A re-determination by the Portland Auditor's Office finds city commissioner used taxpayer funds to benefit his campaign. Investigators say Gonzalez and his staffers lied about key documents and tried to interfere with the investigation. by Courtney Vaughn Updated: 3:18 pm Monday, Oct. 21 Rene Gonzalez, one of three Portland city commissioners currently running for mayor, violated campaign finance laws by using taxpayer money for a consulting firm to help edit his Wikipedia page earlier this year, the Auditor’s Office says. The updated determination comes after a Portland Auditor’s Office investigation previously found a lack of evidence to definitively say that Gonzalez’s use of $6,400 in public funds to spruce up his Wikipedia page while actively campaigning amounted to an illegal contribution. Auditors noted in their September determination that the issue was “an exceedingly close call,” and said they were waiting on additional records. After Gonzalez’s staff coughed up additional documents they initially claimed didn’t exist, the Auditor’s Office reopened its investigation and determined a violation occurred. Gonzalez’s campaign, Rene For Portland, was fined $2,400.  Auditors said a key issue in the investigation–which was spurred by voter complaints to the Portland Elections Office–was the use of staff time and public funds to update the commissioner’s Wikipedia page to reflect his political affiliation. Gonzalez staffers wanted the page to reference Gonzalez as a “registered Democrat.” WhiteHat Wiki, the consulting firm hired by Gonzalez’s team to assist with the edits, advised Gonzalez staffers to remove the term “registered,” noting there were no links to substantiate his political party affiliation and previously, Gonzalez had been registered Republican.  The role of Portland city commissioner is a non-partisan position. Auditors say Gonzalez’s insistence that his Wikipedia page reflect his party affiliation was unrelated to his current city commissioner role and instead was “a key campaign strategy” in his mayoral campaign. Gonzalez’s current campaign broadcasts that he is a Democrat. His campaign signs even include the phrase “Democrat for Portland Mayor.” A Rene Gonzalez campaign sign emphasizes his politicalaffiliation as a Democrat. courtney vaughn Gonzalez has faced criticism and questions about his democratic values since his first run for office. Prior reporting noted Gonzalez sought to remove news reporting from his Wikipedia page that documented his ties to far-right extremist groups.  “The contribution was City staff time, money, and services spent in researching, developing, drafting, reviewing, and posting an edit to Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page to support that Gonzalez is a ‘Democrat.’ The Auditor’s Office concludes that the City provided these funds and services to and on behalf of Gonzalez in his capacity as a candidate, not a current City Commissioner,” the Auditor’s Office noted in a news release early Monday morning. Gonzalez tried to obstruct investigation The city office also noted that Gonzalez “demonstrated a pattern of obstruction and interference in the investigation.”  According to the independent city office, Gonzalez staffers Shah Smith and Harrison Kass, a current City Council candidate in District 3, lied to auditors when they were asked for documents from prior emails as part of a records request related to the investigation. Auditors were particularly interested in an email Kass sent to WhiteHat Wiki that provided a scan of the marked-up version of the Wikipedia page, with edits they requested. According to the Auditor’s Office, Kass told them he was referring to a “visual scan” and not a scanned attachment. When the office pressed further, Gonzalez’s team provided the document in question.  Gonzalez also wanted the chief deputy auditor who issued the findings in the initial determination to be removed from the investigation, alleging political bias. The rationale was the chief deputy’s former romantic partner, Andrés Oswill, is the board chair of Portland For All. Jackie Yerby, who submitted the initial complaint to the Elections Division, also volunteers on the Portland For All board. The chief deputy auditor noted he had no relationship or personal familiarity with Yerby.  The Auditor’s Office also noted that Smith, Gonzalez’s chief of staff, “verbally chastised a member of the Elections Division staff about the questions that were asked to him by another staff member who was performing their charter-mandated duties.” When the Auditor’s Office noted it referred the issue to the Secretary of State to investigate whether Gonzalez and his staff broke state law by working on political issues while at work, Gonzalez asked the office to halt that referral, alleging a tainted investigation. Auditors say Gonzalez made “baseless claims that the investigation was tainted by political bias, all after his representatives misled the Auditor’s Office about key evidence.”  “This is the first time in almost two decades of enforcement that the Auditor’s Office has seen an attempt to apply this magnitude of pressure on its staff by a person under investigation,” the Auditor’s Office stated. “We find this, and the misleading of the Auditor’s Office about a key document in the investigation, relevant in the context of determining penalties in this matter.” Gonzalez's campaign manager could not immediately be reached and his city staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Auditors said they estimated the value of staff time devoted to the Wiki edits at around $800. The city office based the $2400 penalty on the estimated staff time, the attempt to mislead auditors about key documents, and the fact that Gonzalez had “significant resources at his disposal” including access to the city attorney’s office, to have known better or at least seek advice on the propriety of the expenditure. "A public official's use of public resources to communicate about City business generally does not implicate the City's campaign finance law. However, communications that relate to the official's campaign or that are about the official's candidacy can cross the line and become a contribution to a candidate that is governed by the City's campaign finance law,” Deborah Scroggin, Portland’s elections manager, wrote in Monday’s news release. "The Elections Division is available to help connect candidates to resources and guidance in advance of such communications.”