City Council candidate allegedly offered customers free access to the bar in exchange for campaign contributions

It was a typical Saturday night at Fortune, a popular West End bar at 614 SW 11th Ave., for young Portlanders looking to dance and flirt in a dimly lit, crowded space at the foot of the Sentinel Hotel.

Only one thing was different when August 31 turned into September 1. At the bar’s entrance, close to where the bouncer checked IDs, a city council candidate named Ben Hufford allegedly made a proposition to the bar patrons in line: donate $10 to his political campaign, and they wouldn’t have to pay the $20 cover charge have to pay. Others remember him saying they couldn’t enter the bar unless they donated to his campaign.

Hufford, an architect, worked in District 4, which covers the entire West Side and a portion of the Southeast. He is also co-owner of Fortune. Hufford acted as a moderate who criticized the city and Multnomah County for a lack of accountability and urgency; he was endorsed by all three major mayoral candidates, including Carmen Rubio, Rene Gonzalez and Mayor-elect Keith Wilson.

That Saturday and Sunday, city of Portland campaign finance records show Hufford received 170 campaign donations. Almost all of them were $10, or multiples of $10.

Four customers who spoke Wwwho each entered the bar before midnight on August 31 or shortly after midnight on September 1, said Hufford walked down the line of customers and told them the cover charge was $20 but they could pay his campaign instead. $10 and get to the bar for free.

Another patron recalls that while standing in line, he and his friends were told by someone that patrons would be providing cover for Hufford’s campaign instead. They were then given a QR code to scan, which took them to Hufford’s campaign website.

“We were like, who is this guy?” the patron recalls. ‘We wanted to get in, we didn’t care how. I think we were like, ‘sure.’

Four other customers recall being told by Hufford that they had to donate to his campaign or they could not enter the bar.

A tenth patron, Jasmine Truong, says she arrived at Fortune with a group of friends just after 11 p.m. on August 31. The line to get into the bar was long, Truong recalled.

“My friends and I didn’t have to wait long before we heard a commotion. “There was someone who was willing to ‘cover’ our fee and get us in if we donated money,” recalls Truong, who, when she saw a photo of Hufford, said it was him. “They didn’t specify what for, there was just a QR code that everyone scanned and it took us to a campaign page. Then I realized they were raising money for someone’s campaign. There was no mention of his campaign, no mention of who he was. Just scan the QR code to enter.”

Hufford says Fortune hosted a “fundraising event” for him at the bar that evening.

“Fortune hosted a fundraising event for ben4portland, where donors came to the bar one evening and I was there to meet them,” says Hufford. “The event was limited to campaign supporters and many people contributed to the event; the suggested contribution was $10.”

“I didn’t know people could pay security a different amount to get into the campaign event or skip the line at the event,” Hufford added.

None of the eleven customers Ww spoke to had ever heard of Hufford before lining up to go to the bar. They also didn’t know they were attending a “fundraising event,” they said. They just wanted to enter the bar.

Nothing happened at the bar that seemed to indicate a campaign event, the customers recalled. A DJ in the corner played remixes of top hits and bar patrons danced, sang and drank. It was normal.

According to two campaign finance experts Hufford’s request for a campaign donation in exchange for free bar admission appears to violate a state elections law that prohibits the use of undue influence. What that means: A candidate for political office cannot offer something of value to solicit a donation. In this scenario, the valuable item is free access to Fortune.

Election attorney Dan Meek says: “From your description, it appears that the candidate offered something worth $20 (coverage fee waiver) to those in line in exchange for a $10 contribution to his campaign. That consideration would violate Oregon Revised Statute 260.665.”

Paige Richardson, a longtime political consultant, said Hufford’s proposal “certainly violates the spirit of the laws and regulations governing public campaign financing. He completely gamed the system.”

Hufford’s alleged commitment is important because he could use the donations for much more public money. The city’s public campaign financing system ties distribution to the number of small donations a candidate receives, matching those donations at a ratio of up to 9 to 1.

Data from the city’s Small Donor Elections program shows that Hufford received 170 donations on August 31 and September 1: 121 donations on August 31 and another 49 donations on September 1, possibly in the early hours of Sunday morning as visitors arrived. Fortune. Of the nearly 170 donations that evening, the city matched 94 with public money. That equates to more than $8,000 in taxpayer money generated for Hufford’s campaign that night.

Records show that Hufford never received more than 18 donations in one day during the months of August and September.

During his eight-month campaign, Hufford received a total of 557 contributions. That means 30% of Hufford’s total donations came from that Saturday and Sunday.

Hufford did not respond to follow-up questions asking whether he had told his clients they could avoid a $20 cover charge if they contributed money to his campaign. Hufford also gave no details about the “fundraising event” he said Fortune hosted that evening and into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Hufford also did not respond to questions about whether bar patrons would have known when they joined the line that they were participating in a political event.

Karen Bowler, a representative for Fortune, said Fortune’s co-owners were told by Hufford that he was hosting a “campaign event” at the bar for supporters, but that the company was “unaware of the details.” of the cover offer.

Hufford is currently one of twelve candidates for the City of Portland (former candidates, as of the November 5 election) is being investigated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs for participating in donation exchange agreements. Those agreements between candidates were first reported by Ww early September.