The race to replace departing Washington County District Attorney Bob Hermann has so far been defined by an influx of outside cash and interest from groups backing candidates pushing for criminal justice reform.
And on Friday, John Legend waded into the conversation.
"Hey Oregon, you might not realize that your district attorney is one of the most powerful elected officials in your state," the award-winning entertainer says at the outset of a video posted to his Twitter account.
The two-minute spot doesn't outright reference the Washington County race. And none of its runtime is spent on issues specific to the area, or Oregon at large.
That's because much of the voiceover comes directly from another video Legend did for the American Civil Liberties Union's "Meet Your DA" campaign. The entertainer's narration draws a basic outline of a district attorney's job description with calls for reform peppered throughout.
"In a single decision, often free from oversight, prosecutors can funnel people into the prison system, trapping them in the revolving door of mass incarceration," Legend says near the video's mid-point. "Equally so, they can give them a second chance."
The emphasis on reform fits the national narrative surrounding the Washington County race, where the two candidates have built historically sizable war chests, one of whose is worth nearly half a million dollars.
Kevin Barton, a lieutenant of Hermann's whose campaign has received $100,000 from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, has so far collected $250,753, according to filings with the Oregon Secretary of State's office.
Beaverton criminal defense attorney Max Wall's campaign has so far amassed $467,036, the lion's share of which has come from the Oregon Law and Justice PAC. That PAC lists Whitney Tymas as director. Tymas is a Virginia-based consultant who advises PACS, including one primarily funded by billionaire George Soros.
It's exactly the kind of race Legend has set his sights on since the musician began focusing on criminal justice reform over the last few years. When he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for "Glory," Legend addressed the number of black men under correctional control in the U.S. during his acceptance speech.
"We live in the most incarcerated country in the world," he said. "There are more black men under correctional control today than there were under slavery in 1850."
Vox's Dara Lind wrote soon after that 1.68 million black men were either on parole or probation in 2013.
"That should make us feel ashamed, because you think of all the countries that we consider to be repressive, to be unfree in so many ways," Legend told New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker last year for Town and Country. "How can we say we're more free if we're locking up way more people than all those other countries?"
And in August 2017, Legend partnered with the ACLU on "Meet Your DA," which TechCrunch reported began as a collaboration with the non-profit's Northern California division.
--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344
ecampuzano@oregonian.com