Golden and Gomez both damaged by their allies

Too much help from the wrong people.

From Gomez website

Both candidates present themselves as the courageous new-style candidate. Her campaign ended up hurting her.

Today I give a close look at Jessica Gomez. 

(Tomorrow, Jeff Golden)

Jessica Gomez positions herself as the breath of fresh air, the new generation of leadership. She is a moderate, a centrist, someone challenging Republican orthodoxy so she could better represent a swing district.

Her ads now present a simple narrative. Sometimes they start with a contrast with Jeff Golden, with blurry photos of him described as a big tax lover, wanting ever more revenue, tax-and-spend Golden. Then the music changes and clear-focused Jessica is the voice of the new generation, able to work with everyone, community minded, changing the "tired old policies of the past."

It is a plausible, attractive narrative, but made much less credible by the funding of her campaign. She raised a boatload of money, from the most tired, old predictable sources.

From her website: Jessica Gomez's narrative. A fresh start.

Do her donors matter?  In her case, yes.

Voters think money corrupts--or at least that it corrupts the politicians they don't yet know and like. Conservative Republicans talk radio host Lars Larson had a long segment yesterday condemning Democrat Kate Brown for getting money from unions, Indian tribes, and especially Pacificorp. Donations are quasi-bribes, he said. They buy influence. Give money to get policies you want. Some donors have business related to the State of Oregon, he noted. "It's a sick and twisted relationship when it comes to politics," he said. (12:44 pm PDT) Democrats agree, and cite the money Greg Walden gets from drug companies and health insurers to explain why he led the fight to repeal the ACA.  

Lars Larson website

Jessica Gomez needed to show her independence, but her contribution report demolishes her strongest selling point. The report is public record and she is getting money--big money--from the usual Republican sources, including Pacificorp, which just added another $5,000, bringing her total from them to $25,000. 

Money still pours into her campaign, most recently from drug companies, insurance companies, waste disposal companies, contractors, truckers, and yet more money from auto dealers and the upstate PACs that bundle money to elect Republicans. 

See for yourself:  CLICK 

The money contradicts and muddles her brand. 

My own view is that Lars Larson overstates his case about money corrupting, but he is popular with a giant audience in part because he says things a great many people believe. Gomez is new in politics and she is creating her brand. People are figuring her out, and doing so among voices like Lars Larson's.

This comes on top of the close scrutiny given to her contributions from the PAC of the Medford-Jackson County Chamber, which itself had just received $70,000 from the Jordan Cove pipeline. David Wright, currently the Chamber Treasurer, said he was unwilling to talk with me about the Chamber process for receiving that large donation and then making gifts to Gomez and others. I told him that the ChamberPAC's lack of transparency had put the issue onto the front page of the newspaper and more so throughout social media. I said people were saying it looked weird that Jordan Cove gave the ChamberPAC money and then the Chamber immediately made donations.  It was public record, I said, and silence was making things worse for the Chamber and for Gomez, but it was his decision about whether to try to explain.  He reiterated his reluctance to talk to me,  but said the Chamber has its own internal process for deciding who to donate to. He said it was not a "re-gift" and that when Jordan Cove gave the Chamber money they were free to do with it whatever they wanted, including give it to Gomez and other candidates. I said I would report that comment.

Jessica Gomez may well win the election. If she wins, then the strategy of raising lots of corporate and PAC money, then to spend it on a message of independence, will have worked. Most people do not pay close attention. They see the ads. They don't look at Orestar. Voters get an impression of what kind of person Jessica Gomez is, and it is a very likable impression.

If she loses, my sense is that the loss would come from two sources. One is that Jeff Golden has spent 40 years as a progressive voice and that the District has a Democratic voter registration advantage. It would also be that Gomez's own campaign undermined her best shot at winning, which would have been to demonstrate her independence.  It would have required that she cut some strings and disappoint some people, and publicly refuse money to show her independence, of the Chamber, of donors, and of the upstate PACs.

She didn't do that.


NOTE:  Tomorrow I look at Jeff Golden, who, like Jessica, has been smothered by allies who damaged his best, strongest narrative, that he is getting elected without the "help" or influence of the tired old political forces of Salem.