Have to give credit where it’s due: WWeek has drawn first blood in the coverage of next year’s race for Portland mayor, getting former city commissioner Charlie Hales—the first serious candidate to declare—to admit that he lived in Washington state for five years to avoid paying taxes on his substantial out-of-state income.
Worse, though, is this: According to WWeek, the explanation Hales gave about where he was living, and when, changed over the course of their reporting, when he was confronted with public records that showed him connected to the state to our north as recently as 2009, despite his statements to the contrary.
How this ultimately sits with voters may not matter as much as how it sits with the people Hales hopes will cut his campaign checks. Even though he announced before New Seasons co-founder Eileen Brady, he’s lagged behind her in fundraising prowess—even when you take away Brady’s personal loan and the contributions she’s received from family members.
And you can bet people will be hearing all about this. Ahem.
Update 2:30 pm: Hales’ voicemail, at least on his cell phone, is full. I’ll update again if I get a call back from the campaign answering machine.
Please, please, let’s not elect an engineer to run our city. Charlie’s not really that impressive of a candidate anyway.
I’m still thinking of running, and luckily I’ve rarely even *visited* Washington. Those highway signs with the disembodied head give me the creeps.
What the hell is wrong with you journalists? Are you all just tumbling down into the typical Willy Week muck? So disappointed in you just piling on in typical fashion.
“I paid Oregon income taxes for the portion of my time that I was working in Oregon.”