You know my name, look up the number
I see there's a new website up called the Portland Record. It seems like the main thing they're doing, at least so far, is taking the campaign finance data put out by the Oregon secretary of state and presenting it in a more accessible fashion. Which is a good thing, in that the state's official website for displaying that information is kinda clunky.
The new site may do more than just spit out data in new ways, though. They curently have a news-y story posted about some negative push polling that's being done against the three main Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The article points out that the propaganda is being financed by "dark money" – that's how you make people you don't like sound scary – but it seems rather Betsy-ish dark, if I had I guess.
Anyway, on a scale where 10 is the wonkiest and 1 is the hippest, I'd give the launch of the Portland Record a solid 8. But hey, the more people rooting around trying to uncover the many dirty secrets of Oregon, the better.
Hi Jack, we'll take the 8! I think "dark money" is the correct term here, but interested in what you think it should be called. Sure, seems mildly pejorative, but I'd argue it is accurate, specific and accepted usage. We take downloading Oregon campaign finance data pretty seriously, and I sure couldn't find "voters for truth llc" spending there. So I'm in the dark!
ReplyDeleteWW has an interesting follow, although spoiler: no one fesses up to it there, either. https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/01/06/the-plot-thickens-around-a-mystery-website-seeking-to-influence-democratic-primary-voters/