SPRINGFIELD ? Buoyed by a big influx of cash from Republican state lawmakers and political action committees, Springfield statehouse candidate Joe Pishioneri has outraised his Democratic opponent John Lively by a ratio of more than 3-to-1 this year.
A presumptive underdog in the race to replace Terry Beyer ? a Democrat who isn?t seeking re-election ? in House District 12, Pishioneri has turned his cash advantage into a highly visible and aggressive campaign, stressing the ideological differences between himself and Lively on topics ranging from abortion to business taxes.
With a significant Democratic voter registration edge and a more recognizable name in the Springfield district, Lively hasn?t kept pace with Pishioneri?s fundraising and his campaign has been relatively low-key. His only criticism of Pishioneri so far has been for what Lively has categorized as ?negative, misleading attacks? in Pishioneri?s campaign materials.
With the election just over five weeks away, both sides are confident their respective strategies will pay off to land a legislative seat that Democrats have held since 1983, in a city that has a recent history of electing more registered Republicans than Democrats to nonpartisan city and county positions.
Fundraising gap
Pishioneri has raised almost $170,000 this year, of which more than $100,000 has come from statewide Republican PACs and the PACs of incumbent GOP Oregon lawmakers. That?s a significant sum for the Springfield city councilor. It is more than any of the other Lane County area House candidates ? incumbents and challengers ? have raised this year, except for House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna of Roseburg, the leader of the House GOP caucus.
It rivals the amounts of money raised by Republican incumbents in a number of swing seats in the Portland area that the GOP wrested from Democratic control in 2010 to gain a 30-30 split in the Oregon House. All those candidates face tough re-election battles this year. Both parties want to erase the split and gain a clear majority in the House.
Springfield?s House seat ?is a very high priority for us,? Republican spokesman Nick Smith said this week.
The party has doled out so much money to Pishioneri?s campaign in part because he?s ?one of the best new candidates we?ve seen this year,? Smith said.
Moreover, Smith said House Republicans would also like to pick up another seat in Lane County ? in addition to Hanna retaining his seat ? a geographic area where state legislative races have long been dominated by Democrats.
?After Beyer?s resignation, this was a seat we looked very carefully at,? he said.
Lively, meanwhile, has lagged far behind Pishioneri in fundraising all year, and the gap between them widened over the summer. Lively, a former Springfield mayor, has raised just over $53,000 this year, of which about $20,000 has come from Democratic PACs and lawmakers.
?It?s a concern just because the gap is there,? Lively said. ?But from the beginning, I?ve made it clear to my supporters that we can?t outspend? Pishioneri.
Pishioneri began spending early in the campaign, with mailers and phone polling throughout the summer and with his first TV ad airing in late August. That?s in contrast to the more typical statehouse race in which candidates wait until after Labor Day to start in earnest.
Lively?s waged a relatively quiet campaign so far, with ?one or two different mailers? going out, according to Lively.
House Republican spokesman Smith said Pishioneri?s early spending stems from an assumption that the Lively name is much better known in the district.
Pishioneri ?understood that, and that it was very important to get out and put himself in front of voters,? Smith added.
Disputing the ads
Pishioneri?s campaign materials have irked some Democrats.
One Pishioneri mailer stated inaccurately that Lively is retired. Lively in fact works for the Eugene public relations firm Cawood. A mailer sent on Pishioneri?s behalf by Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, claimed Lively supports abortions ?for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy.? Lively on Friday said he doesn?t support late-term abortions, with the possible exception of medical emergencies, and has never made any public statements that he does.
A Pishioneri TV ad and mailers have highlighted Lively?s opposition in the 1990s to Eugene?s ?Toxics Right To Know? environmental reporting program for business. Lively spoke against the city ordinance in his role as spokesman for the Hyundai computer chip plant.
House Democratic spokesman Jared Mason-Gere said these slams by Pishioneri have given Lively ammunition to fight back.
But Lively said that, despite ?concerns? of others, to do so ?is not my style.?
?That?s how I?ve conducted myself my whole career,? he said. ?I don?t go there.?
When Lively did publicly criticize Pishioneri earlier this month for Pishioneri?s ?misleading? messages, Pishioneri responded that he was simply giving voters a clear picture of the two candidates? positions on ?important policy issues.?
Voters should know that, unlike Lively, Pishioneri is anti-abortion, opposes tax-increase Measures 66 and 67, and favors more ?school choice? options, his campaign argued in a prepared statement. Measures 66 and 67, which raised taxes statewide on corporations and high income earners, were comfortably approved by voters in a 2010 special election.
?This is what campaigns are about: letting the voters know about who they are electing,? Pishioneri said.
Whether Pishioneri?s positions will resonate with Springfield voters remains to be seen. Last year?s legislative redistricting increased the percentage of registered Republicans in the district, but only slightly. Registered Democrats make up about 41 percent of the district?s voters, compared to 29 percent of registered Republicans.
Mason-Gere said that the majority of Springfield voters supported Measures 66 and 67, and are pro-choice on abortion.
The Springfield district ?is certainly not south Eugene, but we believe Lively?s values are in line with the district?s,? he said.
Therefore, Mason-Gere said he believes that Pishioneri?s campaign hasn?t hurt Lively.
?If the opposition had thrown around serious charges that had the opportunity to really change the perception of (Lively) in the district, we might have had to punch back a lot harder,? he added.
Betsy Schultz, Pishioneri?s campaign manager, disagrees with Mason-Gere??s assessment.
The campaign has done ?research and polling? that indicates Pishioneri?s positions on those issues reflect the views of most Springfield residents, she said.
Still, Pishioneri?s latest television ad takes a different tack. Anchored by former Springfield mayor and current Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken, it focuses on Pishioneri?s work as a city councilor ?to keep government spending under control? and to help bring jobs to the area.
Pishioneri ?has been close to the current policies of the city,? Schultz said, as part of the current council that has a majority of registered Republicans and has taken a number of ?pro-business? positions in recent years.
?It seems (Springfield voters) want fiscal responsibility and want people who will work across party lines,? she added.
Cash gap may close
The visibility advantage that Pishioneri has maintained in the race so far may be lessened or reversed in the five weeks leading up to the campaign.
The Republican candidate has just over $5,800 left in the bank as of Friday, compared with about $11,700 for Lively.
And, heading into the election?s home stretch, the House Democrats? Future PAC has more than $650,000 on hand to spend on House races statewide, more overall than the PACs that support Republican House candidates.
Mason-Gere, the House Democrats? spokesman, said that, generally, the caucus ?is getting spending out later in the (election) cycle? in races across the state than Republicans.
?We feel we connected with more people later in the cycle,? he said.
Lively said he expects to step up his campaign spending in coming weeks. He ruled out buying either TV or radio ad spots, however, saying he will focus on targeted mailers and door-to-door campaigning.
Despite Pishioneri?s fundraising advantage, Lively said he was ?satisfied? with the support he has received from the House Democrats.
Schultz, Pishioneri?s campaign manager, said she couldn?t comment on the campaign?s future spending, but she said she was confident that it would continue its successful run of fundraising.
The support from the Republican establishment for Pishioneri ?is really a reflection of the support he has in the district,? Schultz said.
district 12 Campaign contributions
BIG DONORS TO JOE PISHIONERI
Promote Oregon Leadership PAC: $42,501 (GOP PAC funded by insurance, pharmaceuticals, banking, cable TV, railroad and health care industries)
Oregon Victory PAC: $20,000 (GOP PAC funded by Oregon business leaders, including lumberman Aaron Jones, investor Don Tykeson, real estate owner Gretchen Pierce and developer John Hammer)
GOP House leader Bruce Hanna: $11,200
Rosboro Lumber: Springfield mill gave $3,985
John Hyland Construction: $3,600
Oregon Right to Life PAC: $2,670 (opposes abortion)
Oregon Family Council PAC: $1,567 (opposes abortion and gay marriage
Richard Boyles: $1,000 (Gateway hotel owner)
Seneca Jones Timber Co. (Aaron Jones): $1,000
BIG DONORS TO JOHN LIVELY
Oregon Education Association: $9,127 (teachers union)
Friends of Terry Beyer: $9,000
Future PAC: $7,780 (Democratic PAC funded by labor unions, including AFSCME, Service Employees International Union)
Service Employees International Union: $4,827 (state employees union)
Oregon State Council of Firefighters: $1,250
Lane County Labor Council: $500
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