This post co-authored by the Mercury’s editorial board: Matt Davis, Wm.Steven Humphrey and Sarah Mirk
[Here’s the first of the Mercury‘s 2010 election endorsements. We’re going to be endorsing right here on Blogtown in the big races, and gathering all our endorsements together in a special endorsement issue out May 6.]
This election has been the toughest-fought of all the races on the ballot this year. Making an endorsement is made harder by the fact that the incumbent, City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, seems to have been doing the best job he can with an impossible assignment: Controlling the Portland Police Bureau.
- JESSE CORNETT: THE BEST CHOICE IN THIS RACE
In the past, Saltzman has been effective as, in his words, an “independent leader who understands the needs of Portland’s families and keeps an eye on the bottom line.”
Leaving aside his unfortunate decision to support Major League Soccer, Saltzman took over the water bureau in the midst of a billing crisis in 2002, and turned it around.
Saltzman also led the effort to reform the fire and police disability system, standing strong against the likes of chef and former firefighter Tom Hurley, who went to culinary school on his city disability check. Saltzman has successfully managed the massive big pipe project, and he’s twice led the effort to get a children’s levy on the ballot. Good work.
“But all this pales in comparison to the recent assignment as police commissioner,” he admits. “It’s been full of challenges, many of which you’ve chronicled [at the Mercury].”
Damn right. And frankly, this election comes down to Mayor Sam Adams’ foolish decision, before he took office last year, to hand his most important responsibility over to Saltzman—controlling our cops.
“Dan landed in a big cesspool and has done the best he could given the circumstances,” says Ed Garren, who has also run an outspoken, if unfocused, campaign for this seat. Still, at least he hasn’t suggested buying the homeless bus tickets, like Mary Volm.
It’s been painful and frustrating to watch as the Portland Police Association has stepped into the power void. Rallying on City Hall last November, for example, following Saltzman’s decision to suspend Christopher Humphreys for beanbagging a 12-year old girl. Saltzman capitulated, reinstating Humphreys, and we wouldn’t have caved in his position. Neither would Cornett.
“Not with the threat of a no-confidence vote, or a parade in the park,” Cornett says with hindsight.
The only person who should take responsibility for our police bureau in Portland is Mayor Sam Adams. But, in his own words, he’d rather focus on other issues. So the question becomes: Should Saltzman be scapegoated for the Mayor’s bad decision?
The answer, unequivocally, is 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, enormous turd? We don’t think so. More after the jump.
“If I were mayor I’d keep the police bureau,” says Saltzman. “Having said that I was asked to take it, so I did that. It’s a challenge. But part of this job is about rising to challenges and not just simply cruising.”
Agreed. Saltzman has made some mistakes in the face of these challenges, but the real mistake was not turning the mayor down when he was offered the bureau. He could have said to Adams, “you do it,” and he didn’t.
Cornett, meanwhile, has shown in his election campaign that he has no reservations about taking on entrenched political interests—like political consultant Mark Wiener, for example, who works for both Mayor Adams and Saltzman. Yes, that may not seem like a big deal, but in this town, it amounts to political courage, and we’ll take it.
Cornett says he will give the police bureau back to the mayor, and we support that. He also makes the right noises on using taxpayer dollars to fund pet projects.
“All we did with this deal is make a rich family richer,” he says of Major League Soccer.
As a leader, Cornett is hardly as inspirational as Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth. But he has credible government experience, having worked for a US Senator, Oregon’s former Secretary of State, Bill Bradbury, and Congressman Earl Blumenauer. He knows how to get things done—take, for example, his ability to collect a whopping 1,200 $5 donations from the public in a tough economy, when his opponents couldn’t even reach the 1,000 required to qualify for public campaign financing.
As someone who had a close friend, Raymond Gwerder, killed by the Portland police while he was on the phone to a hostage negotiator, there’s no doubt that Cornett will bring a key human experience to abstract questions about what should be funded first: Treatment and prevention for those with mental health issues.
Saltzman was lukewarm on the idea of a mental health levy during our interview. Instead, he kept pushing his experience with the Children’s levy as an example of a levy that works.
“It’s not just easy to slap something on the ballot and assume it would be passed, especially these days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cornett said he would be in Salem every week, using the contacts he made while he was a lobbyist for Portland State University, trying to push for mental health funding at the state level.
“I’d be very much in support of some type of a mental health levy before many other levies that could come before voters,” he said. “To make sure that we’re taking care of the neediest.”
Cornett also makes a good point about Saltzman: The commissioner has been in the current office for 12 years, and has “had plenty of time to figure this stuff out.”
“Insanity is continuing to elect the same leaders over and over, and expecting something to be different,” he said, at a recent forum.
Cornett is the candidate to vote for to voice your dissatisfaction with the direction that city hall has taken—to upset the entrenched power structure on funding and police issues. He brings an honest, common sense view to government and we think it’s time for a change. Vote for him. He’s the best choice in the race.
The contract seems really tough, and the union seems really strong. Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I’m not sure that any commissioner is going to be able to step in and make changes. How much power does the position really have?
(And Saltzman should never have suspended Humphreys for beanbagging that girl, because that was totally the right thing to do. )
I’m really sad that the Mercury didn’t endores Mary Volm. I was looking forward to a bucket-load of insanity. Can’t you guys just do it for the lulz?
I want all signs leading to Portland to say “WELCOME TO PORTLAND” with “HOME OF MARY VOLM” in a twice-as-large font below it.
I pretty much agree across the board. Except for maybe the thing about taking on entrenched political interests and being willing to talk shit about Mark Weiner.
Weiner is more effective maybe, but no more sleazy or unethical than Cornett’s chum Kari Chisolm.
That said, I am a firm believer in letting a new guy try where the old guy has already failed. Sometimes that works out great. Like Jeff Merkley. I had reservations about him as a senator, but I cast my vote based on the fact that Smith had already failed us. I have not regretted it at all.
Victoria Taft endorsed Mary Volm this morning.
I fully agree that the Police Bureau should be Mayor Adams’ responsibility. I wish Saltzman had not been willing to take it on. I wish (and still wish) that Mayor Adams would’ve been willing to take ownership of the bureau once it was clear that some very hard decisions needed to – and are yet – to be made.
You are right that a change in position #3 may well force the Mayor to take on management of the police bureau.
But you are also right that Commissioner Saltzman has done a lot of good work as a Commissioner. To his credit (and perhaps recently to his detriment) he hasn’t spent the last 12 years seeking the limelight for his work.
In your endorsement you put a lot of emphasis on the need for political courage. This is definitely important however it’s easy to say what you would’ve done if you were in so and so’s shoes. Ultimately you have to view that posturing in context when coming from someone running for office.
In that vein, your view of what is courageous doesn’t quite match mine.
Last week you reported that Mr. Cornett approved a baseless and extremely distasteful mailer by Mr. Weiner that accused his then opponent for office (Rob Monroe) of anti-Semitism.
Four years later Mr. Cornett is willing to fully pass the buck for that decision to Mr. Wiener.
For me, this does not equal “political courage” and “taking on entrenched political interests”.
To put it more bluntly, if you can’t tell the guy working for you to take a flying leap when he’s working for you…well…let’s say I don’t think the guy deserves a medal for that one.
Did you intentionally yellow Mr. Cornett’s teeth in that picture?
I think I understand how the commissioner/bureau system works (commissioners serve as executive heads of bureaus and as legislators determining the policies of said bureaus), but I’m not understanding why the mayor (not necessarily Sam Adams specifically) is better suited to head the police bureau than a motivated commissioner. Historical reasons? Procedural reasons? The “Mayor” sign under their name?
Is there a quick (or quickish) explanation as to how the mayor saying “Commissioner #3 is your boss, and has my full confidence. Do as Commissioner #3 says, or kick dirt,” is qualitatively different from the mayor saying “I’m the boss. Do as I say, or kick dirt”?
@The Wookie, under the City Charter only the mayor can appoint and/or remove the police chief. Ultimately the Mayor holds the master key on overall management of the bureau.
With regard to a quick explanation about your scenario in your second paragraph, I suppose that those two things could be equal but do you think this the reality we are living in right now?
I have no doubt the Mayor has expressed his “full confidence” in Commissioner Saltzman but that’s not the same as saying that it will be Saltzman’s call on who will be chief or even letting the Commissioner fire the chief if he sees fit to do so.
Victoria Taft is my future ex-wife.
Tony — thanks, I didn’t know the city charter gave the mayor that responsibility.
And, yeah, I don’t think my hypothetical scenario is representative of our current reality. I’m also not sure that Adams would have done anything different than Saltzman had he been in charge of the police bureau.