Boddie denies allegations, won’t withdraw from race

Candidate for state representative and Bend City Councilor Nathan Boddie on Wednesday denied allegations of inappropriate behavior brought by the Oregon House Democrats’ campaign arm, FuturePac, as they withdrew support for his candidacy.

The allegations resulted in FuturePac’s decision to withdraw support for Boddie on Monday.

Boddie told NewsChannel 21 he doesn’t know what the allegations specifically entail and said he has no plans to withdraw from the race.

Boddie said he believes the allegations are in response to his refusal to pay FuturePac $5,000 for campaign research. He said he was not made aware of the of the cost until he received an invoice.

He called the allegations “insider politics” and said he didn’t want any part in it.

“Unsubstantiated fabricated things that came from the inner workings of out-of-town politics. I don’t think they belong in Bend,” he said. “I don’t think they belong in any level of government. But it’s not anything that I’m interested in playing and certainly that’s one of the reason I didn’t get involved and give them a lot of money from my contributors.

When NewsChannel 21 asked FuturePac about the money, they said, “The decision for FuturePac to drop support from Dr. Boddie’s campaign had nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with things he may or may not have paid for, his employ of certain individuals over others, or a desire to have another candidate in this race.”

FuturePac said the allegations, which include a homophobic slur, sexist behavior and promotion of underage alcohol consumption, run counter to the values of FuturePac.

Political analyst and former Democratic state representative Judy Stiegler of Bend said FuturePac is under no obligation to release more information about the allegations.

“A situation like this, when there are no specifics given about these allegations, they’re just allegations, that somebody has made and nobody knows who, what, when, where — that’s a little bit of a strange situation,” Stiegler said.

FuturePac said it’s unlikely to release more details, for risk of exposing the individual or individuals involved.