Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler threw Mayor Sam
Adams under the bus last week. Wheeler, who has a reputation for
being more strategic than hotheaded, told the Willamette Week on
Tuesday, April 21, that Adams had allegedly approached Wheeler with a
vote-trading scheme.
The plan would go down like this: Adams would let Wheeler have first
dibs on $8 million a year in state transportation funding to fix the
ailing Sellwood Bridge if Wheeler would support Adams’
controversial idea to build a $247.5 million convention center hotel in the Lloyd District, Wheeler told the paper. But: “I don’t
trade votes,” he said.
Adams must have hit the roof when he read that. It’s one thing for
Wheeler to have thought Adams’ suggestion was out of line, but it’s
quite a different matter to call a local newspaper and tell a reporter
the details of a supposedly private deal-making conversation.
Next time Adams and Wheeler talk, I suspect the mayor will be a tad
more wary.
So, what was Wheeler thinking? He declined comment personally, but
sources close to him say there was nothing strategic about the move,
and that he simply lost his temper with Adams for coming to him with
such a bizarre ultimatum in the midst of the county’s $45 million
budget crisis. Two days later, on April 23, Wheeler unveiled a
proposed county budget, cutting 214 jobs including 23 employees at the
district attorney’s office, and two dormitories at Inverness Jail. I
would imagine being asked to support a white elephant hotel while
having to dismantle parts of the criminal justice system to balance the
budget might sting just a bit.
“This kind of thing is not out of the ordinary in budget season,”
said Adams, of Wheeler’s comments—certainly downplaying any
private roof hitting he may have done in response.
Don’t think Adams is as thick skinned as he pretends. Nor should we
assume Wheeler simply lost control and called the newspaper in a fit of
rage. It’s entirely possible that Wheeler is considering running for
mayor in the wake of the attorney general’s investigation of Adams
or a possible recall. Or he’s hoping to serve as a stalking horse to
encourage others to make their move. Wheeler’s loose lips may not sink
Adams’ ship, but they’re definitely causing him to take on more
water.
Goddamn, at least when Mayor Daley pulls this corrupt shit the city at least sees some benefit out of it. But using a crumbling bridge in need of repair, used by thousands of Portlanders every day as a bargaining chip to build some self-aggrandizing pet project? When the hell did Sam Adams turn into the bad guy from Roadhouse?
I can only hope that
A) the recall folks can somehow overcome their current wingnut/homophobe/nutjob image problem.
And B) Someone worth two shits actually steps up to the plate to run for mayor if the recall actually goes.