A Slavic activist who collected signatures and donations to help Portland City Council candidates qualify for public campaign money testified that he did not initially know he was going about it the wrong way.

And, Vladimir Golovan added, once he did try to remove himself from the situation, he was blackmailed to keep going.

Golovan, a Ukrainian immigrant, faces charges of aggravated theft, forgery and identity theft for his role in helping candidates Emilie Boyles and Lucinda Tate qualify for $150,000 in public campaign money in 2006.

Under Portland's campaign-finance system, candidates who collect $5 contributions and signatures from 1,000 people get $150,000 -- all the money they need to run their campaigns. The idea is to limit the influence of big-money donors while encouraging newcomers to run for office and participate in campaigns.

Prosecutors said Golovan lied about collecting donations for Boyles -- who was later found to have misspent the public money -- and about collecting donations and signatures for Tate.

An investigation by The Oregonian newspaper last year found numerous problems with Golovan's work for Boyles. Her contribution sheet, for example, contained several instances in which one person appears to have signed for several. In interviews, nine people on Boyles' contribution list said they did not recall donating to her, and, in most cases, did not recognize her name or Golovan's.

Golovan, in his first public words regarding the scandal, testified Thursday that he got involved in politics while trying to help his Slavic friends and fellow churchgoers assimilate. Golovan said Bruce Broussard, another council candidate, was the first to ask him to help collect signatures as part of Portland's new campaign-finance program.

Golovan testified that Broussard told him not to worry about the $5 donations. "Bruce said that the city does not require you to show any proof that you've collected any money at all," Golovan said.

Soon after, Boyles, a friend of Broussard's, approached him about helping her campaign. She agreed to pay him $15,000 for 1,000 signatures -- and mentioned nothing of $5 donations.

Golovan collected signatures for Broussard and Boyles at churches. In late 2005 or early 2006, Golovan said, he saw newspaper stories about churches losing their nonprofit status for political activity. He said he told Broussard and Boyles he wasn't comfortable continuing. But they pressed him to keep working.

Broussard, Golovan said, warned him that he had tape-recorded conversations in which Golovan talked about collecting signatures in church. He threatened to call the authorities if Golovan did not cooperate.

Broussard left the race, but told Golovan to help Tate qualify for public money by giving her his signatures, Golovan said.

"If it was just me, I would have gone to the police or the FBI," he testified. "But he is talking about jeopardizing my whole churches."

Golovan's testimony contradicted almost everything Boyles, Broussard and Tate said when they were on the stand.

Broussard testified that he never told Golovan he'd tape-recorded conversations and stopped trying to qualify for public financing because he was worried about Golovan's reliance on foreign nationals and his insistence that the campaign didn't need to collect $5 contributions.