OR-4: State investigators demand details of alleged poll for Sid Leiken

Kari Chisholm

The ongoing drama of Sid Leiken's curious $2000 transaction continues, despite Sid's attempt to end the questions with a tearful press conference last month.

Today, state investigators sent a letter (pdf) to Glenda Leiken, Sid's mom and pollster, demanding additional details to substantiate her claim that she conducted a poll on the gas tax for his mayoral campaign. Since there was no contract and only a handwritten and undated receipt for $2000 in cash, the state wants work product to prove that work Sid claims she did was actually done. From David Steves at the Register-Guard:

Previously, the Oregon Elections Division sought evidence such as a receipt or invoice to verify Leiken’s claim that a $2,000 cash withdrawal from his campaign committee was used to pay Glenda Leiken’s polling firm. But in a letter sent to Glenda Leiken, the state now is seeking evidence substantiating that the poll was conducted at all.

“After reviewing your response, we have determined that the information provided does not substantiate that the poll was conducted,” Elections Division Compliance specialist Kathy Schamp wrote in the letter, which the state made public today. It requests additional information by an Oct. 2 deadline. The letter asks Glenda Leiken to produce phone records, polling worksheets or other paperwork verifying that the poll was conducted.

As I wrote back in July, the details we've been told about this poll make no sense. And in August, the R-G's Steves asked numerous pollsters - including Republican ones - and they said it was "suspicious" and even "impossible" for Glenda Leiken to have gotten the results she did.

If Sid Leiken and his mom can't produce the details, the conclusion might shift from merely an incompetent pollster to a phantom pollster - an outcome that would raise lots more questions. Especially since, as I've noted previously, Leiken has claimed that he periodically conducts polls - and yet, there's no evidence of any polling at all in either his online ORESTAR transaction reports or the 67 pages of pre-ORESTAR transaction reports. Sid's claims aren't backed up by his transaction reports.

Previously on BlueOregon:

• June 19 - Sid Leiken already having money trouble...
• June 22 - More on that Sid Leiken funny money business
• July 8 - Sid Leiken's funny money business, part 3.
• July 14 - Leiken's statements don't match his C&E documents
• July 24 - Sid Leiken's implausible and baffling explanations continue
• July 27 - As state investigation continues, doubts about Sid Leiken's candidacy percolate
• August 22 - Sid Leiken tearfully admits to bogus transaction report
• August 24 - Politico calls Sid Leiken's tearful apology a "Muskie moment"
• August 27 - Pollsters call Sid Leiken's alleged poll "suspicious" and "impossible"

By Kari Chisholm Sept. 15, 2009