This year’s mayor’s race has hardly been a polite affair. Yes, even as the candidates have largely kept things collegial, it’s been open season for reporters and surrogates, who’ve indiscriminately (and unsurprisingly) taken to firing flaming arrows, raising legitimate beefs, and taking assorted cheap shots.

That dynamic changed last night at a forum on planning, when Charlie Hales took off the white gloves and not-so-subtly used one of his answers to take a shot at Eileen Brady’s ties to New Seasons. The remark brought out boos from some in the crowd, before Brady calmly and coolly parried.

But the sore feelings (which actually began simmering a few days before, in a spat sparked when Brady’s campaign changed the style of a recent event from a debate to a regular ol’ forum) didn’t stop when everyone went home. Hales and Brady adviser Jon Isaacs, along with Blue Oregon editor (and Brady supporter) Kari Chisholm, got into a brief Twitter fight.

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Hales’ side of the conversation has since been scrubbed. Luckily, we had a spy (not affiliated with any of the campaigns) who saved the thread for posterity. It’s a punchiness that, I’d say, isn’t entirely unwelcome as the race grinds on. Someone’s eventually going to have win over more voters than “undecided.”

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

14 replies on “Mayoral Sniping Starts at Forum, Spreads to Twitter”

  1. Content aside, it says something that Charlie is doing his own tweeting and talking while Eileen hides behind consultants.

  3. Eileen’s the one on stage, taking the questions, in over 20 debates (with more than 20 left to go). Eileen’s the one being slammed by WWeek. Eileen’s the one who’s been to over 200 community meetings, talking directly with Portlanders. Eileen’s the one who is being called a liar & having the attacks directed at her.

    Not Jon. Not Kari. Certainly not me (that video is my work, part of what i do for her campaign). Eileen Brady is hiding behind no one. she’s hiding because she’s not getting into arguments with other campaigns on twitter? really?

    and if Charlie’s tweets are such a great sign of courage & leadership, why’d he delete them?

  4. Kari’s not a “Brady supporter,” he’s a paid Brady consultant. These staffer back-and-forths are as embarrassing as they are entertaining.

  7. I HAVE HAD SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT I SHOULD RUN FOR MAYOR. IF THIS IS THE LEVEL OF INTERENTINGNESS THAT THESE MAYORAL CONVERSATIONS ARE BRINGING, I REALLY WISH I’D HAVE FILED. THIS SHIT IS BORING. SOME PEOPLE JUST WANT TO WATCH THE WORLD BURN. WELL… I JUST WANT TO WATCH THE WORLD PUKE UP SOME SHADENFRAUDENIC LULZ.

  10. Zed is correct. My firm built Eileen Brady’s campaign website. As always, I speak only for myself.

    Twitter’s such a weird medium. TA posts something. I respond to him. Then Commissioner Hales decides to weigh in. And the whole thing becomes a news story.

    It is a little odd that ol’ Charlie decided to scrub his feed. Apparently he decided that he couldn’t trust himself with the Twitter. (For the record: every tweet on @eileenbrady is from Eileen’s own fingers.)

  11. @kari

    When you start advocating against a campaign that paid you I’ll start believing that disclaimer you always put that you only speak for yourself and not the campaign that paid you to build their website.

    *I have no dog in the mayors fight and have only started to care but I can recognize B.S. when I see it.

  13. Since when is snarkiness the same as “negative campaigning?”

    I have watched this clip several times. Hales did not say or do anything wrong.

    Is Eileen Brady such a delicate flower that she must be protected from this kind of thing? She handled it perfectly well, in the moment, in context.

    By rushing to try to use it to smear Charlie Hales, Brady’s paid staff and consultants are not doing her any favors. But it seems that Kari Chisholm and Jon Isaacs always operate this way. Anybody else remember the Merkley-Novick primary? These guys are giving me flashbacks. And not in a good way.

    PS I am NOT a Charlie Hales supporter.

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