.In the call, Sal Peralta, the Independent Party secretary, tells Ben Unger, a Senate Democratic campaign operative, that candidates “should kick in” to help defray the cost of an election among the party’s membership.
Unger, whose call was being taped as part of a state investigation of the Independents, asks, “if you want to participate, you have to pay?”“Yeah,” replies Peralta.
On Thursday, Peralta said he “misspoke” in the call and later made it clear to candidates that they didn’t need to contribute to get the party’s nomination. He said no one was trying to profit personally from the growing demand by many of Oregon’s most prominent politicians for the official backing of the Independent Party.
Apparently political shakedowns are legal. We really are in Obamaland.