The Portland City Auditor’s Office has found no conclusive evidence that Commissioner Rene Gonzalez violated campaign finance law by using $6,400 in City funds to edit his Wikipedia page. The edits removed a reference to Gonzalez tagging a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer on Twitter, prompting a complaint alleging the edits were intended to benefit his mayoral campaign, thus constituting an illegal campaign contribution.
“The evidence obtained to date is insufficient to find that a violation occurred,” the Auditor’s Office said in a statement, but noted the case was a close call.
The matter has now been referred to the Oregon Secretary of State to investigate whether any City employees engaged in prohibited political activities. City Auditor Simone Rede, herself running for re-election, is recused from all campaign finance investigations and did not personally oversee the investigation, which was instead handled by her staff.
