GOP businessman running for Oregon governor blames paperwork error for $8,700 in unpaid property taxes

According to the Willamette Week, businessman Bob Tiernan, who is running for governor in Oregon as a Republican, failed to pay $8,700 in Clackamas County property taxes on an investment property in Lake Oswego.

"Failing to pay taxes is a political blemish for anyone running for office, but particularly for candidates running on their business acumen. Tiernan, who was once president of Grocery Outlet and a board member for PayLess Drugs, doesn’t lack for financial resources," reported Rachel Monahan, noting that Tiernan is wealthy enough to have given his campaign a $500,000 loan.

"Tiernan says it was an oversight. 'That’s news to me,' Tiernan told WW on April 21. 'I have not received a notice from Clackamas County. I’ll get on it tomorrow,'" continued the report. "The problem, Tiernan says, may have resulted from the fact he paid off the mortgage last year and, for the past two decades, the taxes were taken care of as part of his mortgage payments."

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This comes after a panel of several other Republican candidates in the Oregon gubernatorial race defended the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at a private forum — including Reed Christensen, who was at the attack himself and is accused by federal law enforcement of assaulting police.

Oregon is facing an open seat election for the governor's race, with two-term Democratic Gov. Kate Brown retiring.