Campaign

In Oregon, Dems target top Republican House pick’s financial records

by Aaron Blake - 06/24/09 7:02 PM ET

Sid Leiken is one of the most heralded GOP recruits of the young 2010 election cycle. But his campaign launch is sputtering before it gets off the ground, thanks to irregularities in the Springfield, Ore., mayor’s municipal campaign committee.

Oregon secretary of state spokesman Don Hamilton said Wednesday that his office has opened an investigation into Leiken’s finances after receiving a complaint from the state Democratic Party.

{mosads}Oregon Democratic Party Executive Director Trent Lutz complained that a $2,000 expenditure from Leiken’s mayoral campaign committee went to a polling firm that is not licensed to do business in Oregon and doesn’t appear to exist.

Leiken originally listed the payments as going to his own consulting firm, SWL Consulting, but an officeholder in Oregon cannot pay a business in which he or she has a financial stake.

When asked about it, he amended the forms to reflect that he was reimbursing his consulting firm for the costs of the polling, which was performed by a company he identified as P&G Marketing and Research.

But P&G Marketing and Research is not registered with the state corporation commission and there is little, if any, record of its existence.

Democrats also point out that the post-office box Leiken listed for the company is the same as for Leiken’s mother’s real estate business, Glenda Leiken Realty.

Late Wednesday, Leiken released an extended statement commenting on the matter.

“It has since come to my attention that P & G, who my mayoral campaign account paid for the research, is not registered with the Oregon Secretary of State. I have contacted the vendor and the amount expended is being refunded,” he said.

“These services were provided at far less than other vendor options. This entity is controlled by, and shares a common address, with my mother which she uses for business matters. She regrets the fact that she had not registered with the Secretary of State. I am disappointed that she has been brought into this partisan complaint and she does not wish to comment on this matter. I hope her request will be respected.”

The fact that the secretary of state is investigating is a significant development.Hamilton said the complaint provided enough evidence to warrant further investigation and that the secretary of state’s office does not investigate frivolous claims.

“These things often get dismissed,” he said. “It’s not unusual that we get a complaint that has no validity. But this one has sufficient elements for us to begin an investigation.”

{mosads}Republicans have built Leiken up as a potential candidate for months, as they aim to go after Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D-Ore.) elusive southwestern seat. The seat leans slightly Democratic, and DeFazio has easily retained it, but he also hasn’t faced stiff competition, and there is a possibility that he might run for governor in 2010.

Leiken kept his mayoral campaign account open while he explored a congressional campaign. The expenditures were made in March, before he announced his run for Congress last month.

Leiken told the Eugene Register-Guard in late May that the expenditure went toward polling to test a two cent-per-gallon gas tax proposal.

Democrats have pointed out that nobody has actually seen the poll, including representatives of the Save Our Streets political action committee, which was allied with Leiken on the gas tax issue.

Lutz said in his complaint that Leiken should, at the very least, prove the existence of P&G Marketing and Research and explain why it has the same PO box as Glenda Leiken’s real estate company.

When the Register-Guard first reported the irregularities, Leiken said he was unaware he had done anything wrong. He said he paid for the polls out of his consulting firm because his campaign treasurer was unavailable, but he declined, at the time, to name the firm that conducted the polling.

In a subsequent Register-Guard story last week, his campaign treasurer, Dean Kortge, said he had no knowledge of the polling firm and that the receipt for the poll was the only one missing from his files.