FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2008
Portland – With another national Democrat arriving in Oregon today to prop up Jeff Merkley’s campaign, the Novick for Senate campaign asked Merkley to explain why he had misrepresented how much out-of-state of financial support his campaign has received.
A Novick campaign analysis of Merkley’s 2008 first quarter financial filing found that 35 percent of Merkley’s itemized individual and political action committee (PAC) contributions had come from Oregon. Yet Merkley had previously claimed that 60 percent of his first quarter contributions had come from within the state. In contrast, 75 percent of Novick’s itemized individual and PAC contributions came from Oregon in the first quarter of 2008.
“Why they would misrepresent information that would be public in a matter of days is beyond me,” said Novick campaign manager Jake Weigler. “Regardless, the fact remains that a substantial majority of Jeff Merkley’s support is coming from out-of-state due to his status as the hand picked candidate of Washington insiders. Oregon voters deserve a candidate who will tell the truth, no matter what the issue.”
The Novick campaign analysis of Merkley’s first quarter report found that $248,746.88 (65 percent) of his itemized individual and PAC contributions came from outside Oregon, with $131,734.16 (35 percent) from within Oregon. Among just itemized individual contributors, $200,236.88 (61 percent) came from out of state, with $126,934.16 (39 percent) from Oregon. In addition, even if every unitemized individual contribution Merkley received in the first quarter came from within Oregon, it would still bring in-state contributions to just 45 percent of the total – a far cry from the 60 percent figure offered by the Merkley campaign. As the Associated Press reported on April 14,
In its latest fundraising report, the Merkley campaign said it has gotten money from 4,000 contributors, including 2,300 Oregonians. In all, about 60 percent of the campaign's money has come from in-state sources in the just-ended quarter.
Novick received $187,722.92 in itemized individual and PAC contributions from Oregon during the first quarter of 2008, 75 percent of his itemized contributions. The remaining $63,581.91 (25 percent) of itemized contributions came from outside Oregon. All of Novick’s itemized contributions from Oregon were from individuals, so excluding PAC money brings his in-state percentage to 76 percent. A review of all contributions, including those unitemized in the report, brings Novick’s total contributions from within Oregon to $266,160.16, 77 percent of all contributions in the first quarter of 2008.
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