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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.