My FEC complaint against Ron Wyden

Plus, a fishy 2016 contribution that follows the same pattern as the Singh-Wyden-DPO $500k boondoggle

U.S. Senator and Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) talks with a constituent in La Grande, OR. (Office of Senator Ron Wyden)

Today, I have for you, dear readers, two new items related to that most intriguing moment in time and space wherein U.S. Senator and Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) meets an admitted campaign fraudster’s $500,000 contribution to the Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) meets the DPO’s practice of leveraging the clout of the state’s congressional Democrats, including Wyden, to help state candidates like Governor Tina Kotek win.

The news: (1) Last week, I filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Wyden; and (2) there is at least one prior large donation to the DPO from a Wyden supporter, which matches the pattern of the $500,000 contribution in 2022.

First, let’s get everyone caught up.

Recall that in September and October 2022, Wyden’s fundraising consultant brokered the half-million-dollar contribution from then-crypto currency executive Nishad Singh to the DPO, the largest contribution it has ever received. Shortly after last year’s election, Singh’s employer, FTX, filed for bankruptcy and Singh himself pleaded guilty to federal charges of campaign finance fraud.

Wyden’s spokesman this month said the Wyden campaign had “no role” in the Singh-DPO contribution, a claim that is dispositively proven a lie by emails between Wyden’s fundraiser (“all things Ron Wyden”) and Singh’s agents. You see, federal law prohibits a U.S. Senator, or his agents, from directing contributions in excess of $10,000 to a state political party’s state election efforts. Five hundred thousand dollars is quite a bit more than $10,000, and the emails demonstrate, on their face, Wyden’s involvement in the donation via his longtime fundraising consultant. Hence the bright line and indefensible lie.

Finally, Wyden does not appear in the middle of the Singh-DPO donation out of nowhere. He has long had ties with the family of FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried, having received the federal maximum donation from Bankman-Fried’s father, Joe Bankman, way back in 2010, and maximum donations from Bankman-Fried himself and his brother Gabe in 2022. The U.S. Department of Justice has changed Sam with campaign finance fraud and other charges related to FTX’s implosion.

Wyden’s spokesman told The Oregonian that Wyden’s campaign had turned Sam’s $2,900 contribution to federal marshals. The DPO says it, too, has forked $500,000 over to the feds.

I filed a complaint with the FEC.

It seems so obvious that Wyden violated federal campaign finance law by directing the Singh contribution to the DPO via, at least, his agent, on June 22, I filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. The FEC enforces federal campaign finance laws.

The FEC has notified me that it received the complaint, which means it also probably has notified the Wyden campaign. Wyden will have some time to respond and, if staff at the FEC think the complaint warrants their time, they’ll bring it to the commission itself, which is made up of three Republicans and three Democrats. If four commissioners vote to pursue the complaint, the FEC opens a formal investigation, and so on.

The FEC won’t necessarily keep me updated as to the progress of my complaint, but if I hear anything noteworthy, I’ll let you know.

P.S., for the record, I have never been audited by the IRS (or anyone) and it’d be a real shame if my having filed an FEC complaint against the most powerful Democrat in Congress with jurisdiction over the IRS preceded an audit.

Why did a Massachusetts-based fuel company give $25,000 to the DPO in 2016?

The Singh donation to the DPO was, according to the emails, directed to the DPO’s coordinated campaign. The coordinated campaign is the name for the method by which the DPO leverages the might of Oregon congressional Democrats and others to fund its massive and quite successful get-out-the-vote efforts just prior to elections. If, as I contend, Wyden unlawfully directed funds to the coordinated campaign in 2022, did he do that in prior election cycles?

The criteria for the research upon which I embarked: (1) A contribution in excess of $10,000 to the DPO; (2) occurring in the months immediately preceding an election, when the coordinated campaign was a DPO focus; (3) from a contributor that has no apparent business reason to engage significantly in Oregon politics; but (4) has given to Wyden.

There were several interesting contributions, but the one that most closely matches those criteria is Global Companies, LLC’s $25,000 donation to the DPO on October 21, 2016.

Source: Oregon Secretary of State’s Orestar campaign finance database

Global Companies LLC’s affiliated company, Global Partners LP, describes itself as “one of the Northeast’s largest independent owners, suppliers, and operators of gasoline stations and convenience stores[.]” It is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. I can find no evidence that Global Partners or Global Companies have ever registered to do business in Oregon, or have any connection to Oregon other than the contribution to the DPO*. Oh, and Global Partners CEO Eric Slifka’s (and family’s) contributions to Wyden for the 2016 election cycle.

To be clear, I don’t know that Wyden had anything to do with Global Companies’ $25,000 donation to the DPO. But this fits the pattern established with the Singh donation of an out-of-state donor with ties to maxed-out Wyden contributors but no other apparent ties to Oregon, in cycle in which Wyden was running for re-election.

But then, we wouldn’t have known about Wyden’s role in the Singh donation but for the DPO’s having misreported its source, initiating an investigation that turned up emails showing that role.

For what it’s worth, in my FEC complaint, I did include this nugget:

Stay tuned!

* CORRECTION: An astute reader alerted me after this story was first posted the morning of June 29, that Global Partners in fact operates an oil rail terminal in Columbia County, Oregon. Also, Global Companies has contributed to Oregon political campaigns of various political stripes over the years. An Orestar search shows Global Companies’ 2016 DPO donation to be the largest it has made to state campaign efforts outside of contributions of $150,000 and $50,000 to non-affiliated governor candidate Betsy Johnson in 2021 and 2022. I regret the omission and appreciate the correction.