" By BRAD CAIN Associated Press Writer
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Republican Party has debts of $264,000, a federal disclosure report shows - the latest blow to a party still licking its wounds from losses in the 2006 election and which has yet to field candidates for three statewide offices this year.
The party's debts include $35,000 it owes the Internal Revenue Service for about two years' worth of payroll taxes it failed to pay for its employees.
Things are so tight the state GOP is preparing to move its headquarters from a 3,000-square-foot rental office in a south Salem strip mall to smaller quarters somewhere else in the city.
"It's been a tough season for Republicans to raise money," GOP spokeswoman Brianne Hyder said Tuesday.
It's also a continuation of dispiriting times for Oregon Republicans who are hoping to catch a break this year by capturing an open congressional seat and re-electing the lone Republican to hold statewide office in Oregon - U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.
Besides the $35,000 the party owes the IRS, the party's report with the Federal Election Commission lists unpaid debts to various businesses and vendors, such as the $67,180 that AT&T Wireless is demanding for providing cell phone service to the party. The party has less than $50,000 cash on hand.
Hyder said the party's tax problem occurred because an employee who was in charge of "all things financial" wrote checks to the IRS but never sent them. The unidentified employee has been fired, Hyder said.
The party's larger financial problems stem from "donor fatigue," with some traditional contributors scaling back their giving in recent years, Hyder said.
In 2004, a presidential election year, total donations to the party topped $4 million, she said. That amount fell to $1.2 million in 2006 while in all of 2007 the GOP received just over $500,000 from contributors.
"Our donors have scaled back across the board," she said.
Hyder said Vance Day, who's been state GOP chairman since July 2005, is planning a "very aggressive" fundraising drive to try to bring the party back into the black - although she didn't know how soon that would happen.
The Oregon Democratic Party jumped on word of the state GOP's red ink.
"They can't recruit candidates, they can't raise money and there's a good reason for that," Democratic spokesman Marc Siegel said. "The desperate, outdated messages of conservatives no longer reflect Oregon values."
There's little doubt that recent years haven't been good ones for Republicans in a state that is trending bluer in terms of voting behavior.
In the 2006 election, Republicans suffered their sixth consecutive defeat in the Oregon governor's race, despite GOP contender Ron Saxton's big campaign fundraising advantage over Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski. And Republicans lost the Oregon House, putting Democrats in full control of the Legislature for the first time in 16 years.
Political analyst Jim Moore said the news of the GOP's red ink is enough to give Republicans heartburn. "On a symbolic level, it is a sign that the Republican Party in Oregon is hurting," Moore said.
But on a practical level, the party's debt is not significant in terms of election races because the state party doesn't give direct contributions to candidates, said Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove.
There are plenty of individuals and political action groups poised to give money to quality Republican candidates around Oregon, he said.
Hyder, meanwhile, said there is still a lot the state party can do to help GOP candidates around the state, including training for candidates and campaign staff and get-out-the-vote efforts.
"This is incredibly unfortunate," she said of the party's debt. "But it's not going to keep us from doing our job and electing Republicans for the state of Oregon.""
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