Gordon Sondland, a Portland hotelier appointed ambassador to the European Union after donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, called himself a master of the quid pro quo in deals between Oregon and the George W. Bush White House.
that’s given millions of dollars to organizations for the arts, homeless people and other causes.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed him to head the Oregon Film board, where he served for 13 years, cultivating Hollywood connections to attract film and television productions to the state. Sondland spoke with nostalgia, saying bipartisan transactions had dwindled, but Anna Richter Taylor, who was Kulongoski’s spokeswoman at the time, disputes his account.
Sondland raised big donations for now Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns, said David Nierenberg, a Portland-area investment advisor who coordinated regional fundraising. Nierenberg said Sondland confided a personal goal during a conversation toward the end of the second campaign in 2012.
But Sondland and Bashar Wali, Provenance Hotels president, pulled out of the event and renounced their support after Trump publicly feuded with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier. In Portland, Sondland’s intention to testify Thursday has not mollified his critics. Demonstrators plan to march through downtown Portland, Ore., on Sunday to protest in front of the Heathman Hotel, a Provenance property.
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