UPDATE 12:42 p.m. PT — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's campaign sent out mailers for the May 19 primary this week, encouraging voters to reelect him.
On the back of the mailing are a list of select endorsements. Topping the list are the three city commissioners: Jo Ann Hardesty, Amanda Fritz and Chloe Eudaly.
But Eudaly’s office said her name was never supposed to be on there.
“She did not endorse him,” said Eudaly’s communications director, Margaux Weeke.
In a status on her personal Facebook page, Eudaly said she would not be making endorsements for the primary.
“It’s too complicated during my own campaign with current and future colleagues, past and present city employees, and personal friends in the race,” she wrote.
After Gregory McKelvey, the campaign manager for mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone, posted a photo of the mailer under her status, Eudaly reacted to the post with an angry emoji.
In a statement, Wheeler said he understood clearly that she was not formally endorsing in the 2020 election. A mailer getting sent out with her name as one of the endorsers was "based on a misunderstanding within my campaign."
A mailer for Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's reelection campaign includes an endorsement from Commissioner Chloe Eudaly that he didn't receive.
Rebecca Ellis / OPB
There’s another name on the mailer that drew scrutiny, too.
Earlier this month, Commissioner Amanda Fritz had told OPB she would not be making endorsements this election cycle because she oversees the city's Open and Accountable Elections program and wanted to remain impartial. But she did make a nod to who she'd endorsed in the past, pointing OPB toward a year-old endorsement she'd done for the mayor on KGW's "Straight Talk" before she was in charge of the program.
Related: Lawsuit Argues Portland Mayor Should Return All Contributions Over Voter-Approved Limits
In an interview Thursday, Fritz noted that while she intentionally didn’t put anything in the voter pamphlet, she never unendorsed him.
“He chose to do that,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a big deal. No one has said anything untoward has been done to the open and accountable election program.”
A spokesperson for the mayor’s campaign, Lorien Sekora, said they’re working to figure out how Eudaly’s name ended up on the mailer.
“I’m not really sure why that is printed on that material,” Sekora said. “That’s a very good question.”
The use of the two commissioners' names aren't the only ones being brought into question.
Merritt Paulson, the owner of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns, says he donated to Wheeler's campaign. But in a Twitter post Wednesday, he emphasized it was a "personal gift." The use of the teams' logo on the mailer was "100% not something [he] was aware of." Plus, he noted, the logo used on the mailer was incorrect. They stopped using that version a few years ago.
Paulson tweeted he’ll look into the issue.
In a statement, the organization emphasized that the Portland Timbers and Thorns FC do not endorse political candidates.
"Miscommunication is always possible, and we are confident there was no malicious intent regarding the use of team logos in campaign materials."
A name that was certainly supposed to be there: Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. Her political action committee, Rise Together, had endorsed Wheeler last month.
Wheeler has also faced heat this week related to campaign finance. Iannarone, along with advocates for campaign finance transparency, filed suit against the mayor, alleging he is violating a recently enforceable campaign finance law and must return all donations he's received over $500.
