Linn County, OR. — Public campaign finance records filed with the Oregon Secretary of State indicate that the principal campaign committee for State Representative Jami Cate disbursed a total of $21,084.02 to 410 Consulting LLC, a limited liability company of which Rep. Cate is the initial member and manager. The expenditures occurred between May 9, 2024, and December 8, 2025, and were reported for purposes including postage, literature, brochures, and printing. Cate is currently running for the Oregon Senate seat in District 6, covering parts of Linn and Lane Counties with a small area of Marion County just over the border of Linn. The seat was previously held by Cedric Hayden who became ineligible to run again following the passing of Measure 113, dealing with legislative absences.
Articles of Organization for 410 Consulting LLC, filed with the Oregon Secretary of State on March 14, 2023, list Jami Cate of Lebanon, Oregon, as the individual with direct knowledge of the company and its initial member/manager. The entity is registered as a member-managed domestic llc with a principal place of business in Salem, Oregon.
A review of ORESTAR records for the committee “Friends of Jami Cate” (Committee ID 20144) identifies the following cash expenditures to 410 Consulting:
- May 9, 2024: $931.60 for postage
- August 22, 2024: $2,966.86 for postage and literature
- September 27, 2024: $3,637.60 for postage and literature
- October 8, 2024: $1,374.45 for postage and literature
- August 18, 2025: $1,218.81 for postage
- December 8, 2025: $10,954.70 for literature, brochures, printing, and postage
All transactions were properly disclosed in accordance with state reporting requirements.
Additional ORESTAR data reveal that 410 Consulting LLC has provided similar services, primarily involving postage, literature, brochures, printing, and fundraising event expenses to other Oregon political committees. These include:
- Committee to Elect Rick Lewis (Committee ID 17017): $1,940.40 on October 4, 2024, for literature and brochures (preceded by an account payable recorded on September 1, 2024, for the same amount).
- Ag First PAC (Committee ID 22522): $6,000.00 on January 4, 2024, for fundraising event expenses and postage.
- Friends of Keri Lopez (Committee ID 21395): $1,155.66 cash expenditure plus $750.00 in-kind contribution on December 6, 2023, and $150.00 cash expenditure on October 9, 2023, for postage and literature (totaling $2,055.66).
- Christine Goodwin for Oregon (Committee ID 21708): $1,994.36 cash expenditure plus $750.00 in-kind contribution on December 4, 2023, for postage and literature (totaling $2,744.36).
These additional payments demonstrate that 410 Consulting LLC has engaged in campaign-related work for multiple clients beyond Rep. Cate’s committee, not servicing her own campaign exclusively. Right Now Oregon reached out to Representative Cate and asked about using her own company to service her campaign. She provided an invoice matching the December 8, 2025 ORESTAR record showing charges solely for envelopes and at-cost postage for the use of first class stamps. In response to why she doesn’t use another business she stated the following.
[T]hey simply don’t offer the services I want for my constituents, which is why I started doing my own mail. I like the mail I send to feel “personal”, and while just hiring a mail house would undoubtedly be less work for me, I know doing it myself makes more impact with my constituents – leaving them more informed, and more ready to engage on issues.
RNO also asked Rep. Cate about potential public perception of blurring personal and political boundaries to which she responded:
I think people would prefer the mail I send actually come from me, not just some mass produced paper from a faceless mailhouse that I may have had no part in. And if people understood what a normal mail house offers versus the mail I send to my constituents, they’d understand that isn’t something I can hire someone else to do. That isn’t to say I never hire mailhouses, but only for jobs that the sheer volume isn’t something I can manage to do myself.
Transactions between a candidate’s campaign and a business they own or are involved in are permissible under state law. Campaign finance transactions must be for bona fide goods or services related to the campaign or office-holder duties, and must be procured at market-rate prices. The Oregon Campaign Finance Manual discusses prohibited personal use.
A candidate or principal campaign committee of a candidate may not use campaign funds to make an expenditure to pay the candidate a salary or otherwise compensate themselves for lost income or for professional services rendered to their committee.
Rep. Cate is not the first or only Oregon politician to use campaign funds to pay for goods or services through a business they own. Similar scenarios were covered by the Oregonian in a 2017 article. Officials confirmed the transactions complied with disclosure rules, while ethicists described the practice as “unusual” and potentially problematic.
Although legal, these situations do raise ethical questions, and constituents will have to decide what they think on a case by case basis. Current campaign finance frameworks permit certain payments from campaign accounts to politician-owned businesses under narrow conditions of fair market value and full disclosure, but the practice remains ethically contentious. It puts legal compliance up against fundamental principles of public trust, accountability, and the separation of personal financial interests from official duties.
Situations of candidates and elected officials using businesses or organizations they own or have connection do not inherently constitute wrong-doing or an ethical breech. They do raise questions which elected officials might avoid by using service providers who don’t have a personal connection to them, and highlight the importance of transparency in how they conduct business and where campaign dollars flow.
Editor’s Note
Right Now Oregon, LLC President Alex McHaddad endorsed Rep. Jami Cate for Senate District 6 in his capacity as a former local government official in Linn County. Right Now Oregon, LLC has no editorial stance on the Senate District 6 race and does not intend to endorse any candidate.
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