A familiar aroma

Here's an interesting story from the New York Times the other day: New York State's public campaign finance system, which is more than a little like Portland's, appears to have a bunch of fraud going on. A spot-check revealed that many people listed by one candidate as "small donors," whose supposed contributions are being matched by the taxpayers, say they never heard of the candidate they supposedly gave money to.

Under New York State’s new generous system for publicly financing political campaigns, Mr. Yin claimed the Zadrans’ modest donations as eligible for $1,380 in matching funds. Yet in interviews, the Zadrans said they had not given money to Mr. Yin, nor had they even heard of him.

“This is crazy,” Raheem Zadran, 27, said. “I never donated to this guy. I don’t know who the hell he is.”

His father was equally incredulous. “I don’t care about politics,” Ahmad Zadran said. “I never donate a penny to anybody.”...

[A]fter canvassing many of the homes in Flushing associated with 55 people listed as cash donors to Mr. Yin’s campaign, The Times found at least 19 who said they had not contributed. Eleven others no longer lived at the addresses listed for them. Some had moved to other cities or states years ago, including one who left New York in 2013 and said he had not donated. Only seven of those interviewed said they had donated small sums to Mr. Yin.

Golly, do you think any of this type of hanky-panky is going on in Portland, where the matching funds are even more extravagant?

Let me ask it another way: Are you old enough to remember Emilie Boyles? Or Vladimir Golovan?