Bruce Broussard
SALEM—Bruce Broussard won't be on the ballot this election season. But you can't say he didn't try.
Months ago, Broussard filed to run for a seat on the Portland City Council. Then on Tuesday, just beating the filing deadline, he submitted paperwork to be a Republican candidate against incumbent Democrat Earl Blumenauer in Oregon's 3rd Congressional District.
Oregon law, however, prohibits candidates from running for two different offices at the same time. State law also says that, in cases where a candidate files in two races, their candidacy is invalid in both.
Broussard said he didn't realize he had to withdraw from the City Council race before he could file for the congressional seat, and he apologized for the error.
"I will still run for Oregon's 3rd Congressional District as a write-in candidate," he said in a news release.
Broussard's mistake was caught when Susan Francois, the elections officer for the cityofPortland,saw Broussard in a photo that accompaniedThe Oregonian's story about the filing deadline. She remembered Broussard as a City Council candidate and — after checking to make sure he hadn't withdrawn — called the state Elections Division.
Francois said the forms signed by Broussard and other candidates include wording, just under the signature line, explaining that no one shall file as a candidate for more than one office "unless the person first files a written withdrawal with the officer who accepted the initial filing."
When Fred Neal of the state Elections Division contacted Broussard by phone Wednesday, Broussard was at City Hall in Portland trying to withdraw his council candidacy. It was too late.
"His enthusiasm outpaced his paperwork," Neal said.
— The Associated Press
