EADIAF Jesse.

Dear lord. He was beat nearly 2:1 by Mary Volm.

Is it safe to say he ran a less successful campaign than the 1st recall?

Who cares?

Is Rudy Soto Cornett's Ross Perot?
Did Cornett really think the Merc endorsement was going to put him over the top?
Is that Grantonian Ben Walsh in that pic?

Ouch. Let's see... $150000 in public financing divided by 4534 votes... equals $33.08 per vote. Double ouch.

Jesse Cornett didn't just lose his race for City Council, he probably just lost the public financing system for all future candidates.

I think his message that we should spend tax dollars more wisely would have been more sincere if he hadn't just spent $150,000 of tax revenue on a joke of a campaign.

Cornett did end up beating Soto for third place, by less than 1K votes (so far). Pathetic showing from Blue Oregon's candidate.

Here's TAB last month on BO: "Cornett demonstrated an existing network of support that indicates viability. Volm did not. i (sic) like Mary & think she has a lot to offer, but Jesse is the right candidate to retire Saltzman and bring a combination of intelligence, energy & innovation to City Hall. Jason (sic) [Wurster] can whoop [Volm] up all he wants; she's going to finish a far distant 3rd."

Most recent vote count: 1st: Saltzman 53,868 (55%); 2nd: Volm 11,574 (12%); distant 3rd: Cornett, 7,806 (8%); 4th: Soto 6,913 (7%).

Viability? Guffaw!

You could say it was a victory for Kari and the BO boys, though, since Mandate Media was the direct beneficiary of over $16K of public finance spending.

Friggin' hacks. Can't wait to see them dropping their pants and waggling their dicks around here about how Cornett really was the more viable candidate yada yada yada and Kari's not getting rich off public financing and how I don't understand this or that.

Say what you will, this speaks poorly of public financing, which is a monumental shame.

As always, it helps if the candidate demonstrates an understanding of the issues and doesn't resort to histrionics. If Jesse actually picked a theme and ran with it, or actually backed up his statements with real facts, he would have garnered more votes. Instead, he picked at any possible wedge issue and opposed whatever Saltzman did. Cornett lost my vote when he made a factless argument that council's approval of $20 million for bioswales was somehow an unjust use of tax payer money for bicycle infrastructure. It simply wasn't. And that's the sort of mistake that demonstrates a poor grasp of the issues.

Jesse, if you run for election again, and decide to be the "bicycling" candidate, you should really come to the table with some awesome, innovative ideas next time. Base your arguments on facts (like how bike infrastructure actually pays us back, for instance), and you'll easily double your votes.

Valient attempt Rudy, we are proud of you. Persistance will pervail. Know that you have what it takes.
carol becker

"Mandate Media was the direct beneficiary of over $16K of public finance spending."

I'll leave to your opinions, but to correct the record: $10k of of that was for online ads -- it left my bank account as soon as it arrived, off to Google, Facebook, BlogAds (WW, BoJack, and BlueO), and the Mercury.

Hey Kari, we're supposed to feel better that you blew $10K of taxpayer money on ineffective online ads and that you only kept $6K for yourself? (Turns out the little old ladies who vote don't read the Merc, BoJack or BlueO, I guess. Gosh, who could have known?) But wait! Some of that $10K went to Blue O? Isn't that your blog?

No matter how you spin it, this clown show doesn't bode well for VOE in the fall. :(

Good point about the bioswales, intersection911. Bioswales aren't about bicyclists. They are about clean water to drink. Bioswales are used to filter the mucky runoff from cars and other motor vehicles. Bicyclists don't contribute to that runoff, but we do have to eat the carcinogenic benzene laden fumes of the cars we ride behind!