1 2 3 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE STATE OF OREGON FOR THE COUNTY OF MULTNOMAH 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 To: Loretta Smith, Multnomah County Commissioner 18 From the petition of the State of Oregon on the relation of Seth Alan Woolley, 19 Relator, alleges: 20 Plaintiff-Relator respectfully petitions this Court to issue to Multnomah County 21 Commissioner Loretta Smith alternative Writ commanding as follows: 22 SETH ALAN WOOLLEY, an Oregon elector, Plaintiff-Relator, v. LORETTA SMITH, Multnomah County Commissioner, PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS ORS 34.130 Defendant. 1. 23 24 No. ____________ To resign from office as a Multnomah County Commissioner, immediately. 2. 25 To show cause why she should not be ordered to resign from office as a Multnomah County Commissioner. Page 1 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 2 JURISDICTION 1. 3 4 5 6 7 34.120(1). The Court issues this Writ pursuant to ORS 34.130(3). PARTIES 2. 8 9 This Court has jurisdiction over this mandamus proceeding pursuant to ORS Plaintiff-Relator Seth Alan Woolley is an elector of Oregon who resides at 3403 N.E. Stanton Street in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. 3. Plaintiff-Relator is adversely affected and aggrieved by the failure of 10 Defendant to comply with Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3), which 11 imposed upon her a continuing obligation to resign from the office of 12 Multnomah County Commissioner, when she began to run for Portland City 13 Commission. 14 15 16 17 18 4. Defendant Loretta Smith is a Multnomah County Commissioner. FACTS 5. On September 12, 2017, WILLAMETTE WEEK reported that Loretta Smith 19 announced her candidacy for Portland City Commissioner. See Declaration of 20 Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 1. 21 6. On and after October 3, 2017, Loretta Smith led to her County Commissioner 22 campaign account on ORESTAR the receipt of several large (>$500 per 23 individual) campaign contributions from individuals; several large donations Page 2 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 from corporations (up to $4,000 each); and several large donations from 2 political committees (up to $2,500 each). All of these amounts are in excess 3 of contributions to candidates for Multnomah County office allowed by the 4 Multnomah County Charter §11.60. 5 7. On January 2, 2018, the PORTLAND TRIBUNE reported on Loretta Smith s 6 campaign activities during 2017. See Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 7 2: 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 But Smith s actions since Sept. 12 using a campaign consultant to put out a news release about her city run, retaining a political consultant for her campaign, publicizing her new "Loretta Smith for Portland City Council" campaign logo, and registering the website LorettaforPortland.com, while raising large contributions could be enough in a judge s eyes to say she should have resigned her job in the fall. 8. On November 27, 2017, Relator Woolley led an ORS 260.345 election law 17 complaint against Loretta Smith, alleging, inter alia, her violation of 18 Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3) and a number of state and county 19 campaign nance laws. This case was docketed as 17-C&E-15. See 20 Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 3. 21 9. On November 27, 2017, Relator Woolley also led a similar complaint with 22 the Multnomah County Director of Elections (Tim Scott) and Multnomah 23 County Attorney (Jenny Madkour), including an allegation that Loretta Smith Page 3 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 was in violation of Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3). See Declaration of 2 Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 4. 3 10. On December 21, 2017, the Secretary of State in docket 17-C&E-15 issued a 4 Final Determination that Loretta Smith had been a candidate for Portland City 5 Commissioner since September 12, 2017, if not earlier. The Secretary 6 determined that her failure to amend her campaign nance account on the 7 state s ORESTAR system to state accurately the office she was running for 8 was a violation of state campaign nance law and warranted imposition of a 9 $250 ne. See Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 5. 10 11. On December 28, 2017, Multnomah County Attorney, Jenny Madkour, 11 responded to the complaint led with Multnomah County. She stated: "The 12 alleged violation of Charter section 4.20, running in the midterm, raises policy 13 and process questions that require further consideration. I cannot comment on 14 the timeline of that work." See Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 6. 15 12. On January 11, 2018, Loretta Smith s campaign manager, Jake Weigler, was 16 quoted by the press as stating that all of her fundraising since September 12, 17 2017, "should be considered for a race for city council." 18 19 20 21 22 23 To date, Smith has raised $57,000 for her city council campaign, according to Weigler, who said that campaign nance limits only apply to candidates running for county office. "As the Secretary of State has now determined all her fundraising since Sept. 12 should be considered for a race for city council, the county s fundraising limits do not apply," Weigler told The Skanner. Page 4 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 2 3 4 5 See Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 7. OBLIGATION OF THE DEFENDANT TO PERFORM THE ACT 13. Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3) (Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, Exhibit 6 8) provides that "No elected official of Multnomah County may run for 7 another elective office in midterm without resigning rst." The rest of the 8 section, speci cally the combination of subsection (1)(a) and other sentences in 9 subsection (3), make it clear that "midterm" includes the entire 2017 calendar 10 11 year. 14. It was unlawful for Loretta Smith to commence running for another elective 12 office without resigning rst from her Multnomah County Commissioner 13 position. 14 15. The numerous contributions to Loretta Smith s campaign account, in excess of 15 the limits applicable to a candidacy for Multnomah County office under 16 Multnomah County Charter § 11.60, indicate that in 2017 she was in fact 17 running as a candidate for some other elective office. 18 16. Loretta Smith since the beginning of her current term as Multnomah County 19 Commissioner (in 2015) has not been legally eligible to run for another term 20 as Multnomah County Commissioner, under Multnomah County Charter § 21 4.20(2). Page 5 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 17. Because Loretta Smith in 2017 was running for an elective office other than 2 her current Multnomah County Commissioner seat, the Multnomah County 3 Charter § 4.20(3) requires that she resign as County Commissioner. 4 18. The Multnomah County Charter goes further and mandates that the mere ling 5 of a candidacy for some other office constitutes an automatic resignation of the 6 County Commissioner position, but it does not require such ling as the only 7 act that constitutes a "run for another elective office." 8 19. The Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3) requirement to resign isn t limited 9 to when a candidate makes a " ling" pertaining to another office. Just 10 "run"ning for another office triggers the resignation requirement. 11 20. Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3) does not de ne the term "run for another 12 elective office in midterm." It would appear logical to assume that anyone 13 who is a legal "candidate" for an office is engaged in a "run for [that] elective 14 office." ORS 260.005 states: 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 (1)(a) "Candidate" means: (A) An individual whose name is printed on a ballot, for whom a declaration of candidacy, nominating petition or certi cate of nomination to public office has been led or whose name is expected to be or has been presented, with the individual s consent, for nomination or election to public office; (B) An individual who has solicited or received and accepted a contribution, made an expenditure, or given consent to an individual, organization, political party or political committee Page 6 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 to solicit or receive and accept a contribution or make an expenditure on the individual s behalf to secure nomination or election to any public office at any time, whether or not the office for which the individual will seek nomination or election is known when the solicitation is made, the contribution is received and retained or the expenditure is made, and whether or not the name of the individual is printed on a ballot; 21. Loretta Smith quali es as a "candidate" for Portland City Commissioner under 11 state law, long before the end of 2017, because: 12 (1) 13 14 Her "name is expected to be or has been presented, with the individual s consent, for nomination or election to public office;" or (2) She "has solicited or received and accepted a contribution, made an 15 expenditure, or given consent to an individual, organization, political 16 party or political committee to solicit or receive and accept a contribution 17 or make an expenditure on the individual s behalf to secure nomination 18 or election to any public office at any time." 19 22. On December 21, 2017, the Secretary of State in docket 17-C&E-15 issued a 20 Final Determination that con rmed that Loretta Smith had been a candidate for 21 Portland City Commissioner since September 12, 2017, if not earlier. See ¶ ? 22 above. 23 Page 7 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 THE OMISSION OF THE DEFENDANT TO PERFORM THE ACT 23. Loretta Smith has not resigned from the office of Multnomah County Commissioner. 24. Loretta Smith refuses to perform her duty to resign per Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3). LACK OF OTHER SPEEDY REMEDIES 25. The Secretary of State has determined that he lacks jurisdiction to enforce Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3). 26. In the docket 17-C&E-15 Final Determination, the Secretary of State 13 concluded that he did not have jurisdiction over local election laws and thus 14 would not direct any local official to comply with local election laws. 15 27. Regarding Relator Woolley s November 27, 2017, complaint led with the 16 Multnomah County Director of Elections and Multnomah County Attorney, 17 Multnomah County Attorney Jenny Madkour declined to take action or even to 18 provide a timeline for resolving Relator s complaint and stated that Relator 19 "may opt to pursue this matter in court." See Declaration of Seth A. Woolley, 20 Exhibit 7. 21 22 28. Relator is aware of no source for enforcement of Multnomah County Charter Multnomah County Charter § 4.20(3), other than this Court, which affords the Page 8 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 only remaining remedy available to compel Loretta Smith to perform her duty 2 to resign. 3 4 5 6 WHEREFORE, immediately after the receipt of this Writ, Defendant is commanded 7 as follows: 8 1. To resign from the office of Multnomah County Commissioner; or 9 2. to return this Writ with a certi cate of compliance no later than ______ ___, ALTERNATIVE WRIT 10 2018 at ____:____ (am or pm) in Room ____ of the Multnomah County 11 Courthouse or to appear before this Court and show cause why she has not 12 done so. 13 14 15 16 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff-Relator prays for a judgment: 17 1. PRAYER 18 19 Ordering that Loretta Smith resign from the office of Multnomah County Commissioner; 2. Awarding to Plaintiffs-Relators their costs and reasonable attorney fees, 20 pursuant to ORS 34.210 and/or ORS 20.105; the public bene t doctrine (e.g., 21 Deras v. Myers, 272 Or 47, 66-67, 535 P2d 541 (1975)), and/or the substantial 22 bene t doctrine (e.g., Crandon Capital Partners v. Shelk, 342 Or 555, 564, 23 157 P3d 176 (2007). Page 9 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 3. Granting such other relief the Court deems appropriate. DATED this ___ day of ___________, 2018 __________________________ Clerk of the Court Multnomah County Circuit Court Respectfully submitted by: _____________________ Seth Alan Woolley, pro se 3403 N.E. Stanton Street Portland, OR 97212-2744 seth@swoolley.org 503-953-3943 Page 10 PETITION FOR ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS