Kent Studebaker has supporters with deep enough pockets to shell out for mass mailings to endorse him. I already wrote that the Lake Oswego Corporation mailed out about 3,700 letters to their shareholders plus those with deeded easement rights - about 1/4 of the households in the city.
On Friday, people in the Mountain Park neighborhood received a letter encouraging them to vote for Kent. The letter mimicked the color and type of stationary and had a logo of the Mt. Park HOA on top, however, it did not come from the HOA. Their website disavows any connection to the letter.
Update: Studebaker has written an apology letter to the Mt. Park HOA that explains that his campaign PAC is responsible for, and paid for the mailing.
The letter was signed by Matt Palmer. Palmer is the Chair of the of the newly formed Mt. Park Neighborhood Association. He did not reference the NA in his letter.
- Mt. Park represents a huge portion of the city that has an untapped "need" of campaign presence. The HOA does not allow political signs or soliciitations. What is a candidate to do?
The total number of households in Mt. Park is about 4,310, about 25% of households in the city.*
The total number of shareholders on the Lake Oswego Corporation is 693.
The total number of households with dended lake privleges is 3,000.
The number of all Lake Corp-associated properties is 3,693, about 22% of households in Lake Oswego.
If all households in both groups above received endorsement mailings, the total would be 47%.
*This number is not from an official source and might affect the percent below. I use it here as a close estimate.
About half the population of Lake Oswego. Along with voting and party imformation, those are very valuable mailing lists. IF they were obtained and used properly. According to Studebaker's letter to the HOA Board of Directors, the mailing list used was from the County list of registered voters in that area.
These types of endorsements are not very appealing. I am sometimes amused and/or put off while reading them before I throw them away.
Do these things even work?
Here is The Mountain Park (Palmer) Letter:
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