Rainmaker Rankings August 23-29, 2026
Scoring in progress
Weekly Scoring Table
| Rank | Leader / Organization | This Week | Overall | Articles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panic | +3 | +3 | 1 |
| 2 | Dan Rayfield | +2 | +4 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon Department of Justice | +2 | +3 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon State University | +2 | +3 | 1 |
| 2 | Multnomah County Auditor’s Office | +2 | +2 | 1 |
| 6 | Friends of Community Parks | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 6 | Oregon Entrepreneurs Network | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 6 | Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 6 | Quaise Energy | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 10 | Tobias Read | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Deborah Kafoury | -1 | -1 | 1 |
| 11 | Portland City Administration | -1 | -1 | 1 |
| 11 | Serena Cruz | -1 | -1 | 1 |
| 11 | Jessica Vega Pederson | -1 | -2 | 1 |
| 15 | City of Independence | -2 | -2 | 1 |
| 16 | David Steiner | -3 | -3 | 1 |
| 16 | Meta | -3 | -3 | 1 |
| 16 | United States Postal Service | -3 | -3 | 1 |
| 16 | Trump Administration | -3 | -12 | 1 |
Articles Scored This Week
Auditing software, AI hardware land investment from Angel Oregon Tech
Date: August 24, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon Entrepreneurs Network
Score: +1
Score Headline: Invested $185K in two Oregon startups
Score Explanation: OEN’s Angel Oregon Technology program invested $185,000 in two Oregon startups, including $155,000 for Portland-based Yak Tech and $30,000 for Klamath Falls-based Harmonee AI. The program also trained dozens of early-stage founders on fundraising and connected them with angel investors. It is a relatively small investment, but it directly supports Oregon entrepreneurship and helps local companies access growth capital.
$222k payout to Portland’s top public works leader is city’s latest golden parachute
Date: August 25, 2026
Leader / Organization: Portland City Administration
Score: -1
Score Headline: 7 costly executive exits as leadership vacancies mount
Score Explanation: Portland’s latest severance payout is part of a broader pattern of costly leadership turnover. Since July 2025, six other departing city executives have received more than $1 million in combined severance payments. By September, three of Portland’s four deputy city administrator positions will also be without permanent leaders. The repeated departures, large payouts, and growing number of leadership vacancies raise concerns about s
Oregon sheriffs toss Curry County’s John Ward from association
Date: August 25, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association
Score: +1
Score Headline: Expelled John Ward from sheriffs’ group 28-0, 2nd expulsion in 110 years
Score Explanation: The Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association voted 28–0 to expel Curry County Sheriff John Ward after an outside investigation found that he had been untruthful and used donated resources for personal purposes. The decision removes Ward from association activities, training and legal assistance. Although the association cannot remove an elected sheriff from office and Ward disputes the findings, Oregon’s sheriffs took a clear professional-accountability action rather than ignoring documented misconduct by one of their peers.
Multnomah County audit finds $1.2 million in potential real estate overpayments
Date: August 26, 2026
Leader / Organization: Multnomah County Auditor’s Office
Score: +2
Score Headline: Found the County bought 15 properties and did zero independent appraisals
Leader / Organization: Deborah Kafoury; Serena Cruz; Jessica Vega Pederson
Score: -1
Score Headline: County leaders overseeing the system, 2019-2025
Score Explanation: Multnomah County auditors found the county bought 15 properties from 2019-2025 without getting a single independent appraisal. When auditors later checked four of those purchases, they found the county may have overpaid by $1.18 million. The audit also found a possible conflict because the county’s real estate brokers get paid when a sale goes through. Auditors recommended requiring independent appraisals before future property purchases. Audit report: https://multco.us/info/multnomah-county-real-estate-purchases
Oregon joins other Democratic states to file new lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s order limiting mail voting in midterms
Date: August 26, 2026
Leader / Organization: Dan Rayfield
Score: +2
Score Headline: Defended Oregon’s vote-by-mail system
Leader / Organization: Tobias Read
Score: 0
Score Headline: Defended Oregon’s vote-by-mail system
Leader / Organization: Trump Administration; David Steiner; United States Postal Service
Score: -3
Score Headline: Tried to make USPS a federal checkpoint for state mail ballots
Score Explanation: The Trump Administration/USPS rule would require states to submit lists of voters receiving mail ballots before USPS would deliver those ballots. In practice, it would create a new federal checkpoint between Oregon election officials and voters receiving their ballots by mail.
+2 Dan Rayfield, for continuing to sue to stop the executive order
0 Tobias Read, needs to find an alternative statewide method for getting ballots to voters if USPS rule stands.
Oregon will net $125M from Meta settlement over social-media addiction, AG says
Date: August 26, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon Department of Justice
Score: +2
Score Headline: Secured $125M from Meta and new child-safety rules
Leader / Organization: Meta
Score: -3
Score Headline: Built addictive products that harmed children
Score Explanation: Oregon DOJ participated in the multistate settlement with Meta that secured at least $125 million for Oregon and required enforceable child-safety changes to Facebook and Instagram, including time limits, school-hour notification restrictions, stronger parental controls, and independent oversight.
The settlement is a major win, but Oregon’s financial recovery is relatively modest compared with other participating states. At about $29 per resident, Oregon ranks around 40th on a per-capita basis. Google sheet breaking this down: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X-wer8HEyuCLHXW4BISsz9_ZWjzXHnFcU6xvAganxws/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Portland video game company surprises customers with tariff refund
Date: August 26, 2026
Leader / Organization: Panic
Score: +3
Score Headline: Refunded $100,000 in tariffs to customers
Score Explanation: Portland-based Panic refunded nearly $100,000 to Playdate customers after the federal government returned tariffs that the Supreme Court had ruled illegal. Rather than keeping the money, Panic tracked the charges back to individual customers and returned what they had paid, even though doing so required additional administrative work. It’s a strong example of a company treating customers right.
Wave energy site opens in Oregon, but no energy devices have arrived as developers face federal delays
Date: August 26, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon State University
Score: +2
Score Headline: Opens First-of-Its-Kind Wave Energy Test Site
Score Explanation: After more than a decade of planning and construction, OSU officially opened PacWave South off the Oregon coast. The pre-permitted facility allows companies to test full-scale wave-energy technologies and connect them directly to the electrical grid, potentially helping accelerate a still-emerging marine-energy industry. No devices are currently operating at the site after federal funding disruptions delayed developers, with power generation now expected in 2027.
Quaise Energy raises $180M to microwave for geothermal power near Bend
Date: August 27, 2026
Leader / Organization: Quaise Energy
Score: +1
Score Headline: Raises $180M for superhot geothermal project near Bend
Score Explanation: Quaise Energy raised $180 million to advance Project Obsidian near Bend, an experimental superhot geothermal project that aims to use millimeter-wave drilling to reach deeper, hotter rock and eventually generate reliable low-carbon power. The investment is a meaningful step toward testing a potentially valuable new energy source in Oregon, but the technology is still unproven at commercial scale and carries technical and environmental risks, including induced seismicity and well-integrity challenges.
‘Being held hostage’: Residents accuse Oregon city of closing parks as leverage in funding fight
Date: August 29, 2026
Leader / Organization: Friends of Community Parks
Score: +1
Score Headline: Provided $30K to reopen two Independence parks
Leader / Organization: City of Independence
Score: -2
Score Headline: Closed all five city parks amid funding dispute
Score Explanation: Friends of Community Parks provided a $30,000 grant that allowed Riverview Park and Independence Landing to reopen and remain accessible through the end of 2026. Whatever the underlying city budget dispute, the nonprofit stepped in with private community funding to restore public access to two heavily used parks.
