Political and Organizational Connections

PART 2 OF 5: THE POLITICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONNECTIONS

Part 1 documented the Working Families Party’s political strategy: win local offices, build what Oregon WFP calls “governing power on local city councils and county commissions,” and advance aligned policies from the local level upward.

Now pull that thread into Astoria.

Because this is no longer simply a matter of several people sharing similar political views.

🚨 ASTORIA HOUSING FOR ALL IS PUBLICLY IDENTIFIED AS AN AFFILIATE OF THE WORKING FAMILIES PARTY. 🚨

The campaign’s own Mobilize organizing page states:

“Astoria Housing for All is an affiliate of the Working Families Party.”

Its event pages are labeled:

“Astoria Housing For All (OR Working Families Party)”

The same page identifies Astoria Housing for All as Oregon campaign committee #24832—the committee promoting the Vacancy Tax.

That is not inference.
That is not guilt by association.
That is the campaign’s own organizing platform expressly identifying the relationship.

And it directly connects Part 1 to Part 2:

• Oregon WFP endorsed and promoted the Astoria Vacancy Tax.

• Astoria Housing for All is identified as a WFP affiliate.

• Astoria Housing for All used WFP-connected organizing infrastructure to gather signatures and promote the measure.

• Local officeholders and candidates have additional documented connections to AHA or WFP.

FIVE SIMILAR NAMES—FIVE DIFFERENT THINGS

The similarity among these names creates an obvious potential for public confusion. Here is exactly what each one represents:

1. Housing for All Astorians — the City of Astoria’s official strategic goal covering housing development, zoning, the Housing Capacity Analysis and the Housing Production Strategy.

2. Housing Initiative Program (HIP) — the City of Astoria’s official housing-assistance program, offering up to $100,000 per eligible housing project under that strategic goal.

3. Astoria Housing Alliance (AHA) — the private 501(c)(4) advocacy organization co-founded and led by Andy Kipp.

4. Astoria Housing Initiative (AHI) — the private campaign name used by the Astoria Housing Alliance to promote the Vacancy Tax.

5. Astoria Housing for All — private political committee #24832, formed to promote and finance the Vacancy Tax campaign. Andy Kipp is an organizer and its largest disclosed financial supporter. Its Mobilize page expressly identifies the committee as “an affiliate of the Working Families Party.”

The first two belong to the City of Astoria. The last three do not.

Despite their remarkably similar names, Astoria Housing Initiative and Astoria Housing for All are not City programs. They are part of the private political effort advancing the Vacancy Tax.

ANDY KIPP AND THE ASTORIA HOUSING ALLIANCE

Andy Kipp is president of the Astoria Housing Alliance, chief petitioner for the Vacancy Tax and the central financial supporter of Astoria Housing for All.

AHA describes itself as an Oregon nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(4)—a form of organization permitted to engage substantially in lobbying and political advocacy.

Newly obtained records from the Oregon Elections System for Tracking and Reporting (ORESTAR) show that Kipp personally supplied at least:

• $4,441 in cash contributions

• $397.07 in reported in-kind support

• $4,838.07 altogether

That is approximately 69% of all cash and in-kind support itemized in the current export.

The records also reveal this sequence:

• June 30: The committee reported a $3,431 debt to Willamette Law Group.

• July 13: Kipp contributed exactly $3,431.

• July 15: The committee paid Willamette Law Group exactly $3,431 for “legal fees to resolve ballot title.”

In plain English: Andy Kipp personally supplied the money used to pay the campaign’s $3,431 ballot-title legal bill.

THE 180-DAY STATEMENT

On June 3, 2025, Kipp submitted legislative testimony on behalf of the Astoria Housing Alliance concerning SB 1095—a proposed Oregon law that would have authorized cities and counties to impose vacancy fees, potentially secured by liens against the affected homes. The bill did not pass. The complete AHA letter is linked in the Sources below.

The letter asserted that “many of the vacant properties in Astoria are only occupied for a weekend or two per year” and called an amendment classifying those properties as not vacant “surprising.”

AHA then urged lawmakers to return to a 180-day occupancy threshold, claiming that was:

“more consistent with our on-the-ground experience regarding the empty homes that proliferate our neighborhoods.”

That is an extraordinary claim to use as the basis for government taxation.

The letter provided no physical property count, no address-level inventory, no survey methodology and no documentation establishing how many Astoria homes were actually occupied for only “a weekend or two per year.”

But it did reveal the policy position clearly: lawful personal use of a privately owned home for fewer than roughly six months per year should expose that property to government punishment.

DAN HUBNER

Astoria Housing for All identifies Dan Hubner as an organizer and treasurer of the Vacancy Tax campaign.

Hubner has publicly presented and defended the proposal, including declaring:

“Vacant homes are not neutral in our community.”

His role is also confirmed by the campaign-finance records. Every one of the 70 transactions in the current ORESTAR export identifies Daniel Hubner as the person who both filed and attested to the report.

That makes Hubner more than a vocal supporter of the measure. He is a formally identified campaign organizer and the treasurer responsible for reporting the political committee’s finances.

VANCE LUMP AND ANDREA MAZZARELLA

The June 3, 2025 AHA letterhead identified:

• Andy Kipp — President

• Vance Lump — Treasurer

• Andrea Mazzarella — Board Member

At that time, Lump and Mazzarella were also sitting members of the Astoria City Council.

That does not prove either personally wrote or approved every sentence in Kipp’s letter. It does establish that two sitting councilors were publicly identified in leadership positions with the organization advocating the 180-day policy.

When the initiative later qualified for the ballot, the City Council declined to adopt it outright and referred it to voters. But those overlapping political and organizational roles remain relevant information for the public.

Astorians are entitled to know when an advocacy organization advancing a major tax proposal includes sitting city officials among its leadership.

THE CAMPAIGN’S POLITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

ORESTAR committee #24832 reports:

• $500 paid to Our Oregon for access to VAN canvassing tools.

• $250 paid to Community Labor Administrative Services, Inc. for access to Mobilize, its volunteer-coordination platform.

• $1,000 received from Northwest Health Foundation.

Community Labor Administrative Services—now called EpicWorks—states in its own history that Working Families Party leadership created CLASI to provide WFP and Working Families Power with operational, financial, legal-compliance and organizational infrastructure.

Today, CLASI/EpicWorks serves numerous organizations. Therefore, these payments do not prove that WFP donated the service or directly funded the Astoria campaign.

But the documented facts are still significant:

Astoria Housing for All—publicly identified as a WFP affiliate—paid an organization originally created by WFP leadership for access to the very platform on which the Astoria campaign is labeled “OR Working Families Party.”

The ORESTAR export does not list a direct cash contribution under the name “Working Families Party” or “WFP.”

That distinction matters. We will not claim a direct contribution without evidence.

But WFP’s own national material states that its endorsements can include strategic campaign support, candidate training, financial contributions and mobilization by organizers, activists and voters. In other races, WFP openly documents providing management, communications, fundraising, data, canvassing, phone banking, texting and paid media.

Therefore, organizational or financial assistance to an endorsed affiliate would not be inconsistent with WFP’s publicly stated methods. It simply has not been established in Astoria beyond the specific connections documented here.

ANDY DAVIS

Astoria City Councilor Andy Davis ran for Oregon House District 32 in 2024 as a Working Families Party candidate, according to his official Oregon candidate filing. His campaign also publicly listed the Working Families Party among its endorsers.

That does not prove Davis drafted or organized the Vacancy Tax.

It does establish that a sitting Astoria councilor who helped determine how the initiative would proceed has an independently documented political relationship with the same party that endorsed the measure and whose affiliate is promoting it.

SEAN DAVIS

Astoria mayoral candidate Sean Davis has himself publicly acknowledged that he is registered with the Working Families Party. His WFP registration also appeared in the July 2026 county voter information we reviewed.

That does not prove Davis helped draft, finance, circulate or organize the Vacancy Tax. We will not attribute involvement in this ordinance without evidence.

But a candidate’s voluntarily chosen political affiliation is relevant when that candidate is asking voters to make him mayor—particularly when the same party has endorsed and promoted this measure, and the political committee advancing it publicly identifies itself as a WFP affiliate.

Party registration is not proof of agreement with every policy. But it is an indication of political identification and broader governing philosophy.

Astoria voters are therefore entitled to ask a legitimate forward-looking question:

If Sean Davis is elected mayor, does his chosen affiliation suggest that Astoria should expect a change in political direction—or a continuation of the trajectory established during the past two to four years?

That is not a claim that Davis participated in this ordinance. It is a question about the future political direction of Astoria—and in a mayoral election, that question is entirely relevant.

THE NATIONAL PATTERN

The Astoria measure does not exist in a political vacuum.

Zohran Mamdani

New York WFP ranked Zohran Mamdani as its #1 choice for mayor. Mamdani then partnered with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to advance a new tax on expensive second homes.

The New York Legislature approved the pied-à-terre tax on May 27, 2026, and it took effect July 1.

Its rollout has already produced mistaken notices, confusion over which owners are subject to it, privacy concerns and litigation—precisely the kinds of administrative and legal risks Astoria has not resolved before placing its own measure before voters.

Katie Wilson

WFP also backed Katie Wilson in Seattle’s mayoral election.

Wilson’s campaign platform proposed a tax on vacant residential or commercial property. As of now, that proposal is not evidence of an enacted Seattle vacancy tax—but it is another example of a WFP-supported politician advancing the same general policy mechanism.

San Francisco

As Part 1 documented, San Francisco’s Empty Homes Tax was spearheaded by democratic-socialist Supervisor Dean Preston through an organizing effort involving San Francisco DSA. WFP later endorsed Preston.

That does not prove WFP created or directed San Francisco’s tax. It does show the repeated ideological and organizational overlap surrounding these policies.

And none of these national examples proves Mamdani, Wilson, Preston, DSA or national WFP officials directed anything in Astoria.

That is not the claim.

The point is that Astoria’s proposal follows a recognizable political pattern:

• Define lawful non-use of private property as a public wrong.

• Create a government system to monitor that use.

• Impose escalating financial punishment until owners use their property in a government-approved manner.

• Present the policy as a local housing solution before proving it will produce the promised housing.

WHAT THIS BOILS DOWN TO

Part 1 examined the political strategy.

Part 2 documents the local network carrying it forward.

The Astoria campaign is not merely endorsed by WFP. Its own organizing page identifies Astoria Housing for All as a Working Families Party affiliate. Its political committee purchased WFP-connected organizing infrastructure. Its principal petitioner personally supplied most of its disclosed financial support. And sitting or prospective Astoria officials have documented relationships with either AHA or WFP.

Those facts do not prove a secret national conspiracy.

They prove something more concrete—and more relevant:

Astoria is being asked to adopt a policy promoted through an organized political network whose stated strategy is to build power locally and use government to advance its policy agenda.

And the policy itself comes down to one dangerous principle:

You may own the property—but government will decide whether you are using it acceptably and impose escalating financial punishment until you comply.

The excuse may change.

The result does not.

VOTE NO — ASTORIA VACANCY TAX

COMING NEXT:
PART 3 OF 5: WHERE IS THE ACTUAL ASTORIA DATA?

How many Astoria homes would actually be taxed? At what price points? Based on what verified count—and what measurable housing results have vacancy taxes actually produced in the cities already trying them?

Before government taxes lawful property ownership, the public deserves evidence—not estimates, assumptions and political talking points.

Sources:

Astoria Housing for All Mobilize page:
https://www.mobilize.us/astoriahousingforall/event/947685/

Astoria Housing Alliance:
https://www.astoriahousing.org/about

AHA June 3, 2025 legislative testimony:
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/PublicTestimonyDocument/211719

ORESTAR committee #24832:
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cneSearch.do?cneSearchButtonName=search&cneSearchFilerCommitteeId=24832

CLASI/EpicWorks organizational history:
https://www.epwx.org/about

Oregon WFP strategy:
https://workingfamilies.org/2026/03/oregon-working-families-party-announces-second-round-of-statewide-endorsements/

WFP description of campaign and financial support:
https://workingfamilies.org/2025/07/ohio-wfp-endorses-shenise-turner-sloss-for-dayton-mayor/

Andy Davis official Oregon candidate filing:
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cfDetail.do?cfRsn=23178&page=search

Andy Davis campaign endorsements:
https://www.davis4oregon.com/endorsements

New York WFP 2025 voter guide:
https://workingfamilies.org/2025/06/nywfp-voting-guide-for-the-2025-primary-election/