A member of the club has admitted to sharing a list of its member roster to a political campaign for state ballot measure 99, and the list was reportedly used by two other campaigns. Club bylaws include a provision that states “use of the membership list is limited solely to facilitate the conduct of Club business,” and the club’s executive director said the club “will possibly take action against” the member.
The City Club of Portland (Ore.) walled off a portion of its web site after a list of its membership was improperly shared with three political campaigns, the Portland Mercury reported.
One of those campaigns—for state ballot Measure 99—recently sent an email to the club’s members to influence a vote on whether to endorse or oppose the ballot item. Measure 99 would create funding for statewide “outdoor schools,” and is at particular risk of being opposed by the City Club, after robust support for a “no” vote at the club’s “Ballot Palooza” event last week, the Mercury reported.
Here’s a snippet of an email City Club member and Audubon Society of Portland Executive Director Nick Hardigg sent out yesterday:
I’m writing to you today as a fellow Portland City Club member to ask for your support of Measure 99 – Outdoor School for All. Originally the Ballot Measure Research Committee recommended a YES vote on Measure 99. Unfortunately, members at the meeting this past Wednesday were split and those favoring a NO endorsement won. Now it is up to us to reverse that decision so that City Club will not advocate against Outdoor School and Measure 99.
Hardigg then launched into a sales pitch, and urges members to vote in support of the measure in an online vote. Mass lobbying is not the way the process is designed to work—and the club’s membership roster is supposed to be shielded from being shared. City Club bylaws include a provision that states “use of the membership list is limited solely to facilitate the conduct of Club business,” the Mercury reported.
The club’s executive director, Mike Marshall, responded promptly after the Mercury inquired about the recent email.
“We did NOT share our list with anyone,” Marshall said. “Due to a technology glitch we were not aware of, one of our members was able to download, one letter at a time, a list of all our members from our club directory. They gave that list to one of the campaigns which then compared it to the voter file and were able to generate a list with emails and phone numbers. It was then shared with two other campaigns as near as we can tell.”
Marshall continued, saying, “this has never happened before.” The club is temporarily removing access to its membership directory, Marshall said. The “glitch” he referred to allowed members to search the directory for all names beginning with a certain letter, simply by typing that letter, the Mercury reported.
“We are looking into who actually created the list and will possibly take action against them, and we are demanding the campaigns delete the City Club membership list from their databases,” Marshall said.
It’s possible whoever collated the membership list could be kicked out of the club. Marshall did not specify which campaigns had the information, the Mercury reported.
In an update to the story, the Mercury reported that Hardigg admitted to collecting the club’s membership onto one list. After the City Club membership appeared to turn against Measure 99 at the recent event, Hardigg suggested to the campaign that he could email a plea.
“I’m a member, I’ve got a membership directory—let’s send a message out,” he said. “I’d never heard of this being inappropriate.”
Hardigg said he is not aware of the list he created being shared with other campaigns, the Mercury reported.
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