Mayor Sid Leiken (pictured) hit the headlines earlier this year when he paid his mother Glenda’s company, P&G Marketing and Research, to carry out a survey only for it to emerge that the agency was not properly registered as a company.

Last month, state investigators wrote to Glenda Leiken demanding information about the survey, saying that the information they already had “does not substantiate that the poll was conducted”.

She has responded to the state in a letter obtained by local press, saying that she has kept no records that prove she carried out any polling.

Her letter states that “no other documentation exists” apart from a memo summarising the results and methodology and that a disposable mobile phone was used to make the calls.

“I used a disposable/single cell phone to retain my privacy,” she said, “as my cell phone is my only personal phone line. The cell phone account was closed over five months ago and the phone company does not retain phone records for closed accounts, therefore phone records are not available.”

According to the local Register Guard, the Oregon elections division will “soon begin the process of deciding whether further steps are warranted”.