Who lobbies Portland City Hall?

1. One business group reported more than a third of all contacts

   The Portland Metro Chamber, which files under its former name, the Portland Business Alliance, reported 5,557 contacts, 35% of the total. The next 20 organizations together reported 5,979. The Chamber reported $243,339 in spending over the same years, 2.9% of the total.

2. Companies and business groups made most of the contacts and spent most of the money

   They reported 70% of all contacts and 66% of all spending. Real estate developers, ride-hail companies, telecom carriers and a stadium group are among the largest spenders.

3. The new council drew lobbying toward elected officials

   From 2014 to 2024, 21% of contacts named an elected official, and the rest reached staff. Since January 2025, 53% have. In an average quarter about 19 organizations report contacting each councilor, against 6.5 for each commissioner before 2025.

4. Advocacy groups have gained ground since 2025

   Advocacy groups made 14% of contacts from 2014 to 2024 and 31% since January 2025. Business’s share of contacts fell from 76% to 52%, and its share of meetings from 68% to 39%. Its share of reported spending held at about 64%.

5. The spending figures leave out a great deal

   One in five statements since 2025 reported $0 while listing contacts. Organizations that lobbied both the City and the State in 2025 reported about 5 times as much spending in Salem as at City Hall.

What counts as lobbying here?

Under City Code chapter 2.12, an organization must register with the City Auditor once it spends 8 hours or $1,000 in a quarter trying to influence City officials. Registered organizations file a statement every quarter with their spending and, when they pass the threshold, a line for each contact: the date, the officials, the lobbyists, the subject and the decision they wanted. This page counts a contact as one of those lines that records an email, call, text, letter, social media message or meeting.

Why is 2021 so high?

People for Portland, a group that urged the City to act on homelessness and public safety, reported $1.15 million in 2021 and $196,095 in 2022. That is 16% of all the lobbying spending reported to the City since 2014. Without it, 2021 would have been an ordinary year at about $390,157.

Why did contacts rise in 2025?

In January 2025 the five-member commission was replaced by a mayor who runs the bureaus and a 12-member council elected by district. Lobbyists now had 13 elected officials to reach, and the records show it. Contacts that named an elected official went from an average of 235 a year in 2014–2024 to 995 in 2025. Part of the rise is group messages to the whole council, but leaving out every contact that named eight or more officials, the share that reached an elected official still rose from 20% to 49%. The Auditor also changed the forms that year, adding categories for preparation, goodwill and indirect lobbying, which this page does not count as contacts.

Why does the Chamber report so many contacts?

It lobbies on many issues at once, from downtown cleaning to taxes, and it logs emails and calls to staff as well as meetings. Its reported contacts rose from 162 in 2020 to 826 in 2021, the year the Auditor fined it $450 for 25 contacts, mostly emails, that it had left out of its 2020 reports. Counted as pairings of an organization and an official in a quarter, which do not depend on how many emails are logged, the Chamber accounts for 19% of the pairings before 2025 and 9% since, still more than any other organization.

Why do some large spenders report few contacts?

Spending can include advertising, polling, consultants and public campaigns aimed at officials, none of which leaves a contact line. People for Portland reported $1.36 million with fewer than 30 contacts; news reports at the time described television ads, videos, polling and billboards. Some companies also pay a contract firm whose lobbyists file the contacts under the client’s name, so the money and the contacts line up only roughly.

How were organizations grouped?

Each of the 251 organizations that ever registered was assigned one type and one sector from its name, what it lobbied on and its public description. A trade group such as the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors is a business association; Uber is a company; the Coalition of Communities of Color is an advocacy group; OMSI is a nonprofit institution; TriMet and Portland State University are public agencies. The full list is in the download.

Why does business lead on contacts but less on meetings since 2025?

The Portland Metro Chamber reports many emails and calls, often to several officials at once. Advocacy groups, labor and public agencies held more of the meetings in 2025 and 2026. Companies and business groups held 68% of the reported meetings from 2014 to 2024 and 39% since January 2025, while their share of reported spending stayed near two thirds.

Is all of this lobbying for private gain?

No ruling on motives is possible from these records. Business groups argue for rules that would help their members and, they say, the city. Advocacy groups argue for their causes, and public agencies such as TriMet, the Port and Portland State University lobby the City for their own budgets and projects. The records show who asked for what, and how often.

Does this show how officials vote or whom they favor?

No. Lobbyists choose whom to contact. They may seek out an official they expect to agree with them, one whose vote is in doubt or one who leads the committee that handles their issue. Officials also meet many people who are not registered lobbyists, and those meetings are not in these records.

What is a one-on-one contact?

A contact that names three officials or fewer. Group emails sent to the whole council are left out of the second chart above, so that each bar reflects lobbying aimed at that official in particular. Since January 2025, 263 reported lines named eight or more officials, and most of them recorded emails.

Who got lobbied before 2025?

Mostly staff. From 2014 to 2024, 79% of reported contacts named no elected official, only aides, bureau directors and other appointed staff. Mayor Ted Wheeler was named in 777 contacts from 2017 to 2024, more than any other elected official before 2025. The person who was not elected and was named most often was Andrew Fitzpatrick, Wheeler’s director of economic development, in 759 contacts from 2022 to 2024, most of them from the Chamber.

Did the new reporting forms cause these changes?

They changed the size of some counts, not the direction. From April 2025 one reported line can cover several contacts on a single issue, so lines after that date undercount contacts. Counting instead each pairing of an organization and an official in a quarter, which the change does not affect, the share involving an elected official rose from 24% before 2025 to 47% since, and it was already 55% in the first quarter of 2025, before the new forms. On the same count, business’s share fell from 63% to 36%, and advocacy groups’ rose from 22% to 34%.

People who have worked on both sides

Each of these people appears in the records as a City official or employee and, in other years, as a registered lobbyist. The registration form asks every lobbyist whether they once worked for the City.

• Aisling Coghlan

  Chief of staff to Commissioner Dan Saltzman in the early 2000s. Registered to lobby the City for the Welcome Home Coalition and the Harvey Milk Street Project from 2016 to 2018. Chief of staff to Mayor Keith Wilson since January 2025.

• Raihana Ansary

  Worked in Mayor Sam Adams’s office. Registered to lobby the City for Portland General Electric from 2024 into early 2025. Deputy chief of staff to Mayor Wilson since 2025.

• Jamie Dunphy

  Worked for Commissioner Nick Fish. Registered to lobby the City for MusicPortland from 2021 to 2023. Elected to the City Council from District 1 in 2024.

• Tom Rinehart

  The City’s chief administrative officer from 2017 to 2022. Registered since 2023 for Oregon Smart Growth, the Commercial Real Estate Collaborative and Craft3.

• Kimberly Branam

  Executive director of Prosper Portland, the City’s economic development agency, from 2016 to 2024. Registered since 2025 to lobby the City for the Port of Portland.

• Marshall Runkel

  Chief of staff to Commissioner Chloe Eudaly from 2017 to 2020. Registered since 2023 with Strategies 360 for Lyft, the Oregon Symphony, Monqui Presents and Oregon Smart Growth.

• Jennifer Arguinzoni-Ward

  Director of strategic partnerships in Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office until 2019. Registered since 2024 with Oxley & Associates for clients including Crown Castle, Mondelez and the Portland Diamond Project.

• Bryan Hockaday

  Policy advisor to Commissioner Steve Novick from 2013 to 2016, when lobbyists named him in 441 contacts. Registered for Lyft from 2018 to 2020.

• Erik Sten

  City commissioner from 1996 to 2008. Registered with Strategies 360 from 2019 to 2025 for clients including BRIDGE Housing, the Oregon Symphony and Monqui Presents.

• Earl Blumenauer

  City commissioner from 1987 to 1996 and later a member of Congress. Registered since 2025 to lobby the City for Portland State University.

Sources: City Auditor lobbying registrations, including each lobbyist’s answer on former City employment; City and news accounts of each person’s City job.

Why is the spending so low?

Organizations report one total each quarter, with no breakdown by issue or official. Under the Auditor’s rules, the pay of an organization’s own salaried staff does not count toward the $1,000 test, and spending has to be itemized only above it. A $0 therefore means the organization did not have to itemize, which is different from spending nothing. Of 517 statements filed since January 2025, 102 reported $0 while listing contacts with officials.

Who is missing?

Organizations that stay under 8 hours and $1,000 of lobbying in a quarter never have to register. Formal testimony at Council hearings is not lobbying, and neither are a union’s talks with the City about its own members’ contracts. Neighborhood associations recognized by the City and news media are exempt. Companies can also lobby through a trade association, whose name is the one on the report. Nike, Intel and The Standard each reported state lobbying in 2025. Intel and The Standard have never registered with the City. Nike reported 38 City contacts in 2015 and one in 2026, about the Moda Center.

How does the City compare with the state?

The State requires lobbying spending to be reported to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. In 2025, 22 organizations that lobbied City Hall reported $2.66 million in state lobbying, about 5 times the $521,327 they reported to the City. Part of the gap reflects the work, since the Legislature writes law for the whole state. These records cannot show how much of it is spending that goes unreported at the City. The City of Portland itself reported $598,569 lobbying the State in 2025.