Rainmaker Rankings Week of July 12, 2026
Executive Summary
This week's biggest positive stories included federal funding for Oregon's semiconductor industry, city leaders asking for stronger protections before spending public money on the Moda Center, and efforts to investigate possible fraud in Lakeview. Several leaders also earned positive scores for government accountability and consumer protection.
The biggest setbacks included problems at the Oregon Health Authority, leadership failures at the Oregon State Hospital and Multnomah County Community Health Center, Home Forward's budget mistake, and questions about a new payroll tax law. These issues raised concerns about government management, transparency, and accountability.
Weekly Scoring Table
| Rank | Leader / Organization | This Week | Overall | Articles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon State University | +2 | +6 | 1 |
| 1 | FAST coalition | +2 | +2 | 1 |
| 3 | Julia Brim-Edwards | +1 | +2 | 1 |
| 3 | Meghan Moyer | +1 | +2 | 1 |
| 3 | Sameer Kanal | +1 | +2 | 1 |
| 3 | Steve Novick | +1 | +2 | 1 |
| 3 | Angelita Morillo | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Dan Rayfield | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Ellen Rosenblum | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Jamie Dunphy | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Lakeview Town Council | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Marc O’Brien | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Mitch Green | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 3 | Tiffany Koyama Lane | +1 | +1 | 1 |
| 15 | Bureau of Land Management | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Oregon Legislature | -1 | -4 | 2 |
| 17 | Home Forward | -2 | -2 | 1 |
| 17 | Mari Watanabe | -2 | -2 | 1 |
| 17 | Multnomah County Community Health Center | -2 | -2 | 1 |
| 17 | Tina Kotek | -2 | -3 | 3 |
| 17 | Sejal Hathi | -2 | -5 | 1 |
| 22 | Oregon State Hospital leadership | -3 | -3 | 1 |
| 22 | Multnomah County | -3 | -5 | 3 |
| 24 | Oregon Health Authority | -4 | -1 | 2 |
Articles Scored This Week
Oregon again sues federal government over homelessness-funding limits
Date: July 12, 2026
Leader / Organization: Dan Rayfield
What Happened: Rayfield joined 20 other state attorneys general in suing the federal government. New federal rules could cut housing money and require some people to be sober before they can get help. This could cause people who already have housing to lose it.
Issue Areas: Housing / Homelessness / Federal Funding / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Keep helping people who are already housed. Also build more low-cost housing, stop evictions, add safe shelters, and make treatment easier to get. Housing programs should track results and make sure people get the support they need.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: Rayfield took a good step to protect people from losing their homes. The lawsuit only protects the current system. It does not create a full plan to add housing, treatment, shelters, and better services.
After Anemic Early Results, Multnomah County Updated Its Program to Divert Drug Users Into Treatment. Is It Working?
Date: July 13, 2026
Leader / Organization: Multnomah County
What Happened: After its expensive deflection center produced very few referrals and weak treatment follow-through, Multnomah County strengthened completion standards, extended participation to 90 days and began coordinating with the district attorney to prosecute unsuccessful cases. Early completion figures improved, but referrals remain below one per day despite the center operating around the clock.
Issue Areas: Addiction treatment / public safety / homelessness / government effectiveness
Rainmaker Recommendation: Replace facility-centered deflection with a treatment-centered model modeled on successful neighboring counties (Washington, Clackamas): immediate peer navigation, sustained case management, rapid treatment access, clear completion standards and meaningful legal consequences for refusing or abandoning treatment.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: −2 because Multnomah County spent heavily on a poorly designed deflection model despite stronger examples operating in adjacent counties. The recent reforms are sensible, but they largely add accountability and case-management features that Washington and Clackamas counties incorporated from the outset, while the program continues to reach very few people.
Oregon Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Multnomah County’s Flavored Tobacco Vape Ban
Date: July 13, 2026
Leader / Organization: Multnomah County
What Happened: Adopted a countywide prohibition on retail sales of flavored tobacco and nicotine products in 2022. The ordinance survived its principal legal challenge after the Oregon Supreme Court declined further review, although the county has not yet announced its enforcement date.
Issue Areas: Public Health
Rainmaker Recommendation: Not clear yet
Score: +1
Score Explanation: +1 for reducing young people’s exposure to flavored nicotine products is a constructive public-health measure. The ordinance deserves only a modest positive score because it restricts adult choice, could harm local retailers and may redirect purchases to Clackamas County rather than substantially reduce consumption.
Oregon’s new package recycling rules go on trial, could impact other states
Date: July 13, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon Legislature
What Happened: Enacted the Recycling Modernization Act, requiring larger producers to help fund Oregon's recycling system through packaging fees based on material type and recyclability.
Issue Areas: Environment; Waste Management; Business Regulation / Cost of Living
Rainmaker Recommendation: Continue holding producers responsible for a portion of end-of-life disposal costs, while ensuring fee calculations are transparent, independently overseen, and structured to minimize unnecessary costs to consumers and small businesses.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: +1 for aligning disposal costs with the companies that generate packaging waste creates better incentives for packaging design and reduces the burden on taxpayers and local governments. However, the program should remain transparent and avoid excessive bureaucracy or costs that are simply passed on to consumers.
Oregon State Hospital admitted dead man, held another in filthy room, leaked investigation finds
Date: July 14, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon Health Authority
What Happened: Withheld a 61-page internal investigation of serious failures at Oregon State Hospital despite a public-records request. The report became public only after a state employee provided it to The Oregonian.
Issue Areas: Government Transparency / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: More transparecny and accountability.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: -2 for withholding a document revealing serious systemic failures at a publicly operated hospital and declined to discuss its findings after learning the newsroom had obtained it.
Leader / Organization: Oregon State Hospital leadership
What Happened: An internal investigation found prolonged seclusion, filthy and inhumane living conditions, serious gaps in medical and emergency care, overdue staff training, unreliable communication, inadequate treatment planning, and a culture in which leaders ignored or ridiculed employees who raised patient-safety concerns.
Issue Areas: Government Transparency / Government Accountability / Patient Safety
Rainmaker Recommendation: Replace or hold accountable leaders responsible for the failures; prohibit prolonged seclusion except under narrowly defined emergency conditions
Score: -3
Score Explanation: -3 for subjecting a severely ill patient to months of isolation in degrading conditions while failing to establish an effective treatment plan or respond adequately to medical emergencies. Investigators identified leadership and culture as root causes, including complacency, learned helplessness and the dismissal or ridicule of staff who attempted to improve care. This represents a profound failure of Oregon’s responsibility to protect vulnerable people in state custody.
Another drug manufacturer settles with Oregon, dozens of states over price-fixing allegations
Date: July 15, 2026
Leader / Organization: Ellen Rosenblum
What Happened: Litigation initiated under Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum resulted in a multistate settlement with Glenmark over alleged generic drug price-fixing, providing compensation for affected purchasers and a financial recovery for Oregon.
Issue Areas: Consumer Protection / Health Care / Prescription Drugs / Antitrust
Rainmaker Recommendation: Continue aggressively pursuing companies that illegally manipulate prescription drug prices while encouraging greater competition in generic drug markets to reduce costs for consumers over the long term.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: +1 for enforcing antitrust laws helps protect consumers from artificially inflated drug prices and promotes fair competition.
Home Forward Said Its Budget Shortfall Had Improved. That Was Wrong, Agency Now Says.
Date: July 15, 2026
Leader / Organization: Home Forward
What Happened: Home Forward discovered that its previous financial projections understated annual housing-voucher costs, meaning its projected budget deficit was approximately $31 million, not the $13.8 million previously reported. The error resulted from incorrectly counting the monthly assistance costs of certain households in its forecasting tool.
Issue Areas: Housing / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Home Forward’s board should require management to explain the forecasting error, correct the financial model, reconcile projected voucher costs against actual monthly payments, and report regularly on progress. HUD should review whether the agency’s voucher reporting and financial controls meet federal requirements and take further oversight action if necessary.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: -2 because understated its projected deficit by roughly $17 million because its financial tool failed to fully count the monthly cost of certain voucher households. The error did not mean landlords were paid incorrectly, but it delayed recognition of the agency’s true financial condition. Home Forward may now have to stop serving new households from its voucher waiting list, eliminate staff positions, reduce resident services, or defer maintenance at its more than 7,000 apartments more sharply than previously planned.
Oregon receives $15 million in federal funding to boost semiconductor industry
Date: July 15, 2026
Leader / Organization: Oregon State University; FAST coalition
What Happened: Oregon State University’s FAST coalition was selected as one of 12 NSF Regional Innovation Engines nationwide, securing $15 million over two years to strengthen Oregon’s semiconductor industry. FAST could receive up to an additional $145 million over the next decade if it meets NSF performance milestones.
Issue Areas: Economic Development / Semiconductors; Technology and Innovation
Rainmaker Recommendation: Secure the additional $145 million by meeting NSF performance targets, and continue leveraging federal, state and private resources to expand Oregon’s semiconductor industry, attract investment and create high-paying jobs.
Score: +2
Score Explanation: +2 OSU and FAST successfully assembled a broad statewide coalition and won a highly competitive federal award that could strengthen one of Oregon’s most important industries. The initial $15 million is meaningful, but the larger economic impact depends on FAST securing the remaining funding and translating it into investment, innovation and job growth.
BLM looks to hire 130 staff in Oregon to accommodate increase in timber sales
Date: July 16, 2026
Leader / Organization: Bureau of Land Management
What Happened: BLM plans to hire about 130 workers in Oregon as it sells more timber from public forests.
Issue Areas: Forest Management / Wildfire Prevention / Timber Economy / Jobs / Public Lands
Rainmaker Recommendation: Use science-based practices to thin forests, reduce fire risk, support rural jobs, and protect old trees, clean water, and wildlife.
Score: 0
Score Explanation: The new jobs could help Oregon and improve forest work. But the article does not show if more logging will help forests or harm them.
Kotek ordered more classroom time. For most Oregon districts, little will change
Date: July 16, 2026
Leader / Organization: Tina Kotek
What Happened: Kotek ordered schools to protect classroom time. But most Oregon school districts will not have to add any more time.
Issue Areas: Education / Student Achievement / School Funding / Executive Leadership
Rainmaker Recommendation: Set clear rules that give students more classroom time. Give schools enough money to pay for the extra days or hours.
Score: -1
Score Explanation: Kotek said the order would help students spend more time in class. But it does not change much for most schools.
New law funding Oregon labor agency is illegal, lawsuit says
Date: July 16, 2026
Leader / Organization: Mari Watanabe; Oregon Legislature
What Happened: Oregon Business and Industry, the Portland Metro Chamber and the National Federation of Independent Business sued to invalidate House Bill 4027. The groups argue lawmakers created a new permanent payroll assessment on Oregon workers and employers to raise at least $9.5 million annually for BOLI, but passed the bill three votes short of the three-fifths House majority required for revenue-raising measures. Chief sponsor Mari Watanabe and legislative Democrats relied on advice from legislative attorneys that the assessment likely did not legally qualify as a tax because DCBS, rather than the bill itself, would set the rate.
Issue Areas: Taxes / Cost of Living / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Address BOLI’s staffing shortages and complaint backlog through a transparent appropriation approved through the normal budget process. Any new permanent payroll tax or assessment should specify the rate, include clear spending and performance requirements, and receive the constitutionally required three-fifths legislative vote.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: -2 because lawmakers created a new permanent payroll charge on workers and employers without securing the three-fifths vote required if it is a revenue-raising measure. Delegating the exact rate to an executive agency does not change the fact that the bill mandates a broad new charge intended to raise at least $9.5 million every year. The individual cost is small and the money addresses a genuine BOLI backlog, but the legally questionable process weakens legislative accountability and creates a troubling precedent for avoiding constitutional tax-vote requirements.
Portland Officials Send Blazers a Draft Term Sheet for Arena Funding
Date: July 16, 2026
Leader / Organization: Jamie Dunphy; Mitch Green; Sameer Kanal; Tiffany Koyama Lane; Angelita Morillo; Steve Novick
What Happened: City leaders asked for stronger protections before giving at least $120 million to help fix the Moda Center.
Issue Areas: Public Spending / Economic Development / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Do not approve the money until the public sees the full project plan, costs, and taxpayer protections.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: City leaders asked for more details before spending public money. That helps protect taxpayers.
Leader / Organization: Meghan Moyer; Julia Brim-Edwards
What Happened: Moyer and Brim-Edwards asked Multnomah County to seek a better deal before giving public money to fix the Moda Center.
Issue Areas: Public Spending / Economic Development / Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Do not approve county money until there is a full plan and strong rules to protect taxpayers.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: They asked the county to slow down and get a better deal. No new deal has been reached yet.
Lakeview believes it could be a victim of fraud. They want the state to step in
Date: July 17, 2026
Leader / Organization: Marc O’Brien; Lakeview Town Council
What Happened: Lakeview leaders asked the state to reopen an investigation into possible fraud. They also offered records that investigators could not see before.
Issue Areas: Government Accountability
Rainmaker Recommendation: Keep sharing records and work with the state to find out what happened. Tell the public what the investigation finds.
Score: +1
Score Explanation: Lakeview leaders took a good step to find the truth and protect public money. The fraud claims have not been proven.
Oregon Health Authority cancels layoffs despite $90 million savings need
Date: July 17, 2026
Leader / Organization: Tina Kotek
What Happened: Kotek helped stop nine planned layoffs at the Oregon Health Authority. But the agency is still about $90 million over budget and has not clearly explained why.
Issue Areas: Health care / Medicaid / government transparency
Rainmaker Recommendation: Tell the public why OHA is $90 million over budget. Share a clear plan to fix the problem without hurting patients or health care workers.
Score: -1
Score Explanation: Kotek stopped layoffs that were not well explained. But OHA still has a large budget problem, and her team has not shown how it will be fixed.
Leader / Organization: Oregon Health Authority; Sejal Hathi
What Happened: OHA planned nine layoffs and then canceled them. But the agency still needs to save about $90 million and has not clearly said why it is over budget.
Issue Areas: Health care / Medicaid / government transparency
Rainmaker Recommendation: Tell the public what caused the $90 million problem. Share a clear plan to save money without hurting patients or health care workers.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: OHA has a serious money and leadership problem. It changed its layoff plan several times and still has not shown how it will fix the budget.
Regional earthquake experts say more coordination, investment needed to prepare for ‘Big One’
Date: July 17, 2026
Leader / Organization: Tina Kotek
What Happened: Kotek ordered stronger earthquake rules for new state buildings. She also told agencies to plan safety upgrades for older buildings, but no money has been set aside yet.
Issue Areas: Emergency Preparedness / Infrastructure / Executive Leadership
Rainmaker Recommendation: Focus first on hospitals, water, fuel, emergency buildings, bridges, ports, and airports. Set a clear schedule and budget for the work.
Score: 0
Score Explanation: Kotek has a plan, but it may take many years and does not have funding yet. It is too early to know how much it will help.
After firing of key Multnomah County health leader, accusations fly
Date: July 18, 2026
Leader / Organization: Multnomah County Community Health Center; Multnomah County
What Happened: The health center lost its fifth leader in six years after another investigation. Board fights and leadership turnover have made it harder to run the clinics.
Issue Areas: Health Care / Government Accountability / Government Management
Rainmaker Recommendation: Fix the board's governance, hire a strong permanent leader, clearly define the roles of the board and county staff, and focus on stable leadership.
Score: -2
Score Explanation: A health system that serves 56,000 patients needs steady leadership. Years of turnover, investigations, and board infighting have made the organization less effective.
