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Republican leader says mailer prompted by Ankerberg's negativity By Damian Mann Posted May 6, 2018 at 5:08 PM Updated May 7, 2018 at 12:06 PM ▲ ▲ --> A Republican political action committee made up of Senate leaders is behind an attack mailer aimed at Republican Senate District 3 candidate Curt Ankerberg. "We will have words with them," Sen. Alan DeBoer said. "Unfortunately negative stuff does work for some people. It doesn't work in Southern Oregon." DeBoer confirmed that he has learned The Leadership Fund, a political action committee that supports Republican candidates for the Oregon Senate, is behind the mailer that was sent out to Jackson County Republicans recently. DeBoer, a supporter of Ankerberg's opponent Jessica Gomez, also received a copy of the glossy mailer in his Ashland mailbox. The mailer, which didn't indicate the name of the sender, states, "We deserve better than Curt Ankerberg," and cites a Mail Tribune article on Ankerberg's tax fraud problems as well as an editorial urging Ankerberg to withdraw from the race. Deboer said he has spoken to Paul Rainey, Republican caucus administrator, about the mailer. Rainey is listed as one of the directors of The Leadership Fund, along with senators Herman Baertschiger of Grants Pass and Tim Knopp of Bend, on the Oregon Secretary of State's website. DeBoer said Ankerberg has made misstatements about Gomez, and The Leadership Fund was concerned that Gomez wasn't fighting back hard enough. "They were pretty open about it," he said. "They think they know how elections are won." Rainey said in an email response Monday, "We followed the law and independent expenditure reporting guidelines and sent out what we believe to be an incredibly restrained information mailer, highlighting the works of an independent third party source after Curt Ankerberg went negative. The real issue here is that Curt Ankerberg is untrustworthy and unfit for office." (Updated from an earlier version to include Rainey's response). Gomez has received other support for her campaign from The Leadership Fund but had no idea the mailer was coming out. "That's why it's disappointing and shocking they did something like that without notifying me," she said. "It's really upsetting." But, she said she thinks she knows why The Leadership Fund didn't tell her: "Because I would have said, 'no.' " Gomez said The Leadership Fund did approach her previously to create a 30-second video answering some of the false claims made by Ankerberg. "They wanted me to put out a set-the-record straight commercial," she said. "I told them 'no.' That made me nervous because I wanted to run a positive campaign." Gomez said that the Republican leaders thought she wasn't going to do things their way so they decided to go their own way, which resulted in the mailer. "I think, overall, it's not healthy for our community to have this kind of activity happening in our campaigns," she said. In the past other Senate District 3 campaigns have been harmed by negative mailers arriving in mailboxes as ballots go out, Gomez said. While she didn't know about this mailer, Gomez has received in-kind contributions from The Leadership Fund, including $5,945 on March 1 for preparation and production of advertising and $1,200 on March 6 for operational expenses, according to a filing with the Secretary of State. So far this year, The Leadership Fund has received $113,163.84 in contributions, with a cash balance from last year of $126,643.21. Currently it has a balance of $53,790.38 Two prominent Republican leaders also disavow any knowledge of The Leadership Fund's efforts behind the mailers. Baertschiger said he's no longer a director with The Leadership Fund even though his name still is listed on the Secretary of State's website. He said he thought Sen. Jackie Winters and Sen. Fred Girod were now involved. But Winters, a Senate Republican leader, also said she's not part of The Leadership Fund. "I can't shed any light on this," she said. Winters campaign group Friends of Jackie Winter gave The Leadership Fund a cash contribution of $30,000 on April 19. She did say independent contributions to campaigns, either at the state or national level, are becoming more common and have been seen in many races in the northern part of the state. Winters said she wasn't aware of the mailer being distributed in Jackson County. "I'm sorry to hear its creating a hullabaloo down there in your neck of the woods," she said. 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