Common Cause vs Portland Business Alliance

Willamette Week:

The City Council on Wednesday afternoon will take up a resolution that would put publicly financed elections on Portland’s November ballot.

The Portland Business Alliance has come out against that idea, prompting an angry reaction from Commissioner Amanda Fritz to the PBA’s take. Joining Fritz, the only non-incumbent to win election to council with public financing, in that outrage is Common Cause Oregon.

Common Cause Oregon today called the PBA’s position a “special interest power grab by lobbyists, big businesses and downtown developers.” And Common Cause also noted that the PBA stance is a flip from an earlier position when the PBA wanted the council to put the public financing question on the ballot.

Read the full article here. Discuss below.