This is from Oregon Senator Daniel Bonham’s Newsletter on 7/23:
This week, Oregon Department of Justice officials announced they will not be seeking charges regarding a $500,000 political donation to the state Democratic Party in 2022 that appeared to violate campaign finance laws.
As a reminder, it was found that a Las Vegas tech exec sent the Democratic Party of Oregon its largest donation on record in the final weeks of the competitive 2022, where Tina Kotek barely won the race.
The origin of the donation was called into question, with multiple donor names being thrown around. Under Oregon law, it is a Class C felony to make or accept a campaign contribution under a “false name.”
While this may be a “misunderstanding” as everyone involved said, the conflict of interest in the investigation is not.
Molly Woon, who was overseeing the investigation, worked as the Democratic Party of Oregon’s communications director and deputy director before making the move to the Secretary of State in 2021. She actually opted to publicly not recuse herself when questions arose. As a former communications director, you would think she would recognize the negative optics of this and recuse herself.
But when you are part of a supermajority political machine, honesty in the process and how you are perceived doesn’t seem to matter.
So when we hear Democrats yell “no one is above the law” remember – this only pertains to the people they don’t agree with.