Sid Leiken's funny money business, part 3.
It looks like in the rush to sine die and the subsequent holiday weekend, I missed the latest twist in the Sid Leiken funny-money story.
First, a recap of the story to date: Sid Leiken is the mayor of Springfield, Oregon. He was recruited to run for Congress against Congressman Peter DeFazio by national GOP leaders.
According to the R-G, Leiken's mayoral campaign paid $2000 to Leiken's consulting firm (SWL Consulting). Later, Leiken amended his reporting to say it was a reimbursement for polling services rendered by P&G Marketing and Research. What's P&G? Nobody knows. It doesn't exist, according to the state. But it does have a mailing address - the same as his mom's real estate firm. The big question everyone's been asking: Who is P&G and what exactly did they do for Leiken? Did they actually conduct a poll?
So, here's the latest wrinkle - that I somehow missed back on June 25. The Register-Guard reported that Leiken now admits the P&G Marketing is a company "controlled" by his mother.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Leiken said P&G Marketing is his mother’s company.P&G Marketing “is controlled by, and shares a common address, with my mother,” he said. “She regrets the fact that she had not registered with the Secretary of State.”
He said he hired his mother’s firm to do polling work this spring for far less than he would have paid other vendors. In its investigation letter, the state asked Leiken to provide a copy of the polling done by P&G.
Leiken previously had declined to publicly identify who had done the polling. He also has previously declined to publicly release the contents of the poll.
Leiken has until July 13 to provide state investigators the polling information. They've also asked him to provide documentation on two other 2008 payments from the mayoral campaign to SWL Consulting.
It sure does seem like there's an awful lot of money flowing around between Leiken's campaign, his business, his mother's business. We'll see if the state is able to figure out if any of it personally benefited Leiken, in violation of state law.
There's more from the O's Jeff Mapes, OPB News, and DC newspaper The Hill.
Stay tuned, folks.
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July 8, 2009 |
Kari Chisholm | Comments (18 so far)
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Comments
Posted by: Are Dubya | Jul 8, 2009 11:25:57 AM
P&G shows up the fact that the State's business registry is a joke. No active penalty for flaunting it, no requirement for "internet businesses", no validation of information, no policing whatsoever.
The software the runs it is also a joke. No end-user requirements (a lone engineer decides what you want), less functionality than any other States', all at premium prices. Check out the Green Party's platform in the last EU elections. They've made open-source, publicly bid Information Technology, a main plank in their platform.
Fraud and how it was used aside, you can make Leiken's statement any day, and the only penalty you suffer is that you cannot respond to or initiate a court action in Oregon, until you register. That's $25, and can be done after the fact without penalty. He probably registered today, and is now all legal.
I've mentioned that in numerous threads. It isn't exactly cutting edge journalism to ignore a point over and over, then report it as news when it has actual consequentiality.
[Trademark infringement removed. -editor.]
I'll repeat it one more time, if anyone is listening. The Secretary of State's Business Registry is the sine qua non of all consumer protection. Right #1 is to know who you are doing business with. It is not acceptable that the City of Portland manages far more, on this account, than the State does. Of course that's motivated by collecting fees. Salem is so moribund that that doesn't even wake them!
Typepad flakey again? I waited 5 minutes and this never showed up. Hope it's not posted twice.
Posted by: Billy Busdriver | Jul 8, 2009 11:34:28 AM
[Trademark infringement removed. -editor.]
Posted by: anon | Jul 8, 2009 12:03:03 PM
Another muckracking expose from the great "I built every Oregon democratic candidate's website but I speak only for myself" Kari Chisolm. Nigel Jaquiss better watch out... Chisolm will soon be the premier investigative reporter around these parts.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jul 8, 2009 12:47:38 PM
Billy -- or whatever your name is -- using "blueoregon" as part of a political website is an infringement of our trademark. Knock it off.
Posted by: Anonymous Capitoler | Jul 8, 2009 1:24:35 PM
using "blueoregon" as part of a political website is an infringement of our trademark
Doesn't look like the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has a record of a trademark registry for "blueoregon".
Irony!
But seriously, Kari is indeed correct... the "trade dress" of "blueoregon" is protected under the Lanham Act even without registration. ('Course, without registering, this only allows Kari to bring action if he can show damages... but he probably could, since presumably all these ads are paid for somehow.)
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. This is not legal advice.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jul 8, 2009 2:15:34 PM
We have not registered "BlueOregon" with the USPTO. But, registration isn't necessary. In fact, registration is mostly superfluous. That's why you see so many national brands with multi-million dollar marketing campaigns using the "TM" (for unregistered trademark) versus "(R)" (for registered).
The trademark goes to the organization that earliest used that mark in interstate commerce within a particular industry or field, regardless of registration. Our trademark BlueOregon (representing the BlueOregon.com political website) first appeared interstate on July 17, 2004. I suspect that it would be hard for anyone to prove that they had used that name in that context prior to that date.
The (R) mark only matters if there's a question about timing. It is basically an affirmative defense of "we were here first". See USPTO.gov for more information.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jul 8, 2009 2:15:46 PM
Oh, and I'm not a lawyer. Get your own legal advice.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jul 8, 2009 7:30:09 PM
"This kind of sloppiness often occurs at the opening stages of a campaign, particularly when a candidate is stepping up to the big leagues for the first time. By the time the election rolls around, this will be long forgotten."
Hey Jack, what campaign was Sid stepping up to when these transactions were made?
As for the amount of money, $2000 is a nice chunk for an unpaid mayor. I'm also reminded of the Winston Churchill line, "Madam, we've established what sort of woman you are. Now we're just haggling over the price."
if it's unethical at $20,000, it's unethical at $2000 or $200.
Posted by: Jack Roberts | Jul 9, 2009 10:55:57 AM
Kari, you are the one who said that "an awful lot of money" seemed to be involved here. I beg to differ.
I expect you guys to try to make a big deal out of this and I predict that by election day this "issue" will be forgotten.
And I don't mean to diminish the importance of $2,000. What is that, about four or five websites for candidates in your business? :-)
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jul 10, 2009 2:40:36 AM
And I don't mean to diminish the importance of $2,000. What is that, about four or five websites for candidates in your business? :-)
I think we now understand why Oregon Republican candidates' websites suck so badly.
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I agree it sure does seem like there's an awful lot of money flowing around between Leiken's campaign, his business, his mother's business.
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Posted by: Jack Roberts | Jul 8, 2009 11:17:20 AM
It sure does seem like there's an awful lot of money flowing around between Leiken's campaign, his business, his mother's business.
Oh my, yes! TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! Why that's almost about a week's interest on Brian Clem's campaign loan from his mother-in-law . . . if she was charging any interest.
This kind of sloppiness often occurs at the opening stages of a campaign, particularly when a candidate is stepping up to the big leagues for the first time. By the time the election rolls around, this will be long forgotten.