OR-4: More on that Sid Leiken funny money business

Kari Chisholm

On Friday, I wrote about the financial shenanigans that seem to be sinking Sid Leiken's congressional campaign even before it gets underway.

To recap: According to the Register-Guard, Leiken's mayoral campaign committee (Friends of Sid Leiken) paid $2000 to Leiken's consulting firm (SWL Consulting). After it came up, Leiken amended his reporting to say it was a reimbursement for polling services rendered by P&G Marketing and Research. The DPO's Trent Lutz has filed a complaint noting that P&G isn't registered to do business in Oregon - and the mailing address Leiken listed is the same as Glenda Leiken Realty, his mom's business. The question: Was Leiken pocketing campaign cash?

Over the weekend, I took a look at Lutz's formal complaint (pdf). Along with all the discussion of the flow of money, and the query about whether P&G Marketing and Research actually exists, it raised one more very interesting question: If P&G exists, did it actually do any polling for Leiken?

Why is that in doubt? Well, go back to the original R-G story:

The mayor said that as the political leader of the city, he periodically commissions polls on city issues.

The poll — conducted earlier this year before Leiken filed as a candidate for the Fourth Congressional District race — surveyed about 200 Springfield residents, he said. Leiken said the poll included questions about the city measure asking for a 2-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase, but he declined to identify other topics addressed in the poll or name the firm that conducted the polling.

“I don’t share (the poll results) with anybody.” Leiken said. That polling “has just been mine to kind of gauge on where things are,” he said. “That’s the way I’ve always operated with my past polling efforts as well. I don’t share it with the public.”

Two members of Save Our Streets, a political action committee formed to support the gas-tax measure, said Leiken had not shared the poll results with them.

Voters on Tuesday defeated the gas measure.

So, we're supposed to believe that Mayor Leiken commissioned a poll about a local gas tax measure - which he supported - and then failed to share that information with his allies on the campaign committee?

That seems mighty curious. And combined with the questions about whether P&G exists at all, raises a lot of doubts about the way that ol' Sid's been handling his campaign cash.

Seems like a simple question to resolve. If P&G Marketing and Research exists, the person or persons who own that business should speak up now. And now that the Springfield gas tax campaign is over, there's no reason they can't share the polling results with the public.

On Friday, the O's Jeff Mapes started poking around too - and neither Leiken nor Kortge was returning his calls.

Curiouser and curiouser.

By Kari Chisholm June 22, 2009