Cara Kaser calls out false statements being spread by her opponent

With just a few days to go before the May 17 election, Ward 1 City Council candidate Cara Kaser is fighting back against falsities being spread by her opponent's campaign. 

Kaser doesn't mention him by name, just referring to him as "my opponent." He's Jan Kailuweit, the Chamber of Commerce-backed candidate. Kaser is endorsed by Progressive Salem. 

Here's what Cara Kaser says in a Facebook post today:

Over the last several weeks when I've been out canvassing, I've heard from too many people who have been given negative misinformation about me by my opponent's campaign. Fortunately, I've been able to meet a lot of people through canvassing and give people correct info about me.

This hurts me personally, as I've actually known my opponent for several years and I had hoped we could have avoided this kind of behavior. It's actually something that I would like to talk with him about after the election, because I think it's important that he knows how it's made me feel. I think we all need to remember that these are volunteer positions and that we will all be working together long after the election and regardless of the results. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the heat of a campaign, but in the end, we're still in this together and will need to be respectful toward one another.

One of the pieces of misinformation that's been circulating is my campaign backers. To help set the record straight, here are the breakdowns for my campaign finances and my opponent’s campaign finances as of May 15th.

I’m proud to be backed by people! I think it’s pretty clear that the my campaign is backed by individual people who want a forward-thinking, progressive City Councilor who will truly only work for people to help make Salem a place where they want to live. I have really pushed myself over the last few months to meet as many people as possible where they are by going door-to-door canvassing and through house parties.

The majority of my campaign contributions (59%) come from individual people who support me; a minority of my campaign contributions (41%) come from PACs. Here’s how my campaign finances breakdown:

- $6,080 (59%): contributions to my campaign from 78 individual people.
- $4,250 (41%): contributions to my campaign from 3 labor union and people-backed PACs (CAPE, Progressive Salem, Democratic Party of Oregon).

To see the details, check out my campaign ORESTAR account at https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=78187

The majority of my opponent’s campaign contributions (77%) come from special business interest PACs and contributors. A minority of my opponent’s campaign contributions (23%) come from individual people, including people who don’t live in Oregon.

- $8,421 (77%): contributions to my opponent’s campaign from 4 special business interest contributors and PACs (Salem Area Chamber of Commerce/Build Jobs PAC, Homebuilders Association/Mid-Valley Affordable Housing Coalition, Oregon Realtors PAC, VIPs Industries, Inc.).
- $2,480 (23%): contributions to my opponent’s campaign from 19 individual people. This amount includes $500 donated from people who don’t live in Oregon.

To see the details of my opponent’s campaign finances, look at his ORESTAR account at https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=78201

And remember, turn in your ballot by 8:00pm Tuesday!

I took a look at the ORESTAR reports for Kaser and Kailuweit. It sure seems that Kaser has her facts straight. Kailuweit is backed by special interests/PAC contributions to a much greater extent than Kaser is.

So Kaser deserves her "She's Working for You" slogan. Kailuweit would work for somebody if elected, but given where his campaign money is coming from, it's likely special interests would get much more of his attention.

Comments

[Carole Smith]

The same is true about Chuck Bennett's campaign. The vast majority of his campaign funds came from chamber members, the chamber, the chamber PACs, Homebuilders PACS, ETC. he also received funds from PACs that the city council votes on for their franchises and pay. For example, the Firefighters PAC, Comcast franchise, the garbage company franchise, etc.

The public needs to be educated on how to access OreStar and how to read it. All the information is there in black and white.