Army drill sergeants are said to yell, "When I say jump, you say, 'How high?'"

That's pretty much my approach to following the rules for submission of the forms giving evidence of collecting $5 donations in my bid to win election to the Portland City Council. These contributions of exactly $5 will qualify my campaign for Public Campaign Financing, when we reach 1000 valid donations. My task at this time is not to question the rules, but to do my best to follow them.

I wrote here on Sunday that my volunteers and I have collected the first 300 donations, and surpassed that milestone with 335 in the campaign committee's possession as of Sunday evening. The good news is that we now have

350

donations of $5 from Portland voters in the campaign committee's possession, as of noon today. So exciting!

But I also said on Sunday that we'd be submitting the first 300 forms to the City today, and it turns out that event will be delayed at least another day. Here's why. The City Auditor's office is rejecting any form that is not completed 100% correctly, and we've found two forms with minor details missing. I believe we all applaud increased scrutiny and accountability in documentation of these donations. So, we're delaying turning in the 300 forms until these two can be corrected, requiring making arrangements to bring the form and the donor together again since the campaign isn't allowed to even check the "I am registered to vote" box for a donor who just received their ballot.

If forms are turned in and rejected, the $5 has to be returned to the donor, and they must fill out a new form if they then wish to help me qualify for public financing. One thing I've learned both last campaign and this one: Every one of the 1000 donations of $5 matters. You count to 1000 one at a time - just like a candidate wins by climbing to 50% plus one, one vote at a time. This new form brings that point home with even more clarity. I'm willing to wait another day or two before submitting the 300 forms, to get them done as well as humanly possible, and so they count.

And I'm telling you this partly to let you know how hard both candidates and city staff are working to ensure proper accountability, and also to explain why I didn't file the forms today.