The recent Ashland.news story on Denise Krause’s launch of her campaign for the state senate seat now held by Jeff Golden attributed to her the assertion that Golden has worked on campaign finance reform during his two terms in office, “but has not made any progress.” If that attribution is correct, I’m disappointed that Krause has begun by falsifying Golden’s record.
In the face of resistance from both Republicans and Democrats, in 2024, Golden was instrumental in getting his colleagues to pass Oregon’s first law to set limits on campaign contributions. They are as follows:
- Individuals and corporations: Up to $3,300 per candidate per election (so $6,600 total if both primary and general are contested).
- Political party committees: Up to $30,000 for statewide candidates.
- Small-donor political committees: Limits tied to number of donors (e.g., $5 per donor for legislative candidates; statewide candidates have a higher donor-based cap).
- Membership organizations (e.g., unions or advocacy groups): Roughly $26,400 maximum to statewide candidates.
Those limits were not as low as Golden had wished, and he ultimately voted against the bill. But without his insistent advocacy, we wouldn’t have gotten limits. And considering that in the 2022 governor’s race Phil Knight gave at least $3.75 million to independent candidate Betsy Johnson and later $1 million to Republican nominee Christine Drazan, and the Service Employees International Union gave about $1.7 million to Democratic candidate Tina Kotek, the new caps are highly meaningful.
Herbert Rothschild
Ashland
