Newest city council candidate Jason Renaud has been sitting around at city hall this afternoon, waiting for his campaign accountant to file a “statement of organization” with the Secretary of State’s office in Salem, so that he can file for public financing with the city auditor’s office.
Portland Police Association boss Scott Westerman happened to be in the city auditor’s office, tallying up ballots for a union vote related to central precinct. He came out to congratulate Renaud on his candidacy.
“Will you endorse me?” asked Renaud—who is going for coffee with Westerman at Starbucks in a few days.
“Absolutely,” said Westerman—meaning neither yes, or no—”there’s a process for that.”
Westerman seemed surprised by Willamette Week‘s reporting today, hinting that Westerman and the PPA are lining up behind North Portland realtor Fred Stewart, for the seat. “There’s a process for securing our endorsement,” said Westerman. “And we haven’t heard from any of the other candidates for this seat.”
Westerman was at city hall with PPA’s Dave Dobler, whom he said had been “maybe” considering a run for Saltzman’s seat. Updated, 12/3, 9:22: Sorry, misunderstood here. Westerman was introducing Renaud to Dobler as someone considering a run. My mistake.
Original post: Does this mean the union is not going to endorse Saltzman? “There’s a process for that,” he repeated.
Westerman told the Mercury he has met only with Spencer Burton, so far. “It’s about opening up the dialog, as much as anything else,” he says.
“I’ve never met Dan Saltzman,” said Renaud, chatting with freelance reporter Amanda Waldroupe. “I invited him to come and talk publicly about the discipline he imposed on Chris Humphreys, and he said he would talk to us privately, but I said no. He needs to discuss the public’s business in public.”
- RENAUD AND WESTERMAN
Sounds like a hot date. Do people actually plan ahead for coffee at Starbucks?
Could you provide a link to the WW’s reporting that the PPA is lining up behind Fred Stewart? I didn’t know Mr. Stewart was running for the seat.
Sorry, Tony, here:
http://wweek.com/editorial/3604/13415/?SOU…
The line you’re looking for:
“Insiders note the police union could spend unlimited funds against Saltzman next year. And at least one potential contender may already be stepping into position to vie for the union’s support.
Real-estate broker Fred Stewart, who ran unsuccessfully for council in 2008, says Saltzman was wrong to suspend Humphreys when the officer was simply following his training. And like the police union, Stewart rails against Adams for lying about his 2005 sexual relationship with then-teenage legislative intern Beau Breedlove.”
“I didn’t know Mr.Stewart was running for the seat.”—Neither did I, and neither did Stewart, judging from his non-response to the question “are you running?” on Facebook this morning. Although the phrase “may already be stepping into position to vie for the union’s support” is admittedly about as tenuous as they get.
I may already be stepping into position to vie for a Pulitzer, by the same logic.
This certainly explains why you spent a lovely Saturday at the “We May Already be Vying to Make the Media” conference.
I’m sorry that should be the “We May Already be Vying to Step in and Make the Media” conference.
Given the PPA’s “I am Chris Humphreys” nonsense last week, I’ll gladly vote for whoever doesn’t get its endorsement.