A campaign finance watchdog filed an elections complaint Monday with Multnomah County and state elections officials against Sharon Meieran’s campaign for county chair and the political action committee she directs, Fixing Multnomah County. The complaint , filed by Seth Woolley, alleges that Meieran, a former county commissioner who served two terms before leaving at the end of 2024, committed eight campaign finance violations. Most concern Fixing Multnomah County, which built a 23-page “Comprehensive Multnomah County Turnaround Plan” that Meieran now says she will enact if elected. Woolley alleges Meieran skirted county campaign finance limits because she used Fixing Multnomah County to fund her plan for county chair, and then failed to report the plan as an in-kind contribution. Woolley is a self-styled elections watchdog who frequently files complaints against candidates for local office who he believes are out of compliance with campaign finance rules.
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The first five counts of Woolley’s complaint pertain to a campaign finance question WW reported earlier this month about the overlap between Fixing Multnomah County and Meieran’s campaign committee, Friends of Sharon Meieran. This is why we repeatedly end up with politicians who want to BE something instead of trying to actually do anything.” Meieran previously told WW that she had hoped the plan alone could act as her final contribution to the county and that it was “immaterial from a disclosure perspective” because all candidates had access to it.
