more than amply inferable from the contingent nature of the potential payment from the city to the law firm.

"Confusion taints Clean Money
A hot-potato inquiry and suspect signatures show kinks in system
By JIM REDDEN Issue date: Tue, Apr 11, 2006
The Tribune Investigating abuses of the Clean Money campaign financing system is proving harder than expected.

[. . .]

The disqualification may be a blessing in disguise for Tate. Some of her contributions were collected by Vladimir Golovan, the former head of Oregon’s Russian Chamber of Commerce, who also collected some of Boyle’s disputed contributions. Because Tate’s filing was rejected, she did not receive or spend any potentially tainted funds.

Tate did not return calls for comment."

Do you see the parallel?

Blessing in disguise too, that PGE is free?

UPDATE Just the musing of others . . .

"we have refused to countenance compelled disclosure of a person's political associations"

"The NAACP is not a conventional political party; but the litigation it assists, while serving to vindicate the legal rights of members of the American Negro community, at the same time and perhaps more importantly, makes possible the distinctive contribution of a minority group to the ideas and beliefs of our society. For such a group, association for litigation may be the most effective form of political association."

"If the line drawn by the decree between the permitted and prohibited activities of the NAACP, its members and lawyers is an ambiguous one, we will not presume that the statute curtails constitutionally protected activity as little as possible."

"It makes no difference that the instant case was not a criminal prosecution and not based on a refusal to comply with a licensing requirement."

". . . the danger of tolerating, in the area of First Amendment freedoms, the existence of a penal statute susceptible of sweeping and improper application."

http://laws.findlaw.com/us/371/415.html

The offer of a write-off, for tax purposes, of issue campaign expenses by any incorporated entity, is just the price to obtain information that could not otherwise be compelled. The contract for public funds, if it is just a voluntary contract, is limited to civil enforcement and a demand of return the dollars to enforce the contract itself.

UPDATE Just other whining . . .

Whether the citizens vote on it or whether it is passed by the city council is irrelevant to its' force of law. (The M37 case may be fresh on some people's mind to clarify that a legislative act and that of an initiative are identical for purposes of examining the validity of a statute, and the same for a city code provision as here.)

I did file to put my name on the ballot for the auditor slot and Mr. Blackmer's unique claim to a placement on the ballot is not based on merit or ethics that are amenable to review and oversight by a state board in Oregon in like manner to CPAs, but membership in a private out-of-state outfit with some non-US-citizen board members.

I did also file to be allowed to gather the signatures and the five dollar donations. I can gain standing on the issue of clean money and attack the validity of the scheme based on state law grounds and free speech with an eye toward voiding the delivery of money to anyone. Were I in the position of the auditor I could take a position that the present city code is not lawful, and so too could Mr Blackmer.

The adversarial position of both Mr. Sten and Mr. Blackmer would be problematic. Ms. Fritz would also be in an awkward position.

If they have spent their money and are ordered by a court to return it then this surely is game for discussion.

Earlier argument here and here.

[ Jack Bog's Blog: Where those "clean" tax dollars are going ]

Removal from office?:
"Arizona+Supreme+Court"+David+Burnell+Smith

Smith, a Republican, is accused of overspending his public funding by approximately $6,000 during the 2002 primary election, a violation of campaign finance regulations.
[ Sonoran News - Guest Editorial ]

How about removal for overspending on the tram; in Portland.