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The Capitol building in Salem.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive staff)

By Carolyn Tomei

The Oregonian/OregonLive recently published a column by someone named Adam Andrzejewski - an out-of-state, right wing activist who is using false information in an effort to smear our state leaders for his own political purposes ("In Oregon, the battle against transparency is bipartisan," Oct. 30).

I had never heard of Andrzejewski until seeing his column, and I wondered why a guy who runs a nonprofit in Illinois would be weighing in on Oregon's public affairs. A quick Internet search revealed that his motives are obviously political, despite his efforts to rebrand as an unbiased watchdog.

In 2010, Andrzejewski ran for governor of Illinois, winning praise from Rush Limbaugh and Tea Party Republicans before ultimately losing in the Republican primary. The organization he currently runs, as cited in his column, actually uses the same slogan as his 2010 campaign. Andrzejewski also ran a PAC in Illinois that supported Republican candidates in 2010 and 2012.

There's nothing inherently wrong with any of his political affiliations, as far as I can tell, but what astonishes me is that his guest column called for greater transparency, while he simultaneously tried to hide his own political agenda. Even worse, part of his column was based on a complete lie.

As a former legislator, I firmly believe our government needs to be transparent, accountable, and effective. That's why it's so troubling to me that right-wing ideologues are citing these nonpartisan principles in a deceitful effort to promote their own political aims.

Andrzejewski is apparently coordinating with Jeff Kropf, a former Republican legislator and right-wing radio host with whom I served in the House. Together, they have submitted broad public records requests to several state leaders in an apparent attempt to fuel false attacks like the one the Oregonian published.

His column falsely claimed that their public records requests to the Governor and House Speaker had resulted in "zero" records being produced to them. How brazen, considering the Governor's Public Records log is posted online - anyone can see the 923-page document that her office released to Kropf in July. I also called the Speaker's Office and learned that they had already sent more than 6,000 pages of records to Kropf, fully fulfilling the request to her office.

Andrzejewski's main argument, therefore, was built upon an easily debunked lie.

Unfortunately, many of us have come to expect unfounded, untrue accusations to fly freely and then go unchecked - this year, perhaps, more than any other. With the rise of social media and the fall of traditional news institutions, false, inflammatory stories spread quickly and become part of the political conversation with zero fact checking required.

As the old saying goes, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." That's never been more apparent than it is today.

Oregonians deserve an effective, transparent government. Thinly veiled, false attacks like the ones from Kropf and Andrzejewski are fundamentally working against - not toward - that aim.

Carolyn Tomei served in the Oregon House of Representatives for District 41, representing Milwaukie and parts of Southeast Portland from 2001 to 2015.