DOES SALTZMAN’S PLIGHT HELP OR HINDER JESSE CORNETT?
- WILDER SCHMALTZ
Jumping…
Dan Saltzman’s election opponent, Jesse Cornett, just released a lengthy statement about the mayor’s decision to take back control of the police bureau—which Anna Griffin just described pointedly as a “political whipping” of Saltzman. But the Mercury has endorsed Cornett for the office, although one of our major reasons for doing so was the fact that Mayor Sam Adams should never have given him the police bureau:
The only person who should take responsibility for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is Mayor Adams. But, in his own words, he’d rather focus on other issues. So the question becomes: Should Saltzman be the scapegoat for the mayor’s bad decision?
The answer is unequivocally yes, he should. While Saltzman didn’t ask for the police bureau, he didn’t turn it down, either. Saltzman got passed a turd, and now he’s running for reelection holding that turd. Are we supposed to react as though he isn’t holding a giant, steaming pile? We don’t think so.
Here’s an extract from Cornett’s statement:
Cornett on Mayor’s decision to remove Saltzman: “It’s about time”
City Council candidate Jesse Cornett called the removal of Commissioner Dan Saltzman as Police Commissioner today “long overdue” and a necessary step to restore the credibility of the Portland Police.
“For several months, I have called on Mayor Adams to remove Dan Saltzman as Police Commissioner. Today, the Mayor made the right move. It’s about time. Commissioner Saltzman was clearly in over his head and unable to manage the police effectively,” said Cornett.
“Whether it was proposing funding for additional training for police officers after tragic incidents occurred or failing to know how much money the Police were spending, Commissioner Saltzman failed to watch the bottom line and to protect taxpayers’ money. Saltzman’s removal as Police Commissioner is long overdue and I hope the City can now begin to repair the damage to the Police Bureau’s credibility and effectiveness that occurred under Saltzman’s management.”
“I think it helps Dan Saltzman,” responds Jason Renaud with the Mental Health Association, who has endorsed Cornett. “It seems counter-intuitive since he’s just been removed from this post, but he was a stalwart volunteer for the post. He did his best, which wasn’t what we asked for or wanted. But I thought his best day was yesterday, when he settled the Chasse case, when he seemed contrite and sincere. I think this takes the wind out of the sails of a lot of police criticism for the moment.”
Nevertheless, Renaud says he still endorses Cornett.
“I did endorse Jesse, and I’m going to stick with that,” he says. “I think Jesse has a future in politics, and he’s running a good campaign, and I wish him the best of luck.”
What do you think?
This really helps Mary Volm as Dan is a fired and Jesse’s message was about the police is defused.
I voted that it helps him, but the answer of course is that it depends entirely on what Cornett does with this. At this point, unless Cornett can get on TV with a solid message about this, Adams’ decision won’t mean jackshit for either Cornett or Saltzman. Most voters don’t read the newspaper and won’t base their voting decision on this.
It’s just a very strange argument to me that he was doing a terrible job as police commissioner, but since he lost that post due to not being able to handle it, that he should still be one of the five city commissioners. Incompetence is okay as long as it’s not at the police bureau?
Truly bizarre.
@idiocracy I think Cornett has spent almost all of his campaign funds by now. The question is probably, whether he can get an aggressive internet advertising campaign up in the remaining days…it’d be cheaper…but we’ll see.
Saltzman bought $30,000 worth of TV on Comcast two weeks ago. It’s debatable whether that’ll have the same impact as Cornett’s cheaper new media stuff.
But yes, all in all, I think it’s a question of how the Cornett campaign chooses to spin this. And on Saltzman’s reaction, too…which we’re still waiting for!
it REALLY matters how Saltzman replies to all of this…which is why I think he’s taking his sweet time…Cornett needs more $$
Blabby, except even the Mercury says Saltzman has done a good job otherwise.
You have a valid point, but you have to weigh whether you want to give up on a guy that you know did a good job for everything except something he’s now been taken off of, or go with a guy who you have no idea how he’s going to do at all. I’m not defending either candidate, I’m just saying that’s how I see the issue right now.
“Cornett needs more $$”
Yup, he does. And that’s why VOE is an incumbent insurance program.
When will Cornet get matching funds for Saltzman going over 150K?
People who don’t like the direction Sam and Randy are taking things might consider whether Dan, Jesse or Mary will be the most able to work with Amanda and Nick.