A complaint was filed today with the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division that detailed likely campaign finance violations by Save Yamhill County PAC, now known as Oregon Taproot PAC. The complaint was filed by a Yamhill County voter who not only noticed the name change, but also an abnormality with the most recent expenditure.

It appears that Save Yamhill County PAC filed an amendment to their committee on March 16, 2023, to change the PAC name to “Oregon Taproot”. March 16th was only four days prior to the filing deadline for candidate and measure voter pamphlet statements, which were due on March 20, 2023.

On April 19, 2023, Oregon Taproot PAC posted a $1,050 transaction for “Voter Pamphlet Statements” in Orestar as a reimbursement to PAC Director Lynnette Shaw, a controversial progressive activist in Yamhill County and member of Progressive Yamhill. Progressive Yamhill and Save Yamhill County were behind several failed recall attempts of school board members and a county commissioner. The expenditure occurred on March 20, 2023, the same day as the deadline for submission of voter pamphlet statements.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

There are no records of which statements Lynnette Shaw paid for. There have been no in-kind transactions posted to any candidate or measure PACs, and Oregon Taproot has not updated its committee to reflect that it is engaged on any measure in the county. This violates campaign finance laws.

A local activist who asked not to be named asks, "Who or what is Save Yamhill County trying so desperately to protect by filing a last-minute name change, paying for voter pamphlet statements, and not disclosing the in-kind contributions? Perhaps the candidates will come forward now that “Oregon Taproot” has also put them in violation of campaign finance law."


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-04-24 17:15:40

Last Update: 2023-04-28 15:34:33