Who is Hoffman Research Group?

An item mailed to voters in House District 18 titled "Important Community Survey" asks voters whether they would support Democrat Jim Gilbert or Republican Mac Sumner, if there's a chance they'd change thier minds, and which one of four issues is the most important issue facing Oregon today? Download PDF version, name and address and code number deleted/blocked out

Okay BlueOregon, who is Hoffman Research Group, PO Box 30505, Portland, OR 97294-9902?

They are not a name on file with the Corporation Diviision of the Oregon Secretary of State (see www.filinginoregon.com).

Who's the person and the money behind this phony election survey? Are other districts being targetted?

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    DENNIS OLIVER WOODS, M.ED., B.S. Journalism, Bible & Theology

    "I spent 25 years as a political pollster and activist helping maintain a Republican majority in the Oregon legislature. As time passed, it became painfully obvious that our Christian legislators -- with a few notable exceptions -- had a very weak biblical world view. I founded ClassicalFree Virtual Academy to help remedy this situation."

    ... Dennis Oliver Woods makes his home in Clackamas, Oregon with his wife and three home schooled children. He is the headmaster of ClassicalFree Virtual Academy and president of Target Market Strategies, a telemarket/market research company. He has served as Director of Telemarketing for the Oregon Christian Coalition, an officer of Artillery in the United States Army and was formerly a construction contractor.

    Educational attainments include a Masters Degree in Education, a Bachelors in Journalism and completion of the Graduate Program in Bible & Theology at Multnomah Bible College, Portland, Oregon.

    Active in Oregon Politics since 1976, Mr. Woods has participated in over 300 political surveys, with primary focus on Oregon legislative campaigns. His most satisfying political accomplishment came in 1990 when he co-managed a 40-line voter identification phone bank supporting 17 key Republican House Races in Oregon. About 65% won, contributing to Republican control of the Oregon House for the first time in 20 years. This was the only legislative chamber in the nation to switch from Democrat to Republican that year.

    Woods has a 20-year background in market research and telemarketing, including employment with Portland research firms such as Bardsley & Haslacher (now Bardsley & Neidhart) and Columbia Information Systems (now Market Strategies, Inc.) Over the years he has participated in nearly 400 research projects at the analysis or management level. He has written five books on theory and practice in political science and history.

    At Columbia he was a marketing specialist responsible for report preparation and marketing recommendations in a variety of private and public sector fields. He developed written market analysis and recommendations for firms as diverse as AT&T, du Pont, Hallmark, Montgomery Ward and Nike. Here he gained extensive experience in political survey management and electronic testing of television and print advertising.

    Prior to his stint at Columbia, Woods served a 4-year apprenticeship under well-known political pollster and columnist, J. Roy Bardsley. ... Mr. Woods is also founder of The Hoffman Research Group, a public interest and commercial research organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1984, the Hoffman Group has a long tradition of providing quality research to businesses and political campaigns. Principles of the Group offer clients a combined total of nearly 40 years experience in marketing, campaign management and survey research.

    The Hoffman Group is a subsidiary of Gateway Communications, a Portland based communications and telemarketing firm. Its proven expertise in fund raising, voter identification, lobbying, and survey research have made Gateway a major player in recent political changes in the state of Oregon. Via the Hoffman Group and its other divisions, Gateway Communications serves a broad range of clientele.

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    This exact mailer has gone out in House District 10.

    Here's what I've learned (I've only had one cup of coffee, though): Hoffman Research is a subsidiary of Gateway Communications. Alan Brown's C&E reports show many thousands of dollars in expenditures to these folks, and I bet Sumner's do as well.

    It all has something to do with this guy: http://www.zoominfo.com/people/woods_dennis_5709127.aspx

    Dennis Oliver Woods is a longtime Republican operative and partisan of the religious right. I would appreciate learning more if anyone else has any details.

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    According to the above bio that I posted, Hoffman Communications is a division of Gateway Communications. Here's some info about them:

    http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=32204&category=22101

  • Jonathan (unverified)
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    Why jump on this? It looks like a pretty fair "poll" to me -- actually just a way of finding people they could get to change their mind. It's certainly not a push poll, and doesn't appear to spread false or slanted info.

  • RodAvlas (unverified)
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    I wonder what would happen if a few hundred people taped that return card to a phone book or something heavy and sent it back in the mail?

  • Mike Caudle (unverified)
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    They are polling in my district as well (HD #39). The republicans are building name regocnition for me, they have listed my name above Waynes and the issues they are pushing are education, healthcare and public safety. All issues I am better on than Wayne!

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    Interesting strategy. It's certainly not a poll, but it's basically a list-building approach. Strange way to spend money.

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    It is definitely not a real poll, and it is misleading in that respect. My guess is that it's a way to ID voters while making the Republicans' customary tithing to Tim Nashif and his ilk.

  • nothstine (unverified)
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    I got one of those surveys for HD27, Read v Biggi.

    bn

  • mike caudle (unverified)
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    Poll was the wrong choice of word, I should have said ID'ing. Interesting way to spend money indeed...Wayne spent at least $11,000 with Gateway Communiations.

  • LT (unverified)
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    Last night in a debate sponsored by Salem City Club and others, the challenger in Dist. 19 held up a flier (glossy, folded in half, maybe teal color and white or something) and said it had been sent to someone in the district who gave it to him. Asked 2 questions: which candidate will you vote for, and what are your issues? Remark was made "a little late to be asking about important issues, and the real way to find that out is to go door to door". Then the incumbent said "anyone can send out a mailing--that isn't from my campaign".

    Which makes me wonder if someone is trolling (in the fishing sense, not the blog sense) for information in the heat of a campaign season by trying to get responses. Would be interesting to know of all the districts where this showed up: How many fill it out and return it? How many throw it in the recycle with other campaign mailers?

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    LT--House or Senate 19? Both are Democratic held, if I recall right, in which case the incumbent likely didn't send it out.

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    whoops, my bad. Kevin Cameron's in HD19. Shouldn't try to "recall" without a quick google.

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    uh, I just checked Cameron's C&Es. Right there, bold as love, 7/31/06: $1750, Gateway Communications, Surveys and Polling. And 9/21/06, again: $3,000, Gateway Communications, Surveys and Polling.

    Podcast available of that City Club meeting, LT?

  • Dist 35 voter (unverified)
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    We got telephone polling from Hoffman Group in Dist 35 (Galizio-Parsons). Also some push-polling from a group calling itself "GVC". Anybody know who is behind "GVC"?

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    It's an interesting way to generate issue IDs. No doubt the R candidate follows up with tailored messages on the issues of most concern to people.

    Group spend a lot of $ doing IDs at the door and on the phone. Going after those without phone #s in the voter file by direct mail might actually pay-off. It would be interesting to do an experiment and see what type of return you get, $ per ID, and then do some mechanism to test the accuracy of them.

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    Hey Jonathan,

    I think you should test the strategy in HD24 this cycle. :^)

    • Sal

    P.S. I don't want to hear one word about not being out canvassing. I did 4 hours this morning and am heading out again after lunch.

  • Lil' Scrappy (unverified)
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    This is in HD21 Clem v. Dalto as well...just talked to somebody who got one recently. It is basically a paid ID, and if you mark you would change your mind for some issue, they will send you a mailer around the time ballots go out on that issue.

    The four issue choices were education, health care, immigration...and I'm forgetting one, but I think it has to do with Billy being an oober tool.

  • christopher nichols (unverified)
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    I received a mailer from this group. My wife immediately questioned its worth and the source since their was not contact information and the "Hoffmann Group" would not come up on a Google search. I chose not to fill it out, my guess is the group would just lie about the results and tell people publically the republican candidates are leading by a large margin to sway undecided voters under the guise that noone wants to vote for a loser. The card I received went into the fireplace to help heat my home. I like the idea of returning it with something attatched though.

  • Susie Fischer (unverified)
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    AhHA! I knew it. Think I'll return mine attached to a Constitutional Law book.

    I was afraid they would use 'issue' findings to fuel attack ads against Jean.

  • Dawn Morgan (unverified)
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    This is the 3rd poll(?) in HD18, probably by the same group. The others were phone polls and appeared to have included both Rs & Ds, but seemed to have been aimed at older women without a registered male in the household. My guess would be that this group would provide the most potential for push polling closer to the election. This would be especially true for those who indicated any potential for changing their mind. In Mac Sumner's case he's never mounted any campaign in the past beyond the slick hit pieces that come out of Republican Central. This year he's actually appearing at a few candidate forums, but no door knocking that anyone's actually seen. He has been diagnosed with lung cancer and is currently undergoing chemo, so who knows whether he'll actually make it for the long-haul.

  • Jeffry Olsen (unverified)
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    The Hoffman Research Group is a division of Gateway Communications, 6600 NE 78th St., Portland, OR. Their number is 503-257-0100. They do political polling and propaganda. I just called them. They claim to have a "very active in-house do not call list" and have promised to remove me. Time will tell. They get their numbers to call from the various county voter registration offices. When you register to vote you supply your number. They tell me I can call my county office and have my telephone number removed from the votor list effectively stopping this and all other political calls. Trust me, that's my next call....

  • Gus Frederick (unverified)
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    Here in HD-18, I sent my "Important Community Survey" back. I checked JIM GILBERT, MY MIND COULD CHANGE and JOBS. Today I received (for the second time) a letter from "The Desk of Mac Sumner" extolling his economics. Especially interesting was the reference to the "Five Enterprise System" and two different spellings for Mac's hometown, (both wrong).

    And in another piece, we got "MAC: A CHAMPION FOR SENIORS" had a headline that read:

    MAC WILL CONTINUE ADVOCATE FOR SENIORS THROUGH:

    At least they spelled Molalla right in that one.

    <h2>Gus Frederick</h2>
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    I work for the Hoffman research group, or gci research. The parent company is named gateway communications and they do voter id, and they also raise money for small business and missions nation wide.

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