On Feb. 20 The Eye reported that Orestar, the Oregon state campaign finance database, showed that The Bulletin had given a $4,000 in-kind contribution to the Bend Business PAC, the political arm of the Chamber of Commerce, before the last election.
But now an official with the Secretary of State’s Office says it was just an honest mistake on the part of the Chamber’s PAC.
Prodded by local blogger Bruce Ewert, Nancy E. Ferry of the Secretary of State’s office contacted Chamber of Commerce Board Member Troy Reinhart and Jennifer High, the person who entered the contribution. High’s story was that the $4,000 really was contributed by the Iverson Group, a Prineville ad agency, to buy Bulletin advertising. Iverson should have been listed as the contributor, not The Bulletin, High said. “Jennifer assured me that they were not trying to hide anything, they just didn’t understand how to report it,” Ferry e-mailed Ewert.
Based on High’s and Reinhart’s word, Ferry was willing to let High amend the filing to indicate that the Iverson Group, not The Bulletin, made the contribution.
Asked whether she had any documents or other evidence to corroborate High’s and Reinhart’s story, Ferry told The Eye yesterday: “Well, I believe it was an honest mistake based on talking to them. … No, I don’t have any documents that actually show that. We don’t go out and create investigations. If you were to file a formal complaint we would investigate.”
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2009.
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“No, I donâ ™t have any documents that actually show that. We donâ ™t go out and create investigations. If you were to file a formal complaint we would investigate.”
Does The Source have any documents that show differently? Since when does a reporter need permission to investigate a potential news story? Isn’t that a step you would normally take before you run a story that if found to be false would result in slander? Why is this on the Blog page? I have yet to find that opinion amongst the facts that would make this a blog, and in fact I would find this one of your more interesting News stories.
I have been following “the eye’s” story since it broke on this blog page and am left with many unanswered questions. Most of these questions stem from the comment section where you blatantly rip on anyone who found your original story false. Then to now read this I can’t help but be eager to see how HBM and Bruce are going to act!
You know exactly what they’ll do, anybody that posts anything questioning the SORE-EYE will have their comment deleted.
Ferry is Elections law enforcement. She’s not political. She’s doesn’t believe in good pol’s and bad pol’s. It’s not her job to punish Republicans and reward Democrats.
She’s explicitly telling you, that if indeed your as citizen have been harmed, then file a complaint.
If your not willing to file a complaint then you shouldn’t have called elections-911 in the first place.
There is a real story here. It’s about how the BULLETIN was very much part of the recent election where COVA&COBA’s team completely took control of BEND city government, with $150k in campaign contributions that allegedly came from 3,000 unemployed realtors and builders in Bend. The COBA(COAH)&COAR election reports filed by house-wives High&Iverson very much should be audited. If a complaint is filed, it should not be limited to the invisible $4,000 Bulletin Advertisement.
Smedly get real. It takes votes to get elected. Just like Bend voters gave us a new look to the council, US voters gave us a new look to the presidency. I’m sure that the $700 million collected by the Obama folks had nothing to do with it.