31 Comments Add your own

• 1. RinoWatch  |  September 13th, 2007 at 5:35 am

  File a complaint on Larry

  IE: Put up or shut up, crybaby….

• 2. Yawn  |  September 13th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

  Didn’t most of the money that he spent on his campaign come from his own checkbook?

  Hmmm. Guess you overlooked that one.

  So he donated his own money to his campaign and you are complaining that he used himself as the vendor? But since you also believe that people don’t actually have rights over their own property we should not be shocked that you don’t want them to have a right to spend their own money.

• 3. Peter Bray  |  September 13th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

  No, most of the money from his campaign did not come from his own checkbook. His most recent transactions have been loans to his campaign which were repaid. In his last campaign, he gave around 7% of the total that he raised.

  Now, one has to wonder… when George Advertising received money for services or makes an in-kind contribution, what exactly is received in return? Is it printing expenses? Or is it access to the advertising genius that is Larry George? In other words, is George Advertising billing the campaign for the work of Larry George himself?!? Wouldn’t that be something if he has a campaign for HIMSELF, and he bills his campaign (through George Advertising) for HIS involvement in HIS OWN campaign! Maybe he has two hats and switches back and forth between Larry the Candidate and Larry the Advertiser?

  Now, don’t get me wrong. Maybe George Advertising is a powerhouse ad firm with dozens of account executives and creative directors. Maybe there are plenty of checks and balances in place to ensure that there is no appearance of any conflicts, and maybe all other contributors to his campaign are fully aware of the role of George Advertising. Maybe George Advertising is billing only the costs, with no markup, of copying and printing expenses (but that would sure be a lot of printing)? Who knows!

• 4. Jenni Simonis  |  September 13th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

  This is one of those issues I’ve been wondering about. If you own a business that does a certain kind of work, and then you run for office yourself, can you charge your campaign a reasonable amount of money for that work?

• 5. genop  |  September 13th, 2007 at 1:52 pm

  In the realm of ethics where appearance is everything, the question is does he benefit financially indirectly from campaign contributions. The ethical response requires disclosure to his donors that a company from which he derives income receives some campaign contributions in the form of advertising expenses.

• 6. genop  |  September 13th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

  The easier analysis concerns donations made directly to his ad agency by PACs. If all this PAC money escapes disclosure as campaign contributions, then the question becomes one of illegal campaign contributions and not ethics. It is clearly unethical if not contained in required donor reports. Any campaign finance law experts out there??

• 7. Becky  |  September 13th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

  I’m not saying there’s nothing to be concerned about, because I don’t know, but this has been going on in plain sight for years and nobody looked twice at it before now. I know Larry George personally. He’s a good guy, not some lying sack of you know what, as you all want to believe. In the wake of Measure 37, it seems the measures opponents have become so emotionally involved in the issue that they have to turn their opponents into the Devil. That’s politics as usual and doesn’t surprise me, but I find it sad because it is inaccurate here. He isn’t the Devil. He just holds very different views from you. You should be focusing on the issues, not the “politics of personal destruction.” That just undermines your credibility.

  I’m not sure why someone who believes in an issue can’t make a living promoting it. In fact, I would venture to guess that a lot of people on the left make a living promoting their causes, too. In this case, you have someone who isn’t hiding anything. He has always reported the money he’s been paid or spent promoting issues he believes in, as you will see when you do your research into past reports. This is how politics works. If he was telling people he needed so much money to pay for gathering signatures and was instead funelling it to a personal company and then secretly spending it on buying a new tractor or remodeling his house and then reporting to the IRS that he had no income from that company, as Sizemore did, there would be a problem. But what Larry is doing is being paid by the organization to arrange for and place advertising and to promote the measures. In the open. Nothing to hide, and hiding nothing.

  All expenditures on behalf of a campaign have to be publicly reported on agent reports, so you should be able to find out whether, as I suspect, a large percentage of the money going to George Advertising is then being spent directly on advertising. Maybe he has a contract or monthly retainer. In any case, an organization like OIA, with an active Board, is free to make contracting decisions as it wishes and contributors who don’t like how their money is being spent are free to contribute elsewhere. I doubt, with all this public reporting, that Larry is keeping his pay a secret from OIA’s contributors. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two contributors give money every month specifically to keep him on the payroll, so to speak, so he can devote his talents to promoting private property rights - a worthy cause, in my opinion. I could be wrong, but I suspect there is nothing untoward to see here. It’s simply a matter of your not liking the cause itself and shifting your negative feelings onto the individuals who are the face of that cause. I think your judgment is being clouded.

• 8. William Neuhauser  |  September 13th, 2007 at 7:15 pm

  The Newberg Graphic recently reported that State Senator Larry George said he, “would be working as a consultant for Oregonians in Action on their campaign against Measure 49 ….’”

  The Secretary of State’s office lists the Oregonians In Action Political Action Committee (OIA PAC) as a “candidate controlled” PAC and shows that the candidate that controls it is, tah dah, Senator Larry George. The online records at the Secretary of State’s website (on the day I checked) shows that OIA PAC has spent almost all of its money on Larry George: of $62,000 spent in 2007, $36,000 went to his George Advertising, $10,00 went to his senate campaign and $12,000 went to Oregon Family Farm Association PAC (another PAC controlled by candidate Larry George) which then spent $15,000 on George Advertising. In other words, 93% of money raised by Larry George’s OIA PAC goes to himself.

  Just a consultant, eh?

• 9. Becky  |  September 13th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

  Ooh. Did he maybe make an income of $36,000 in 2007? He’s going to get rich off that! He can’t use his campaign funds for himself, and OIA’s C&E will tell you whether he used that $12,000 for himself. Which I doubt because why would he pay OIA and then turn around and hire himself when he could have just put the $12,000 in with the $36,000? Don’t tell me you actually think he’s really getting rich off this on a whole $36,000!

  You act like he’s just sitting back and raking in the big bucks and not doing anything for it. But the fact is if he was sitting on his ass doing nothing, you wouldn’t be going after him, would you? Because he’d be ineffective. Why the need to demonize someone for making a living at politics?

  JEEZus. You want a scandal, revisit Kevin Mannix’s sweet little deals or Bill Sizemore’s. This is small potatoes and it’s out in the open. In other words, there’s no evidence in my opinion of anything scandalous. Take it from someone who’s seen scandalous.

• 10. fisheyes  |  September 13th, 2007 at 11:40 pm

  It won’t be a scandal until Larry gets busted for soliciting gay sex in a mens room. But don’t worry. The odds of that happening are pretty good, given that Larry’s a Republican.

• 11. Sal Peralta  |  September 14th, 2007 at 8:45 am

  Don’t tell me you actually think he’s really getting rich off this on a whole $36,000!

  Becky, the correct number is not $36,000. That’s just what has been input since the C&E system switched to OR-STAR.

  George actually funnelled more than $400,000 to his business:

  Total Payments to George Advertising in 2006 election cycle: $562,447.56
  Total Payments to George Advertising in 2006 by a committee with a treasurer named “Lawrence B. George”, owner of George Advertising: $450,079.56

  amount d_exp last exp_type name first last
  5615.00 06/08/2006 George Advertising Inc CA JUDICIAL INTEGRITY COALITION RUSS WALKER
  37000.00 05/02/2006 George Advertising, Inc CA JUDICIAL INTEGRITY COALITION RUSS WALKER
  24809.25 05/09/2006 George Advertising, Inc CA JUDICIAL INTEGRITY COALITION RUSS WALKER
  2500.00 08/15/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. LP “GEORGE, LARRY, FOR STATE SENATE” LAWRENCE GEORGE
  5000.00 08/15/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. LP “GEORGE, LARRY, FOR STATE SENATE” LAWRENCE GEORGE
  4050.00 10/05/2006 George Advertising CA “THATCHER, KIM, FRIENDS OF” KARL THATCHER
  30000.00 09/12/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  140000.00 08/16/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  50000.00 09/27/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  45000.00 10/03/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  11230.00 10/06/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  4043.48 10/10/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  5300.00 10/13/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  229.50 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  100000.00 10/17/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  1500.00 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  51709.35 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  1950.00 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  1280.00 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  310.50 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  1773.48 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  2443.50 05/16/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  3309.75 10/03/2005 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGON FAMILY FARM ASSOCIATION PAC LAWRENCE B. GEORGE
  6421.00 10/12/2005 GEORGE ADVERTISING INC. CA “ATKINSON, JASON, FRIENDS OF” JESSICA BEAN
  2354.50 07/25/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGONIANS IN ACTION PAC DAVID J. HUNNICUTT
  2500.00 06/08/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGONIANS IN ACTION PAC DAVID J. HUNNICUTT
  5516.00 03/31/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGONIANS IN ACTION PAC DAVID J. HUNNICUTT
  4934.75 05/26/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGONIANS IN ACTION PAC DAVID J. HUNNICUTT
  4934.75 05/26/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING, INC. CA OREGONIANS IN ACTION PAC DAVID J. HUNNICUTT
  954.75 09/25/2006 George Advertising, Inc. CA “LEADERSHIP FUND, THE” DONNA L. BUTLER
  78.00 09/25/2006 George Advertising, Inc. CA “LEADERSHIP FUND, THE” DONNA L. BUTLER
  1300.00 09/25/2006 George Advertising, Inc. CA “LEADERSHIP FUND, THE” DONNA L. BUTLER
  1800.00 04/25/06 George Advertising CA OREGON RIGHT TO LIFE PAC GAYLE ATTEBERRY
  2600.00 10/20/2006 GEORGE ADVERTISING CA OREGON LOCAL GROCERY COMMITTEE E. JOE GILLIAM

• 12. Tim Trickey  |  September 14th, 2007 at 10:18 am

  As a personal friend and longtime colleague of Larry George’s, I would stake my reputation and whatever else I have to on Larry’s ethics. Over the past six years, he has never cheated anyone or lied in any capacity on anything I have ever worked with him on. From what I hear from other circles I run in, the same would be said by anyone who has ever had personal or business dealings with him.

  Moreover, all you have really proved is that he happens to be one of the best and most successful political consultants/strategists out there, and that despite the “huge sums of money” represented up there, I know for a fact that over the years, Larry has saved various campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs compared to his peers in the advertising and political consulting world.

  Beyond just saving organizations money, Larry has worked with many of these organizations to build their fundraising bases, helped them use the money raised wisely, and most importantly, deliver results. How many of you out there can boast of that?

  You jackals need to sharpen your knives and stick them into someone else. There is no scandal here. All this publicity is just affirming what many of us already know. Sen. George is one sharp political operator.

  Quit with the sour grapes, and look for real scandals that actually involve real crimes or improprieties.

• 13. William Neuhauser  |  September 14th, 2007 at 10:59 am

  Personally, I’m not trying to make a case for illegality or Senate ethics violations. But when he claimed to be “just a consultant” to OIA, that is, in my mind, disingenuous and misleading since the PACs paying him are his own.

• 14. Becky  |  September 14th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

  Sal, do you have any idea how that money was spent? I suspect not. A lot of advertising was going on during that time. I seriously doubt that money went into Larry George’s pocket because for him to do that he would have had to have undergone a complete personality change since I last worked with him in 2001. Criminal and unethical behavior is simply not in his nature. If you do a little homework you’ll probably find that money was spent on printing and advertising on to radio stations, etc.

  Like I said, I understand the whole “demonize the opponent” mentality, but in this case you’re just flat barking up the wrong tree. Larry George is not like that. He may be philosophically at odds with you, but he’s not a crook. I would not defend him otherwise. I have no problem laying into people who deserve it, but this personal attack on Larry’s integrity is unjustified - and amateurish as well. Before hitting the headlines as you have, do a little more digging and see what really happened to all that money. And also ask yourself truly whether you have a problem with people working as consultants on political causes they support and making a decent living at it. If you do, then your side has some house cleaning to do before you start pointing a finger at the folks on the right.

  You would do much better to just focus on arguing the merits of the issue on this one. If you all keep attacking the character of every conservative opponent, eventually nobody will believe you when you actually have spotted a crook. We’ll all be better off when we can have respectful debates and recognize that we’re all American citizens and we’re all honestly trying to make this country better for our children and grandchildren. I guarantee you that’s what Larry is working for.

• 15. Peter Bray  |  September 14th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

  Personally, I think it’s great that OIA and other conservative causes are spending so much money with George Advertising! I hope that George Advertising gets even more aggressive with its proposals and invoices and RFPs… so much so that Treasurer/Candidate George may even have to argue with George Advertising’s CEO to bring down the price! That would be a great argument to watch!

• 16. Becky  |  September 14th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

  It’s actually pretty sad that you believe this nonsense you’re spewing. Seriously - you don’t really think Larry George is making a half million or more a year, do you? Let me ask you a very simple question: have you looked at any agent reports filed by George Advertising or even tried to see what he did with that money? If not, then all you’re doing is amateurishly spouting off about things you don’t understand. If so, then let’s see them. Show us the amounts actually made out to Larry George himself. A campaign cannot give money to an advertising agency without that money being accounted for. In the mean time, you’re slandering Larry George.

• 17. Sal=Idiot  |  September 15th, 2007 at 2:55 am

  Idiot for not knowing who Larry George is it’s obvious that you are a newbie to Oregon and to Yamhill County. How dare you bash one of the most ethical people in our state legislature, this man has done more for Oregonians rights then anyone I know. This is a man that wants people treated fairly not run over by the government; he has fought for all people of Oregon both Dems and Rep. Just because you run $400K through a business doesn’t mean you are getting rich, hell, I will run a half million+ through my business this year, does that mean I am getting rich? According to Sal I am. Maybe we should look into Sal’s ethics when it comes to him selling a house? Hmmm any cover-ups so you can get the sell and the big fat commission???? Sal is so far to the left he is going to fall off!

• 18. Sal Peralta  |  September 16th, 2007 at 8:44 am

  So we’re clear on this, I am not accusing George of anything. All I have done is to post information about how much money has been transferred from committees George is treasurer of to a company that he owns. So far as I know, it’s only illegal in Oregon if a candidate committee transfers money to a business owned by a candidate. That’s not the case here.

• 19. Coyote  |  September 17th, 2007 at 9:40 am

  Does anyone have any idea how much OTHER consultants have charged clients and campaigns each cycle?

  I dare anyone to do an analysis of say Mark Weiner, Chuck Adams, Mark Nelson and Larry George.

  I can gaurantee you that Larry George’s percentage of profit to revenue is SIGNIFICANTLY less than the others.

  Believe me, as someone who has been a paid consultant on a number of campaigns and has viewed with astonishment the amount of money campaigns will pay some of the other individuals for their product, I am stunned that more campaigns are not utilizing LG than what you see here.

  In fact it is my hope that LG will change the paradym of the whole consultantsocracy that currently exists.

• 20. Peter Bray  |  September 17th, 2007 at 11:09 am

  Do you think George is charging his OWN campaign for his OWN services?

• 21. Coyote  |  September 17th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

  What do you mean by charging his campaign for his OWN services? Do you mean like all of the overhead as Sal seems to be lumping in?

  I have not asked but I am sure that he would be charging his OWN campaign for items like postage, printing, mail lists, phone banking etc…

  One of the differences here is that he is consulting on a statewide campaign so he has lawn signs, media buying, production etc.. to pay for that he would not have to pay for in a Senate race. You can’t compare apples to oranges.

  I suggest you, Peter, go and pull the reports for folks like Mark Wiener, Mark Nelson, Chuck Adams and see what they charged on statewide campaigns. I have heard people say that Mark Nelson won’t work on a campaign unless HE himself makes $500,000. That is after all the overhead costs that are eaten up by the paltry amount of money that Sal listed.

  Heck the amount of money that Sal oh so gleefully pointed to would have barely paid the salary of some of the folks tha I listed above. The fact that LG is able to actually run a campaign on that little is testament to his fiscal accountability.

  But then some folks just don’t care about that. Some folks just have to find some kind of bogey man behind every conservative bush.

  Oh and just to make something clear. I do not begrudge the likes of Wiener, Adams or Nelson to make a buck. Hey if campaigns are willing to pay that much overhead then I guess more power to those guys.

• 22. Becky  |  September 17th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

  I would suggest you give Sen. George a call. He’s actually quite accessible and personable. Since you’re so inclined to play reporter here on your blog, why not go one step further and actually conduct an interview? Then you can move from biased conjecture to perhaps a little fact-based reporting. It would be a nice change, in my opinion.

• 23. Sal Peralta  |  September 19th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

  Do you mean like all of the overhead as Sal seems to be lumping in?

  I’m not lumping anything in. What I’ve done is post a list of expenditures by PACs for which Larry George is treasurer, to a company that Larry George owns.

  As I have said, this is not illegal in Oregon — though it would be if we were talking about candidate committees.

  However, I think that it should not be legal in Oregon for an officer of a PAC to spend money with a business owned by that officer for the same reason that this practise is banned for candidates.

  First, it creates a significant opportunity for corruption. Even if we all agree that Larry George is a saint and is really involved in a for-profit business as a charitable cause for organizations that he believes in, it is far too easy for people to use this loophole to funnel contributions to themselves for solely personal gain.

  Second, there is every reason to suppose that circumstances may arise in which the fiduciary obligations of a CEO of a company could come into conflict with the fiduciary obligations of a treasurer working for a campaign doing business with that company.

  At base level, this is not about Larry George. I have been equally critical of Democrats who have taken part in similar activities — as Ted Piccolo knows since I have posted comments that included similar examples on his blog.

• 24. Peter Bray  |  September 19th, 2007 at 10:05 pm

  Sal, what exactly is a “candidate committee”? George’s campaign pays his own company… is that a candidate committee???

• 25. Sal Peralta  |  September 20th, 2007 at 7:24 am

  Under Oregon law, every organization that advocates for or against the election or recall of a candidate or ballot initiative must form a political action committee (candidate, miscellaneous, recall, etc).

  A candidate committee is a pac that is filed at the time a candidate seeks nomination for public office “Larry George for State Senate”, “Friends of Steven Sixpack”, etc.

  The law controlling candidate committees, passed after Billy Dalto’s shenanigans, prohibits candidates from paying money from the candidate committees treasury to the candidate or to a business that is principally owned and operated by the candidate. There is currently no corresponding law for officers of other kinds of Pac’s in Oregon — though I lobbied about a half dozen different legislators to introduce legislation to that effect.

  I believe that there was discussion of adding this language as an amendment to the ethics bill that passed, but the amendment was opposed by the chair of the House Committee where the amendment was being considered and it went nowhere.

• 26. Peter Bray  |  September 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

  Okay, so what is going on with “account payable” FROM Larry George for State Senate TO George Advertising Inc” on 11/27/06, 11/02/06, 10/22/06, 9/21/06, and 4/28/06? Doesn’t this run into the prohibition you mention??

• 27. Sal=Idiot  |  September 21st, 2007 at 7:40 am

  Sal is fishing, and for what? Larry George is very honest in his dealings; he is very committed to the law and to the rules as set forth by the state when it comes to campaigns and money. Sal, do you disclose all the faults that a house has when you go to sell it or do you divulge some of the problems so you get the sale? I know Larry and Larry would divulge all issues with a house even if it meant him losing the sale. He runs his business and his campaigns the same way, quit fishing Sal and ask yourself if you are as honest and trustworthy as Larry George.

• 28. BlueWanderer  |  September 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am

  It is definitely illegal to bill your own campaign committee (and presumably another committee solely under your control) for services your private business provides.

  Just call 503 986-1500, ask for the elections division and check it…I just did.

• 29. Peter Bray  |  September 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am

  Yes, I called and checked earlier. The gentleman that I spoke with told me to call back on Monday when the specific person who is dealing with this issue is there. He believes that this issue has either been investigated or is being investigated. He thought that possibly the fact that the billing isn’t to George directly, but to George’s company may avoid this prohibition. If so, this use of a company seems to stand in contrast to the spirit of the prohibition.

• 30. Sharon  |  October 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

  Sen. Larry George’s advertising company– George Advertising has an aggregate total for the calendar year of $1.5 million off of M37. Info from–State Elections ORESTAR report.

  Seems to me—the more divisive campaign he could generate by him fighting any changes to the text of M37, brings in more money for his campaign efforts.

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