Just one more county candidate to go after Tom Markgraf. And Loretta Smith seems to have dropped off the radar since responding to the Mercury‘s email on Sunday. Loretta: If you’re out there, we’d like to interview you! Please get in touch on 503 502 2106. Tom Markgraf is a lobbyist, political and transportation consultant […]
Matt Davis
Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.
Posted inElection 2010
Meet A County Candidate: Maria Rubio
Maria Rubio was last in public service as the policy director to former mayor Tom Potter. She brings broad government experience to her run for county commissioner, and says she was planning to run for the seat when it came open, all along. Now, she’s made the quick decision to get in the race following […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!!
DEEMING MARVELOUS!!! The house may try to approve the unpopular senate health bill without the indignity of actually voting on it. TIGER COMES OUT OF THE WOODS!!! Champ will play masters. TIGER: LIKES A NICE SMOOTH SET OF BALLS TEXAS’ TEXTBOOKS!!! Coming to a high school near you. CATHOLIC LEADER WON’T QUIT FOR SERIAL RAPE […]
Posted inPortland
Google Might Widen Our Hose
Dan Saltzman’s chief of staff Brendan Finn is super-excited about an agenda item during this week’s council session: 356 TIME CERTAIN: 10:30 AM — Authorize the City to submit a response to Google’s Request for Information for construction of ultra-high-speed open access broadband network within Portland (Resolution introduced by Mayor Adams and Commissioners Fish, Fritz, […]
Posted inNews
Reforming The Independent Police Review: “We’ll go to weddings, Bat Mitzvahs, anything…”
City Commissioner Randy Leonard and City Auditor Lavonne Griffin-Valade are proposing an ordinance—to be discussed on Thursday, to reform the city’s Independent Police Review and make it more powerful. The IPR is doing its best to do strong public outreach on the proposal, too: You can show up at city hall tomorrow night at 5:30, […]
Posted inElection 2010
Meet A County Candidate: Gary Hansen
Gary Hansen may be among the most politically experienced candidates for county commissioner, but that doesn’t prevent him from speaking his mind. For example: He thinks a county preemption on tobacco taxes is an “elitist idea,” and he wishes people would stop dragging issues like the carbon footprint into county races when that’s really a […]
Posted inElection 2010
Meet A County Candidate: Roberta Philllip
Here’s some awkward timing. Roberta Phillip was hired by former County Chair Ted Wheeler two days before former state treasurer Ben Westlund died. “I showed up for work on Monday and had a great day with Ted—my role was to shadow Ted for a while and work on education and prevention issues, and to work […]
Posted inNews
City’s Cop Hearing: “People don’t trust the police because they don’t know any.”
“Right now is a very difficult time in our community. People are hurt, they feel angry and confused. They want changes in how the police do business,” said Citizens’ Review Committee chair Michael Bigham, introducing a meeting to hear community concerns about the police at Hoffman Hall on the Portland State University campus this afternoon. […]
Posted inNews
Public Meeting To Express Cop Concerns Today
ILLUSTRATION BY JESSE REKLAW As usual the outreach has been pretty lousy, but I’m going to be there in 2 hours, and so can you. Seriously, drop what you’re doing and call a few people. This is a big chance for the community to air its concerns on police reform issues: Citizen Review Committee (CRC) […]
Posted inElection 2010
Meet A County Candidate: Chuck Currie
The Mercury‘s fascinating interview with the Reverend Chuck Currie, who is also running for Jeff Cogen’s County Commissioner seat, is after the jump. We’re arranging interviews with as many of the other candidates as possible over the coming days. CHUCK CURRIE: MET YOUR REPORTER AT SEATTLE’S BEST ACROSS THE STREET FROM CITY HALL, HAD A […]
Posted inNews
Bad Apple Humphreys: State Drops Case
The District Attorney’s office has dropped charges against Lisa Coppock, a woman with mental health problems who is alleging she was beaten up while being arrested by Officer Christopher Humphreys—the cop at the heart of the beanbag girl incident and the death of James Chasse. ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT SUPERSTAR HUMPHREYS: BAD APPLE REPUTATION “It’s been […]
Posted inNews
Police Union Wants To Close Contract Meeting
The Portland Police Union doesn’t want the public to attend its contract negotiations with the city, which began this morning at 9am in a room inside the Portland building. The negotiations are held every four years to discuss things like how officers can be disciplined. The city announced on January 25, four days before the […]