Part 2: Follow the Money as an Outside-Backed Network Takes Over North Plains City Hall
Updated: Jul 28
The movement that warned North Plains about outside influence used a Political Action Committee (PAC) whose disclosed 2024 cash was mostly tied to mailing addresses far outside the city. That PAC then supplied nearly all of the four "Smart Growth" candidates’ reported financial support, obscuring who was really writing the checks.
Two members of that slate have already resigned. The PAC is still active, still tied to current and former slate members, and now working to shape races across Washington County.
$31,264.88 PAC CASH IN 2024 76.6% OUTSIDE-CITY ADDRESSES $10,259.17 TOTAL DIRECT SLATE SUPPORT 2 OF 4 HAVE ALREADY RESIGNED |
Friends of North Plains Smart Growth built its campaign around a powerful warning: outside money and professional political interests were trying to decide the town’s future.
The warning worked. But public records show that the movement was itself fueled by outside cash, and the next phase of its agenda relied on a political network that reached well beyond the city limits—and helped turn a referendum campaign into the governing majority at City Hall.
The referendum campaign became a City Hall operation
The network did not fade away after the May 2024 referendum. It changed purpose.
Money moved from the referendum organization into a PAC, and from that PAC into four campaigns publicly marketed to voters as “The 4.”
Transaction records in Oregon’s ORESTAR campaign-finance system show the chain:
• The Friends of North Plains Smart Growth petition committee transferred $3,165 to a related measure PAC.
• The measure PAC later reported a $5,189.88 contribution to Friends of Smart Growth, PAC 23849.
• The four candidate committees then reported approximately $2,565 apiece in in-kind support from PAC 23849—for Ariel Goodwin, Aaron Dumbrow, Mandy Hagedorn and Katie Reding.
Each candidate export contained 44 records. Forty-one entries in each named PAC 23849 as the source of in-kind support. Thirty-nine transactions matched across all four campaigns by date, amount and purpose, including printing, online advertising and campaign-management services.
In the records reviewed, PAC 23849 accounted for about 99.6% of each candidate committee’s reported in-kind support.
The filings do not, by themselves, show illegal activity. They show political structure.
These were not four separate neighborhood campaigns that happened to share a message.
They were one centrally supported slate operation.
Most of the disclosed cash came through outside-city addresses
PAC 23849 reported $31,264.88 in cash contributions during 2024.
Using the mailing-city fields reported in the PAC export, the money breaks down this way:
Reported mailing location | Amount | Share |
Outside North Plains | $23,939.88 | 76.6% |
North Plains | $4,250.00 | 13.6% |
Unitemized / no city | $3,075.00 | 9.8% |
Total | $31,264.88 | 100% |
The largest single reported 2024 contribution was $10,000 from a Lake Oswego mailing address. Other outside-city addresses included Hillsboro, Cornelius, Molalla, Portland, Albany and Beaverton.
The mailing-address caveat matters. A mailing city is not proof of legal residence. The Hillsboro total includes a transfer from the related North Plains measure committee, whose underlying donors may have lived in several places. The unitemized contributions may, in theory, include some North Plains residents.
Even with those caveats, the basic picture is clear: more than three-quarters of the PAC’s disclosed 2024 cash was tied to mailing addresses outside North Plains. Just 13.6% was clearly tied to North Plains addresses.
How North Plains Reached the Fiscal Cliff
A four-part series on the decisions, the money and the ongoing breakdown at City Hall - and what it could cost North Plains Residents.
The slate is already breaking apart. The network is not.
In November 2024, Save North Plains celebrated the election of all four candidates.
Since then, Mayor Ariel Goodwin and Councilor Katie Reding have resigned. Dumbrow moved from council to mayor by appointment, while Hagedorn became council president. In less than two years, half of the original slate residents elected is gone.
PAC 23849 did not close with the local election. Its current website now promotes a six-candidate “Smart Growth Slate” for state and Washington County offices and calls for “lasting change in Washington County.” The PAC reported more than $20,000 in expenditures during 2026.
A Statement of Organization amendment effective June 16, 2026 identifies PAC 23849 as candidate-controlled and lists former Mayor Goodwin, Mayor Dumbrow and Council President Hagedorn as controlling candidates. Aaron Nichols—whose filing address and farm are outside North Plains—is listed as director and correspondence recipient.
The current filing makes one point unmistakable: this is not merely an old campaign account. It remains an active organization tied directly to the people who changed North Plains government.
The common treasurer, Jef Green of C&E Systems, is a professional campaign treasurer who serves many committees. His role here is simply the shared administrative link.
Why this matters now
Friends of North Plains Smart Growth describes itself as a group of “residents and neighbors.” Its own media page described Nichols as a farmer near North Plains whose farm sits about a mile from the city. [Editor's note: that means if taxes increase for North Plains residents, he doesn't have to pay them]
Nichols and other neighboring farmers had every right to participate under Oregon's land-use Goal 1 of public participation. A UGB decision can directly affect people, farms and property outside the city line. Outside support is not automatically bad, and a campaign contribution does not buy a candidate’s decisions.
But this campaign repeatedly warned North Plains voters about outside money and professional influence on the other side of the UGB fight. That makes the source and structure of its own campaign operation especially relevant.
North Plains residents cast the ballots. But a PAC financed largely through outside-city mailing addresses built the campaign infrastructure, paid nearly all of the slate’s reported in-kind expenses and remains active after two members of the slate resigned.
This is not ancient campaign history. It is the political origin story of the council now making decisions about the city’s money, staff and future.
That is not a conspiracy. It is a documented political network—and residents have every right to know who built it, who paid for it and what it has delivered.
Coming Next Tuesday, August 4
Part Three: The Smart Growth Slate Took City Hall. Then Came the Resignations, Turnover and Rising Costs.
After the election came political turmoil, staff departures, interim leadership and increasing reliance on outside professional services. We reconstruct what happened after the new coalition took power and explore what their true objectives may be.
BOTTOM LINE: The money shows how the slate was built. The resignations and City Hall chaos show why it matters. The question is whether the governing majority this network created has delivered the competent, transparent government it promised. |
Read the records • Oregon ORESTAR campaign-finance search — Official committee filings and transactions. • Save North Plains — The four candidates presented publicly as one slate. • Friends of Smart Growth PAC — The PAC’s current regional slate and political mission. • Friends of North Plains Smart Growth media page — The group’s own campaign coverage and description of its organizers. • OPB: North Plains leadership turnover — Independent reporting on the council resignations and City Hall turnover. |
