Oregon Senator David "Beijing" Brock Smith
The Oregon Secretary of State has found Republican Senator David “Bejing” Brock Smith guilty of violating campaign finance law.
The Oregon Elections Division recently ruled against Republican Senator David Brock Smith, revealing a quid pro quo—“a systematic pattern of political coercion that extends far beyond simple campaign finance violations.”
What happens when a Republican State Senator in rural Oregon accepts $150,000 from Democratic donors in California—and then casts votes that directly benefit the donor’s investment portfolio?
It appears David Brock Smith did exactly that. He was found guilty of violating campaign finance law by the Oregon Secretary of State—but his real offense may be more egregious: selling out rural Oregon under the guise of conservatism.
The notoriously thin-skinned Brock Smith accepted $150,000 from Thomas Tuttle, a longtime California Democrat and managing partner at Newport Asia LLC, a $2.5 billion investment firm.
This is a curious coincidence as Brock Smith serves on the Oregon China Council and has apparently made several trips to China.
Public records show that Thomas Tuttle (who now lives in Gold Beach, Oregon) along with his now-deceased wife, made seven consecutive annual contributions of $25,000 each to Brock Smith’s campaign fund, totaling $150,000. Tuttle’s political donations aligned with Smith’s support for legislation that promotes offshore wind development—a market Tuttle’s firm stands to benefit from through carbon credit speculation and energy investments.
According to talk show host Rob Taylor, “Concern has been raised regarding Tuttle’s voter registration status. Allegations suggest that Tuttle may have been registered as a voter in both San Francisco, California, with the Democratic Party, and in Curry County, Oregon, with the Independent Party. Questions have been raised about the legality of this dual registration and participation in elections of both states … It is crucial to note that, according to the Oregon Secretary of State, it is not against Oregon law to vote in different state primaries that do not occur on the same date. The matter in question pertains to the possible simultaneous participation in the November 6, 2018, general election for both states. However, the statute of limitations for investigating this has expired, and thus, no official investigation will be pursued.”
Taylor continued, “Oregon election law does not preclude candidates from accepting financial contributions from out-of-state residents … Upon follow-up, the Curry County Clerk confirmed that Tuttle is currently eligible to be registered to vote in Curry County. Tuttle’s voter registration status in California has been terminated accordingly.”
According to Taylor, “Smith’s inability to explain why such a substantial sum would flow from a California Democrat to a safe Republican seat in rural Oregon raised immediate red flags. The donation becomes even more suspicious when viewed in light of Smith’s voting record on environmental legislation.”
Brock Smith is apparently entangled in a web of donor influence, media manipulation, and deception that undermines the credibility of the notorious Oregon State Senator.
Brock Smith apparently failed to report $4,968 in radio airtime contributions for more than 90 broadcast segments, each three-minute in length, on conservative talk radio station KWRO 630 AM in Coquille, Oregon, in January of 2024, valued at $18 per minute, which Brock Smith obtained free of charge “after pressuring the station owner to cancel local host Rob Taylor’s show.”
While being interviewed on KWRO’s “The Rob Taylor Report,” Taylor confronted Brock Smith about his campaign contributor scandal and his questionable support for offshore wind turbine projects. Smith dodged questions and feigned outrage, demanding the owner of the radio company, Mike Wilson, cancel Taylor’s program.
The facts of the case demonstrate a “calculated quid pro quo arrangement” in which KWRO’s owner, Mike Wilson of Bi Coastal Media, was “coerced into silencing a critic,” by State Senator Brock Smith, who then pressured Wilson into granting him unchallenged airtime “to spin his story.”
According to Taylor, Brock Smith, Oregon’s second-ranking Republican, “has transformed the county [Republican] party into his personal protection racket. Anyone who exposes their corruption gets blacklisted. Anyone who asks questions gets shut out.” If someone crosses Senator Brock Smith, he’ll “send the wolves after you.”
Clearly intimidated, Wilson capitulated to political pressure, impulsively and short-sightedly canceling Taylor’s contract and his program.
Brock Smith pressured Wilson into giving him a total of 92 three-minute segments worth nearly $5,000, to present his own version of the story without the benefit of fact-checking or a rebuttal, without paying a dime for the airtime.
Brock Smith went so far as to threaten to sue Taylor and House candidate Ben Edtl over statements suggesting Brock Smith is connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Republican Unity Caucus rented a billboard on Highway 99 south of Roseburg calling Brock Smith “Made in China.”
Predictably, Brock Smith had a conniption fit.
“In my 20 years of dedicated public service, I have never witnessed such blatantly false statements,” Brock Smith pontificated. “The deceitful misinformation coming from my opponents and their supporters rivals that of the Democrats towards President Trump. I have, and will continue, to look at every piece of legislation through our conservative lens for our district in Douglas, Coos, and Curry counties.”
Ben Edtl candidly admitted, “David Brock Smith’s political career is coming to an end, and he doesn’t know how to save it. So, he has resorted to threatening me with a personal lawsuit to force us to back us down. However, the Republican Unity Caucus will not be intimidated by bullies.”
But Brock Smith was at a loss for words to explain his having accepted such a huge contribution from a California Democrat—considerably more suspicious when Smith’s deplorable voting record on environmental legislation was taken into account.
The historically anti-environmental Brock Smith voted in favor of Oregon House Bill 3375, a bill establishing a roadmap for offshore wind development. He told constituents he opposed the turbines, but video evidence from the legislative session shows him testifying in support.
Brock Smith’s blatant two-faced dishonesty is apparent when it comes to where he gets his money.
Records show Smith has accepted cash from PACs funded by green energy companies involved in solar and wind energy projects—only to betray them by voting in favor of HB 3375. Crucially, the last remaining company bidding on offshore wind leases in Coos and Curry Counties was—perhaps coincidentally—among the green energy companies that contributed to a PAC that contributed money to Brock Smith’s PAC.
After the KWRO interview with Rob Taylor, Thomas Tuttle, Brock Smith’s wealthy Democratic donor, threatened to sue KWRO if Taylor’s radio program was not immediately cancelled.
Tuttle objected to having his name (and his deceased wife’s name) mentioned in connection to their political contributions, even though these details are part of the public record available online to any interested party, and do not in any way constitute a violation of privacy.
Rob Taylor, who had broadcast his KWRO program since 2019, was temporarily deplatformed and thus unable to respond. Nevertheless, the timeline reveals the quid pro quo nature of Brock Smith’s methodology.
Brock Smith agreed to appear on Taylor’s weekly radio show in January 2024 for one 30-minute interview. But when Taylor asked factual questions about Smith’s voting record and campaign finances, Brock Smith lost his temper and railroaded the station owner Mike Wilson into agreeing to cancel Taylor’s program.
Then Brock Smith intimidated Wilson into giving him 92 three-minute segments to spin his “story”—free of charge—without Taylor (or anyone one else, for that matter) having the opportunity to respond.
Brock Smith and Wilson’s questionable conduct came to light when the Oregon Secretary of State found Senator Brock Smith guilty of violating campaign finance law.
Brock Smith maintains low voting scores with Conservative Political Action Conference and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Oregon, while simultaneously accepting funding from green energy interests that directly benefit from his legislative votes.
Recently, Brock Smith voted in favor of a controversial bill SB 147, concerning the Elliott State Forest, driving “the final nail in the coffin” for timber harvest taxes that used to fund education, that now fund a “research forest” so the state can sell carbon credits.
In 2021, Brock Smith voted in favor of the Fire Mapping Bill, SB 762. But he had to vote to repeal it in 2025, because it burdened property owners with higher insurance rates and new regulations—politically undesirable side effects of the legislation.
In acts of performative politics, Brock Smith has repeatedly voted in support of bills that fund D.E.I. programs—going so far as to vote for the Menstrual Dignity Act, which put tampons in the boys’ bathrooms on school campuses.
But what is really in question is Brock Smith’s character—or lack thereof.
Brock Smith is known around the state capitol as Ryan Beckley’s “errand boy.” Beckley, owner of TerraFirma Foundation Systems, is the President of the Board of Directors of the Winchester Water Control District, a consortium of wealthy homeowners who own the derelict and disintegrating 135-year-old Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River.
Brock Smith has repeatedly expressed his “need to protect my individuals,” referring to the 100 privileged Winchester Water Control District members, to ensure they don’t lose their private water ski lake behind the condemned and uninsurable Winchester Dam.
At a September 24, 2024, Senate Interim Committee On Natural Resources and Wildfire hearing, Brock Smith haltingly read from a script evidently prepared by Beckley’s attorney Dominic Carollo. Repeating a pervasive urban myth the even the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has stated in writing is entirely false, that the Winchester Dam somehow keeps smallmouth bass from migrating upstream. Although time had been allotted during the hearing for questions from the public, Smith filibustered, stumbling over his script and repeatedly asking the same questions over and over, deliberately running out the clock so no questions from the public were heard, even though many people had driven for hours to testify.
It was apparent to his fellow state senators that Brock Smith was simply a shill for Ryan Beckley—an man who is now up to his neck in lawsuits stemming from his apparently botched 2023 “repairs” of the most dangerous and illegal dam in Oregon—the Winchester dam.
Readers will remember Beckley as Oregon Fish and Wildlife’s reigning fish kill champion, charged by the Oregon Department of Justice for singlehandedly slaughtering more than 550,000 Pacific lamprey—killing seven generations of this wild migratory native fish.
Brock Smith makes no effort to conceal his willingness to pander to special interest groups, earning him the nickname “Beijing” Brock Smith’ for his China-style approach to lawmaking.
In rural Oregon, some applicants wait years for their permits from Curry County and the Oregon Water Resources Department. In his China-style, Brock Smith sponsored SB 1047—perhaps the finest example of legislation designed to benefit special interest campaign contributors at the expense of the public.
Smith’s SB 1047, was created so the well-connected and well-funded developers of the proposed 330-acre Knapp Ranch Golf Course just north of Port Orford—could cut to the front of the line, superseding every other project stuck in the backlog of applicants awaiting a permit.
Brock Smith’s SB 1047 wasn’t just bad policy—it was the kind of state-controlled favoritism you expect in communist Russia or China, where big project—and even ordinary permits—require bribes and payoffs at each and every step of the bureaucratic process, where it’s about who you know and who you pay off to push your file to the top of the pile.
Even Governor Tina Kotek, no friend to most rural voters, vetoed Brock Smith SB 1047. And when Tina Kotek thinks your bill reeks of cronyism, it says a lot about how far you’ve strayed from fairness, free markets, and equal treatment under the law.
It is important to remember that the voters didn’t choose Brock Smith—political gatekeepers did.
He was appointed to the state senate in 2022 by a cabal by county commissioners in a backroom deal that rewarded loyalty to the Wall Street timber industrial complex and billionaire real estate players who enjoy free dump privileges in Douglas County while the rest of us have to pay.
By the time he actually ran for office in 2024, Brock Smith had made himself so unpopular, it took $250,000 in campaign cash to fend off a Republican primary challenger who spent only $25,000—one tenth of Brock Smith’s budget, in what was widely recognized as the most contentious primary challenge in any state senate district in Oregon.
Despite Brock Smith’s desperate efforts to silence him, journalist Rob Taylor has since launched a successful podcast allowing him to continue his investigative journalism, exposing apparently corrupt politicians like Brock Smith.
The Secretary of State’s investigation—and the monetary fine they’ll likely impose on Brock Smith—will ultimately vindicate Taylor and other independent journalists who continue to document elected officials like “Beijing” Brock Smith, who resort to intimidation, uncivil conduct, and duplicity while abandoning diplomacy and statesmanship.
Oregon Senator David “Beijing” Brock Smith
