Campaign finance information is online

By KVAL Web Staff Published: Apr 23, 2008 at 4:28 PM PST Last Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 5:51 PM PST
Campaign finance information is online
Kitty Piercy seeks re-election as mayor of Eugene; Jim Torrey wants his old job back. You can keep tabs on campaign contributions and expenditures in the mayoral race online thanks to the ORESTAR system.

Oregon now requires political candidates to file campaign finance information online. For voters, this change means information about who is giving money to campaigns and how the campaigns spend the money is just a click away.

The system, called Oregon Elections System for Tracking and Reporting, or ORESTAR, allows campaigns to upload required information. The public can then peruse the information from any computer with Internet access.

The system is the result of legislation passed by the 2005 and 2007 Oregon Legislature.

For example, ORESTAR makes it relatively easy to identify top contributors to the mayoral campaigns in Eugene.

Further information about companies that contribute to campaigns is available through the Oregon Secretary of State's Corporations Division online business registration search.

For candidates for federal office, the Federal Election Commission keeps track of campaign finance information.

The following are the top contributors to the campaigns of Kitty Piercy and Jim Torrey between April 1 and April 23, 2008.

Kitty Piercy

  1. Mountain Rose Herbs, organic herb, tea and spice seller  $5,000
  2. Art Johnson, attorney $2,000
  3. Paul Holvey for State Representative, political committee, $1,000

Click here for complete records for Kitty Piercy

Jim Torrey

  1. Van Duyn Properties LLC, $5,000
  2. Murphy Company, a hardwood plywood maker, $5,000
  3. Aadland Leasing, $3,000 

Click here for complete records for Jim Torrey

Two other candidates, Nick Urhausen and Jim Ray, listed no campaign contributions or expenditures. Other information about their campaigns is available online.