Rudy Soto has entered the already pretty crowded field vying to defeat City Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
- IMAGE COURTESY OF RUDY SOTO
- SOTO AND PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2007, WHEN OBAMA VISITED AS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
“I’m running against Dan because Dan is basically, let’s be real, he’s the most vulnerable and weak,” says Soto. “And he’s up for reelection. I also think that he represents the status quo and politics as usual, and I think that this race is going to generate considerable interest and attention because people are fed up of the politics as usual, and Portland is pretty much knee-deep in a lot of problems.”
What does Soto think of Saltzman’s handling of the recent police bureau controversy?
“I think it’s an unfortunate situation, that our police bureau that he oversees, it’s no secret and it’s widely known that they lack confidence in his leadership,” Soto says. “I’ve spoken with numerous police officers, and they feel like he handled that situation poorly. I would have gathered all the facts before I rendered judgement.”
Soto, who is half Mexican and half Native American, plans to go spend some time on his family’s reservation next week before jumping in to the race next week. “It’s widely known that tribal politics can get pretty nasty, so I figure it might be a good idea to get a few words of wisdom from the elders, who can give me a word of advice,” he says.
“I know I’m young, but I’d like to think that I’m wise for my age,” he says.
Soto’s experience includes sitting on dozens of committees and boards locally, and this fall, he has interned in City Commissioner Nick Fish’s office—”by the way,” he says, “I think he’s going to be our next mayor although he doesn’t know it yet.”
Soto wants to learn more about the civic process, he says, adding that he thinks local governments have more of a direct impact on people’s lives than the Federal government.
Soto is on the Oregon National Guard, and plans to graduate from PSU in June with a major in Liberal Studies. He plans to announce his candidacy formally at Cleveland High School on MLK Day on Monday. He plans to seek public financing “without a doubt,” he says. “I will have slightly around 10 days or so to collect those donations. I am confident that the people of Portland, when they hear about my story and consider the current state of the city, that they might see my candidacy, while it’s young, as a breath of fresh air. And if these guys aren’t representing them well, then they might consider a leader from the next generation.”
Is that the guy who sings “Chocolate Rain”???
No.
Is this the commissioner position that Mary Volm’s running for?
Yes.
Oh man, this is hilarious.
Speaking as a PSU student that’s been around since Winter 2007, I got to stick around for all of Soto’s unfortunate tenure as President of ASPSU. I strongly suggest Mercury writers get in touch with the guys who were working at the Vanguard at the time- Soto was easily one of the most unpopular ASPSU presidents in recent memory, and certainly the worst out of all of the ones I’ve seen in charge. His election itself was controversial, winning on some sort of silly rule and then went and squandered a bunch of the student government’s funds on buying fancy new furniture for the office.
I’ve met the guy personally and he’s a great guy and all, but City Commissioner material? Absolutely not. All you need to learn is that he was ASPSU president over two years ago and he’s only now getting his undergrad (in “Liberal Studies”, to boot) which goes to show how much faith the student body had in him. If he can’t even manage a constituency of over 29,000 students, how is he going to fare with a population of over 500,000?
Yeah, good luck with all that.
Matt research the campaign problems Rudy had when he ran for student council at PSU a few years ago. He may have what it takes to be an unpaid Mercury intern, but the young gentleman does not have the maturity to handle a city commissioner position.
I know you would love to write about the silly antics Sam, Randy and Rudy might play on the unsuspecting public, but what I really think you are doing is the old reporter trick of setting a guy up so you can chop him down!
You reporters are merciless.
Young Rudy says…
“I think it’s an unfortunate situation, that our police bureau that he oversees, it’s no secret and it’s widely known that they lack confidence in his leadership,”
Okay young man, this is called a run on sentence that lacks a conclusion. If you start out a sentence saying, “I think it’s an unfortunate situation, that our police bureau that he oversees…” Okay, we’re looking for a conclusion here…
sentence ends with…”it’s no secret and it’s widely known that they lack confidence in his leadership,”
Nah, not good thinking, not good speaking. Go back to life and garner some experience.
Lets face it folks, the kid does not have the experience or the speaking ability to be taken seriously.
He won’t even come close. Not at all.
El Cubano.
Yes I agree. I was also at PSU then, and its pretty apparent he’s doing this so he can put his mug out there and get more exposure. He wants his third round of his 15 minutes.
I’m sorry folks but when this kid can’t even put two coherent sentences together, how do you think he’s going to come across as a commissioner? I’ll tell you how…he’s NOT.
He will NEVER win, trust me on this.
I was at PSU and still go to PSU, and I don’t know what the hell you guys are talking about. First of all, and no offense at all to Rudy, but no one takes ASPSU seriously apart from the people working for ASPSU (generally a pretty incestuous bunch). Furthermore, “least popular president in recent memory”? LOL. I’m not sure what PSU students you’ve been polling, but the majority of our commuter campus couldn’t care less about whose name is currently under the ‘President’ title. I’d invite you to ask other senior students like myself to name the past 4 PSU presidents, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rudy was one of the only ones named simply because of the controversy surrounding his election against Patrick Beisell. Additionally, it came down to more than a “silly rule”–it was an extremely protracted process, and one I sat in on while final decisions were being made (of course Rudy was eventually named president). It’d be wonderful if commenters were informed, as opposed to just chopping Rudy low.
Last nitpick: Rudy joined the ROTC, which is why he’s just now finishing his degree. He is an acquaintance of mine, and one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at PSU. I don’t know how serious he is about his prospects of being elected, but he’s a fantastic guy and he certainly does NOT lack the leadership skills necessary to successfully fulfill a position in civil service.
It’d be nice if you guys could give constructive criticism of this latest announcement, rather than creating facts (and certainly not every comment thus far is guilty of this).
He has more than 10 days, and he’s probably been organizing behind the scenes, I’ll be pretty impressed if he pulls together the public financing. And has he ever had a full-time job/career/experience outside of college?
As the person above said, no one at PSU pays any attention to the ASPSU activities, at all…Give Rudy a chance, as he stands as a breath of fresh air to the politics as usual in Portland!
I’m interested to see how he spends the money from his publicly financed campaign. Most people do not know that in his first year as a leader for the student group UISHI, he overspent his budget by $30,000. He also took an unbudgeted trip to Hawaii. These things occurred while Rudy was also on the Student Fee Commitee, PSU’s legislature, and he should have known better. Then, as president rudy rerquested $10,000 to cover over-spending from the previous administration, only he bought himself an office remodel with the money. Amazingly all the stuff went missing shortly after in an un-explained “burgalry”.
While PSU is small time and noone really cares about processes here, I hope Rudy realizes this stuff will matter in the real world. How he spends his public money on this election may determine if he ever gets any more in the future.
So I know Rudy well and I can tell you that Rudy speaks clearly, is direct, and knows how to work with people. Yes he is young, but he also represents a portion of the population that is not currently represented in the City Council.
In all reality, there are around 30,000 students at Portland State alone, not counting OHSU, U of P, and the Community Colleges. Rudy represents this large voting population that hasn’t been effectively reached out to as of yet and I expect that this frightens the good old boy network that has run much of Portland for some time now.
For example, Rudy called me some time ago and stated that a current city official said to him that he would make sure Rudy would not be able to partake in any of the local politics in the future because he is running for this position.
You old crusty bastards! What are you so afraid of? If you think he is such a “young inexperienced man”, then why don’t you old men move your fat bellies, get off your arthritic posteriors, and work for all the people you are supposed to represent? Come beat the street and talk to a younger population of voters, or are you too good for that? Maybe it’s that you realize there are younger more able people out there willing to push you off your lofty high towers of power and you’re just shaking in your shoes.
Mark my words; Rudy is going to be around for some time in one capacity or another. Get used to it. If you’re smart you would pull him in and help in out as fast as possible so that you don’t become part of the good old boy’s network that gets slapped in the face because you are unable to connect to the next generation of voters.