Oregon Law & Justice PAC is a left-of-center PAC that was created to support Democrat Max Wall’s unsuccessful 2018 campaign for Washington County, Oregon’s District Attorney Office.¹ The organization is the Oregon branch of the vast “Safety and Justice” network, a project of left-leaning billionaire George Soros which has used a network of similarly named state-level PACs to finance the campaigns of progressive Democratic candidates for district attorney in more than a dozen of America’s cities.

Funding

Campaign finance records with the Oregon Secretary of State reveal that Oregon Law & Justice PAC was entirely funded by the Law and Justice PAC, a federal branch of the “Safety and Justice” network of organizations, receiving $680,000 from the PAC in 2018.² Oregon Law & Justice spent nearly all of that money paying Berlin Rosen, a left-leaning campaign communications firm, for advertising and polling that supported Max Wall.³

Controversies

In 2018, incumbent Washington County District Attorney, Kevin Barton criticized his opponent Max Wall for his ties to Oregon Law & Justice PAC, claiming that Wall was working with out-of-state groups to raise enough money to win the election.⁴ Wall publicly denied that his campaign was working with “outside groups,” but told the Pamplin Media Group that he had met with Whitney Tymas, the director of the national “Safety and Justice” network, a month before declaring his candidacy on the last possible day.⁵ Barton called Wall’s statement that he had not worked with outside groups “disingenuous,” and when asked about the connection between Wall and the “Safety and Justice” network Whitney Tymas reportedly ignored multiple requests to discuss that matter and refused to go on the record.⁶

Leadership

Oregon Law & Justice PAC is led by its director, Whitney Tymas, who serves as the head of the widely dispersed “Safety and Justice” network. Tymas also served on the board of the Civic Participation Action Fund (CPAF).

1. VanderHart, Dirk. “’Dark Money’ In An Oregon DA Race Linked To Facebook Cofounder.” opb. Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 2, 2020. https://www.opb.org/news/article/dark-money-washington-county-district-attorney-race-max-wall-facebook/.
2. “Transaction Search Results.” Oregon Secretary Of State. Accessed June 7, 2021. https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cneSearch.do?cneSearchButtonName=search&cneSearchFilerCommitteeId=19277&OWASP_CSRFTOKEN=07H9-3E5W-7BG3-F0LN-KNDD-91ZA-YCUE-FHTX.
3. “Transaction Search Results.” Oregon Secretary Of State. Accessed June 7, 2021. https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cneSearch.do?cneSearchButtonName=search&cneSearchFilerCommitteeId=19277&OWASP_CSRFTOKEN=JLVZ-2D6I-N0HG-HG6R-BDFW-ODXQ-IF4R-EAK7.
4. Pursinger, Geoff, and Dirk VanderHart. “Soros-Tied Group Starts up PAC in Oregon.” https://joomlakave.com, April 11, 2018. https://pamplinmedia.com/ht/117-hillsboro-tribune-news/392113-284284-soros-tied-group-starts-up-pac-in-oregon.
5. Pursinger, Geoff, and Dirk VanderHart. “Soros-Tied Group Starts up PAC in Oregon.” https://joomlakave.com, April 11, 2018. https://pamplinmedia.com/ht/117-hillsboro-tribune-news/392113-284284-soros-tied-group-starts-up-pac-in-oregon
6. Pursinger, Geoff, and Dirk VanderHart. “Soros-Tied Group Starts up PAC in Oregon.” https://joomlakave.com, April 11, 2018. https://pamplinmedia.com/ht/117-hillsboro-tribune-news/392113-284284-soros-tied-group-starts-up-pac-in-oregon