There’ll be more on former Mercury news editor Amy Ruiz’s recruitment by Sam Adams in this week’s paper, which comes out late Wednesday night. But in the meantime, here are some questions submitted here on Blogtown by our readers, for Sam Adams to answer.

1.Why did you hire Amy Ruiz in a position she is not qualified for?

2.Will you make Ms. Ruiz available for questions and allow her to speak freely without retribution?

3.Questions for Sam Adams and Amy Ruiz
1. What is your favorite sandwich at Bunk?
2. Best coffee in town: Courier Coffee Roasters or Stumptown?

And one directed at the Mercury:

I would expect you address the concern that your news reporter spiked a story to attain a job in Adams’ office.

Well, first things first. The Mercury caught up just now with another candidate for the job of sustainability policy adviser to Mayor Adams, which was awarded to Ruiz on December 22 at a salary of $55,000 a year. If you or anybody you know applied for this job, I’d be interested in hearing from them. My cell: 503 502 2106.

The person in question is still looking for employment and preferred that their name be kept off the record, but they are just completing a 2 year masters in sustainability at Portland State University. They got a 15 minute interview for the position, during which time they were told about the position, and asked whether they would be “up for working 55 hour weeks.”

“It was a pretty quick interview,” says the former candidate.

Aside from a 2 year Masters in sustainability, the candidate has worked 2 one-year jobs as a research assistant looking into sustainability measures for institutes affiliated with Portland State.

“I think I was qualified for the job,” the person says, “and I would have done a great job.”

“But I’ve looked at Amy’s columns in the Mercury, too, and it seems like she’s really plugged into the local politics,” the person continues. “I have a background in a lot of the theoretical stuff but I think she has a lot of the political experience. I think she’s really well qualified for the job.”

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

8 replies on “The Ruiz Questions”

  4. I applied for another job in Mayor Adams’ office and didn’t get it, even though I was more than qualified. It was “Public Advocate” and I am thanking God today that I didn’t get the job. Interview me too!

  5. Any publication that makes its ad revenue off “Hot Guy Chat”, left-handed kosher prostitutes, and the like is obviously a paradigm of virtue- it’s unthinkable that anyone would question a reporter being bought off.

  6. I guess I don’t get people calling for information on the other applicants for the position that Amy Ruiz got. What does that show? Are people suspecting that Ruiz wasn’t qualified for the job, and they hope that other applicants will be far more impressive?

    And @fahqueue – hopefully, there’s a wall of separation between the ad department and editorial. That’s the theory, anyway. One shouldn’t affect the other. I, myself, give the Merc that benefit of the doubt.

  7. Matt Davis, you remain one of the lowest forms of quasi-human scum capable of operating a computer. Amy Ruiz is not a story, and she was always your better.

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