Realtors and homebuilders love Julie Hoy for Mayor, not Chris Hoy

There's an almost foolproof way to tell which candidate for Mayor or City Council here in Salem is the most conservative.

Check out ORESTAR, Oregon's campaign finance reporting system that's part of the Secretary of State office, and see who is getting contributions from realtor and homebuilder organizations. Whoever they're supporting, that's the conservative candidate.

On Facebook this image is being shared by people who favor incumbent Mayor Chris Hoy, a progressive, over his opponent in the May election, Julie Hoy (no relation).

Now, being a progressive myself, my sympathies are with the Chris Hoy backers. There's nothing wrong with pointing out the large amount of money Julie Hoy is getting from these sources, which are dominated by realtors and homebuilders. 

At the moment ORESTAR is showing that Chris Hoy has gotten $40,154 in campaign contributions in 2024, while Julie Hoy has gotten $217,513 -- a big difference. Mayor Hoy is batting .000 when it comes to contributions from the sources in the image above.

However, I think it's unfair to claim that Julie Hoy has been bought off by realtors, homebuilders, and other conservative groups that are supporting her campaign. These days every person running for a significant office needs a substantial amount of money. 

Labor unions typically support progressive candidates. Are those candidates being bought off by the unions? Conservatives claim this, just as progressives claim conservative candidates are being bought off by business organizations. 

In truth, it's difficult to determine cause and effect here. For it makes sense that both individuals and organizations prefer to give money to candidates who share their political persuasion. Basically, conservative or progressive. 

(I'm still fond of the term "liberal," but I realize that progressive has become the favored term for those on the left portion of the political spectrum.)

So it doesn't require a moral failing by a politician, such as having their vote on an issue determined by whoever gives them the most money, to explain why conservative elected officials usually are more business-friendly than progressive elected officials are. 

That's simply a reflection of their political philosophy -- which is shared by donors and the elected official. The same applies to labor unions and progressive politicians.

Nonetheless, I'm still bothered by how much money is being showered on Julie Hoy and, to a lesser extent, Chris Hoy. Money may not directly corrupt elected officials, but it is still a burden both for themselves and the electorate. 

Raising money takes up a large share of every politician's time. I'd prefer that they used that time to work on solving problems faced by the people they represent. But this is the system we have, not the system most of us would want if we could wave a magic wand and make our elections as we'd like them to be.

Comments

[Mike Jones]

Thanks for pointing out who the conservative choice is. I really didn't want to vote liberal and this saved time. Thank you.

[William Cherry]

You liberal trash are useless to oregonians..creeps and critters..bending over to please atiny persent of the population..and shit loads of ilegals...you are worthless dogs.