No City of Brookings public funds have been expended for lobbying or advertising in connection with Measure 8-84, which appears on the November 3, 2015, ballot, City Manager Gary Milliman said today.
Milliman issued the statement in response to an advertisement opposing Measure 8-84 that appeared on page 11a of the October 24, 2015, issue of the Curry Coastal Pilot which stated, in part, that “Brookings and Curry Health have spent thousands of dollars on lawyers, lobbyists and ads…”
“We are required to report lobbying expenditures to the State Ethics Commission quarterly,” Milliman said. “We have reported no lobbying expenditures associated with Measure 8-84 or any other aspect of the Curry Medical Center expansion…because there have been no such expenditures.”
“The City has also not spent any funds associated with Measure 8-84 or any other aspect of the Curry Medical Center expansion on advertising,” Milliman said.
“The City did share the legal costs associated with securing a change in State regulations to allow for licensing a stand-alone Emergency Room at the Curry Medical Center in Brookings…the first such facility in Oregon,” Milliman noted. “This was a major breakthrough in providing improved health care to our area.”
“The City Council voted unanimously to support the annexation of Brookings into the Curry Health District and the City shared in paying the legal fees for crafting the ballot measure,” Milliman noted. “But no City funds have been used to hire lobbyists or pay for advertising in connection with Measure 8-84…which would be a misuse of public funds.”