The "No-Supermajorities PAC" is targeting your mind.

The Medford-Ashland Senate District is up for grabs. Big money and big talent are hoping to change our minds and swing our votes.

Heads up. The campaign consultancy business has us in their sights.

The Medford-Ashland Senate District 3 is a swing district. State and national interest is focused on this race because the district might have the 18th Democratic vote, which would give Democrats the ability to pass revenue bills without Republican support. 

The No Supermajorities PAC came into public notice as the possible donor paying for a nasty push poll administered in this area last week.

They are spending big dollars polling to see which seats might swing to the GOP.  Sometimes the Orestar report is clear, for example a $17,000 check to Fallon Research of Columbus, Ohio to pay for a poll for Senate District 17--the NW Portland Beaverton area. Locally, a $14,850 poll was done, paid for by the No Supermajority PAC, shown as an in-kind contribution for Jessica Gomez, the Republican candidate for Senate District 3. This one raised a question about whether this was the same poll that angered local voters. Senator Alan DeBoer says no.

Campaign Consultancies. Honed messages and manufactured grassroots.

Orestar shows a No Supermajority PAC expenditure of $11,500 made payable to Murphy Nasica West from Austin, Texas, listed for "Grassroots Services. General Operational Expenses."  

That could mean anything. Who are these people and what do they do? 

They call themselves a "full service, turn-key operation of the brightest minds and finest technology working together with relentless drive, fluidity, and force."  Website: Click  

They show they have a giant process to change minds and votes.

Creative, Analytics, Grassroots, Operations, General Consulting

They tout their awards. "A grassroots operation that has no rival in Texas." "Best GOTV plan and execution." "Best Villain in a TV Ad." 

The work of organizations like this is legal, and it has a lot in common with work done by organizations hoping to get consumers to drive a Ford or smoke Marlboros. Americans are alert to advertising, usually. We think we know the difference between the show and the ad. But now, in the world of social media, sponsored content, Google search results, Facebook ad targeting, Russian bots, and professional campaign consultancies, it is harder for a voter to know when one is being targeted and sold something.

Messages voters will get are do not necessarily rise organically out of the local community. Big money campaign ad messages are created scientifically by people proud to say they specialize "in creating new techniques of analyzing voter data and election results, directing the creation of statistical models, and overseeing the development of political technology that wins elections."

"Best villain" ad.

If some friendly person stops at your doorstep to say hello and give you a brochure on the dangers of Supermajorities, the message you hear may well be the product of algorithms, polling, and science. The bio for one partner at Murphy Nasica reads: 'Since 2009 Matt Brownfield founded the first consulting firm in Texas to specialize in campaign technology and door-to-door communications.  Since then, he has engineered the strategy, management and operation of hundreds of successful campaigns .

Catch that:  "Engineered." 

Who pays for all this?

The Secretary of State's Orestar system provides insights but not complete answers. 

The contributors include:

     Coastal Farm and Home Supply ($20,000), which has a big store in White City and a headquarters in Albany.

     Hallmark Inns and Resorts ($25,000), which has hotels in Newport and Cannon Beach.

     Pahlich Homes, ($20,000) a Bend homebuilder.

     Freres Timber, ($34,000) a Lyons, Oregon timber company.

     United States Bakery ($15,000), better known as Franz bread, in Portland.

     Murphy Company, ($25,000) a Eugene plywood company.

     Services Group of America ($25,000) of Scottsdale, Az, a private food services distributor which just yesterday sold itself to US Foods for $1.8 billion dollars.

     CalPortland ($20,000) a construction company focusing on aggregate and concrete, from Glendora, California.

Robo call award.

There is nothing particularly surprising about this list of contributors, but there is one big takeaway: Businesses all around the state and country have taken an interest in influencing the elections in a very few House and Senate races in Oregon, including the one here between Jeff Golden and Jessica Gomez. 

Do any of them have the slightest idea who Jeff Golden and Jessica Gomez are? Does Coastal know whether Golden shops at their White City store and whether the owners would like him if they got to know him? Does United States Bakery know whether Gomez buys Franz bread and whether she knows anything about how to be a legislator? Could the Services group in Scottsdale find Ashland on a map, or could the owners of Freres Timber name either candidate in this race?  I am confident I know the answers: of course they don't.

The PAC system of campaign finance combined with the campaign consultancy industry mean that the hearts, minds, and votes of people in southern Oregon are being targeted in the most detailed and professional way by people who have no knowledge whatever of the politics and character and qualifications of the candidates. They are not trying to determine who has the best interests of the District in mind, or who has a well-deserved reputation for prudence or judgement.

They have a single interest. Elect a Republican, any Republican; stop a Democrat, any Democrat. They are pros. As Murphy Nasica puts it on page one of their website:  "We are a united front striving for one goal: victory."

I mention Murphy Nasica because they are listed as consultants being paid by No Supermajorities PAC. I have no reason to think they are any different from any other campaign consultancy. 

This is all totally legal and it is the way the system works. Our job as voters is to wise up. and recognize we are being marketed to, not by people seeking good government, but by people whose one goal--whose job--is victory.