Election law forces resolution rewrite
Published 6:30 pm Wednesday, December 16, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland City Council planned to pass an anti-Donald Trump resolution, but has changed it on the advice of the Secretary of State’s Office.
The resolution passed by the City Council on Wednesday focuses more on supporting the Muslim and immigrant communities.
It still includes a thinly veiled reference to Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., but it doesn’t name the candidate outright.
City officials said the secretary of state told them a staff-prepared resolution should not use Trump’s name because state election law prohibits public employee time from being used to support or oppose a political candidate.
Although Trump hasn’t technically filed as a candidate in Oregon, said the mayor’s spokeswoman Sara Hottman, the Secretary of State was not comfortable saying Trump is not a candidate.
The city’s original resolution aimed to “censure Donald Trump” and referred directly to Trump using the media “as a means of spouting vitriolic and divisive comments that have crossed the line into fearmongering and racism.”
The resolution that passed says Portland doesn’t tolerate hate speech and welcomes all immigrants and refugees. It says Portland has greatly benefited from newcomers of all religious backgrounds. The resolution also calls the demands for a ban on Muslims “unconscionable.”
Muslims in Oregon and around the nation say they have faced a backlash after the recent Islamic State attacks in Paris and the San Bernardino shootings in California, carried out by a Muslim husband and wife.
About 20,000 Muslims live in the Portland metro area, according to the resolution.
