Every Oregon committee, all years$1.79M25 committees since 2016
Who’s behind it
Kevin Looper, runs the firm, according to the Portland Mercury. Co-founder and president of People for Portland portlandmercury.com
What to know
In 2021 Looper, then described by OPB as a principal at Wheelhouse, and Republican consultant Dan Lavey launched People for Portland. Its ads said politicians were “doing too little too slowly to rescue our broken city.” OPB, Sept 8, 2021
OPB later called Looper “a leading strategist for Democrats.” People for Portland spent more than $1 million on TV ads, polling and mass emails, and OPB reported some say it “fundamentally altered” how city leaders talked about homeless camps. OPB, Feb 28, 2022
In 2022 Looper, as director, and Vadim Mozyrsky, as treasurer, registered Portland Accountability PAC to back Rene Gonzalez against Jo Ann Hardesty. It paid Wheelhouse $99.5K. Willamette Week, Oct 6, 2022
In 2023 People for Portland ran the online “Schmidt Show” attack ads against District Attorney Mike Schmidt. Willamette Week, Apr 6, 2023
People for Portland’s disclosed backers included Tim Boyle and developer Greg Goodman. This cycle Boyle gave Go Portland Go $25K, and Goodman gave $2,500 to Fixing Multnomah County, which paid Wheelhouse $24.5K. OPB, Feb 28, 2022
Who paid it, Jan 2025 – Oct 2026
Portland city and county races
Sharon MeieranCounty Chair; grouped with the business-backed side$20K
Every other Oregon committee
Fixing Multnomah CountyGrouped with the business-backed side$24K
Every Oregon committee, all years
$1.79M from 25 committees since 2016. The biggest:
Run Betsy Run2021–2022$525K
Customer Choice & Convenience Act of 2022 #12021–2022$258K
Friends of Tobias Read2016–2020$199K
Yes for Affordable Housing2018$153K
Kate Brown Committee2019–2021$113K
Kate Lieber for State Senate2019–2020$107K
Portland Accountability PAC2022–2024$100K
Friends of the Courthouse2021$79K
Friends of Mike Reese2016–2017$50K
Friends of Sonya Fischer2020–2021$38K
Sources
Portland race payments: the campaigns’ own ORESTAR filings. Other clients and all-years history: a Ballast vendor search of every Oregon committee in ORESTAR. Both pulled Oct 19, 2026.