Hales Breaks Campaign Limit Promise, Takes Two Big Union Contributions

Willamette Week:

Well, that didn't take long.

On Oct. 15, former City Commissioner Charlie Hales wrote to Jefferson Smith, his rival in the Nov. 6 mayoral race, to say he wanted to break his pledge not to accept contributions above the $600 limit he'd unilaterally set in June.

That was a major flip-flop for the frontrunner, although he's tried to describe the move (including in last night's KGW/Oregonian mayoral debate) as an "adjustment."

"It’s mostly that these folks want to participate," Hales told WW last week about accepting union contributions. "It’s not fair to those people who want to participate to exclude them."

Records now show that two days after he wrote to Smith, on Oct. 17, Hales accepted a $20,000 in-kind contribution from SEIU Local 49, and another $14,067 in-kind contribution from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555.

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