Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez recently shelled out more than $6,000 in taxpayer funds to favorably edit his Wikipedia page, according to a new report.
Gonzalez’s office tapped WhiteHatWiki, a New York City-based company, in March to oversee his desired changes to his Wikipedia profile, OregonLive reported, citing records obtained through a public records request. He also requested WhiteHatWiki experts train a "designee" on the process for submitting future edit requests, according to the outlet.
The Wikipedia consultant company describes itself as "the leading ‘white hat’ ethical provider for Wikipedia strategy and problem solving, including crisis management," according to its website.
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The company oversaw eight edits requests by Gonzalez, his chief of staff Shah Smith told OregonLive. Only four of the edits were approved by Wikipedia, the website's edit history shows.
The approved edit requests include mention of Gonzalez’s law degree at the top of his Wikipedia profile and an additional line on his efforts to help pass a public drug use ban in Portland in 2023.
Other proposed edits, like a request by Gonzalez to highlight his father’s "Mexican American" heritage in the "Early life and career" portion of his profile were denied, according to the Wikipedia edit page history.
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The commissioner requested the sentence, "Gonzalez was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, where his father worked as a trial judge and federal prosecutor" be changed to read, "Gonzalez was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, where his father, a Mexican American, worked as a trial judge and federal prosecutor."
The volunteer editor wrote that he denied the request because, "his father's ethnicity is already mentioned in the personal life section" of his profile.
When asked about whether the $6,400 price tag was a worthwhile use of tax-payer dollars, the commissioner's chief of staff forcefully defended his boss.
"Political opponents working against change are sophisticated and look to distort events and their significance," he told OregonLive.
"To move Portland forward, we need to be sophisticated in both the way we develop policy and how we discuss history and the present. This means being innovative in how we manage our public profile and how we invest in educating our staff," he added, according to the outlet.
Gonzalez, a self-described "lifelong Democrat," is one of the eight candidates running for mayor of Portland in November's election after Ted Wheeler announced he won't be seeking a third term. Gonzalez has been a member of the Portland City Commission in Oregon, since January 2023.
Vandals have frequently targeted Gonzalez, a political newcomer who branded himself as a centrist and supporter of law and order. The windows of his campaign headquarters were smashed on several occasions ahead of the 2022 election in which Gonzalez ousted incumbent Jo Ann Hardesty, who advocated for defunding the police. In 2024, self-described anarchists boasted that they "torched a car" parked in front of a city commissioner's home.
Gonzalez did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Wheeler was first elected in 2016 and again in 2020. Throughout his tenure, Portland has faced a series of challenges, including skyrocketing homelessness and violent crime. Under his watch, the city also became a nationwide focal point for racial justice protests and riots, including months of nightly, sometimes violent demonstrations, and the rise of Antifa.
A poll released in May 2024 found that a whopping 70% of Portland area voters disapprove of their city's progressive leadership in city council members and Wheeler.
Fox News' Megan Myers and Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.
