The campaign lobbying Portlanders to reject a May ballot proposal to fluoridate the city’s water just got a $10,000 boost from a local developer.
Up until the recent donation, Clean Water Portland, which is fighting against fluoridation, had been running behind the pro-fluoride camp, Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland, in the money race.
But the extra $10,000, a gift from Daniel Deutsch, who Willamette Week points out is the developer of the Left Bank Project, puts them nearly even.
All told, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland has pulled in just shy of $60,000. Their biggest donation, $30,000, came from a political action committee called Dentists of Oregon.
Meanwhile, Clean Water Portland is catching up with nearly $53,000 in contributions.
As a side note, the 30-day reporting period is still open and there could be other unreported donations on both sides.
The money behind these efforts stands in contrast to an otherwise sleepy donation period given that this will be an off-year election.
Also worth pointing out on the fluoride front, as Willamette Week did last week, is the fact that communities of color have overwhelmingly sided with the pro-fluoride camp while none has sided with the other.
Groups like Causa, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon and the African American Health Coalition have all coalesced behind the Health Kids, Healthy Portland effort.
It’s a matter of equity, according to fluoride supporters, who say that lower income families stand to benefit the most from the stronger, more cavity-resistant teeth they say will result from fluoridating the water.