Over the last decade, the union-backed political outfit Our Oregon has made a habit of splashing unflattering depictions of Oregon Republicans across social media.
These days, it’s the Democrats’ turn.
In a rare move, Our Oregon began running a series of social media ads on Thursday targeting four moderate legislative Democrats. State Reps. Emerson Levy of Bend, Hai Pham of Hillsboro, and Daniel Nguyen of Lake Oswego are mentioned prominently in separate ads. So is state Sen. Janeen Sollman from Hillsboro.
The quartet appears to have run afoul of Our Oregon over a key question lawmakers will consider when they meet next month: whether to disconnect Oregon’s tax code from the federal government’s.
But Our Oregon says they are just the first Democrats who will be subjected to the pressure campaign in coming days.
“We are running a series of ads across multiple districts,” said Felisa Hagins, director of the Service Employees International Union’s Oregon State Council, who sits on the Our Oregon board.
The ads are aimed at forcing Democrats’ hand on a sensitive subject.
Because Oregon bases taxable income for its residents on the federal tax code, tax cuts included in President Trump’s massive H.R.1 last year will also ensure Oregonians pay less money to the state. Legislative number crunchers expect a $888 million hit to the state’s general fund in the current two-year budget cycle.
Our Oregon, which works with public-employee unions who represent employees across state government, is keen on seeing at least some of that money restored in order to avert layoffs. It’s focused on Democrats who are resistant to voting on a disconnect from the federal tax code, a move that would mean a functional tax increase for Oregonians.
“Your Representative Daniel Nguyen has the power to STOP Trump’s billionaire tax breaks from getting copied into Oregon’s state tax code,” reads one of the ads that began running on Facebook and Instagram on Thursday. “Will you remind Rep. Nguyen that Oregonians are counting on him to stand with students and everyday families, not billionaires?”
The remaining ads are identical, changing only the name of the politician in question. They include a link where people can sign an online petition.
Hagins said Friday that public-employee unions hope to see Democrats completely disconnect from the federal tax code, then selectively sign on to some elements, such as tax exemptions for overtime pay and tips. She said she didn’t know off-hand which other Democrats could expect to be named in Our Oregon’s ads. But she stressed the ads are “advocacy ads,” not attack ads.
Whatever the ads are, they caught at least one of their Democratic targets off guard. Levy, a moderate who represents a central Oregon swing district, posted a screenshot of the ad on Instagram, writing: “When my husband sends me ads and I see my own party running ads against me. Let me make something crystal clear: I represent my district. Full stop.”
Levy deleted that post, but penned another Friday.
“Yesterday I became aware of targeted ads funded by powerful Democratic interest groups that falsely imply I support Donald Trump’s tax policies or align with his administration’s beliefs,” she wrote. “That implication is wrong and misleading.”
In an interview, Levy told OPB that the ads surprised her because she had been talking with other Democrats in good faith about whether or not she could support a potential tax code disconnect – and had not made a final decision. She noted the scope of the state’s budget hole won’t be clear until Feb. 4, when lawmakers will get an updated forecast of state revenues.
“We need to come together to figure out the budget and serve Oregonians at a time [when] the federal government has pulled back a lot of funding,” said Levy, whose House district stretches north and west of Bend. “This kind of outside pressure from inside the tent, I think, is counterproductive and harmful.”
Sollman, too, was surprised to learn of the ads. She said she has done little more than ask questions about how a disconnect vote would work, and that the political messaging from unions is only good for “division and disruption.”
“I don’t think this is what my district elects me to do,” Sollman said. “They don’t expect me just to swim with the current. They want me to be thoughtful. They want me to be engaging. And we have no bill in front of us.”
It’s not clear how many of the lawmakers featured in the new ads would be needed in order to pass a bill disconnecting Oregon from the federal tax code. Such a move would require a simple majority in each chamber. Even with all Republicans opposed, a bill could pass with two Senate Democrats and six House Democrats defecting.
But a vote that would certainly be painted as raising taxes will be a sensitive matter in an election year in which Oregon voters are already showing anti-tax sentiment. A GOP-led signature-gathering campaign to refer new transportation tax and fee increases to voters saw overwhelming success, almost certainly ensuring those taxes are shot down at the ballot.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Julie Fahey, Jill Bakken, said Friday that “the Speaker doesn’t have any say over what outside advocacy groups do, but it seems like these tactics may make it harder to get to consensus on how to deal with the Oregon budget crisis caused by the Trump budget.”
“Speaker Fahey is committed to ongoing, good-faith conversations with her colleagues about finding budget and policy solutions that will limit cuts to the critical services Oregonians depend on, like our schools, health care, public safety, and wildfire prevention,” Bakken said in an email.
Senate President Rob Wagner, the Legislature’s other top Democrat, declined to comment.
