- JESSE CORNETT: FILED 1,253 SIGNATURES
Two candidates have filed more than 1,000 signatures this afternoon in an effort to qualify for $150,000 in taxpayer funds to run against City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. Jesse Cornett filed 1,253 signatures, 253 more than the 1,000 required for public campaign financing, this afternoon at around 3:30. Jason Renaud filed 1,045 signatures at around 4:30.
Cornett is very optimistic about qualifying for public campaign financing.
Ed Garren, who has withdrawn from public financing, filed as a private candidate this afternoon. Mary Volm, meanwhile, withdrew from public financing yesterday and filed as a private candidate, while Spencer Burton also did the same thing a day earlier. Rudy Soto, who filed for office, and for public campaign financing, with a week to go before the deadline, did not show up with any contributions this afternoon. Meanwhile Martha Perez also filed for privately financed candidacy this afternoon with 15 seconds to spare, having run against Randy Leonard last time. “This is my second time,” she said. “So I thought, just give it a chance.”
- ONE PUBLIC CANDIDATE, ONE PRIVATE: JESSE CORNETT (LEFT) AND ED GARREN (RIGHT)
- JASON RENAUD: FILED 1,045 THIS AFTERNOON
Renaud, meanwhile, plans to fix a few details with the forms over the coming days. “We’re taking advantage of the process to make sure that everybody who intended to contribute gets to contribute,” says Renaud. “I think it’s going to be close, it all counts. This is a grassroots effort with 170 volunteers. We had a volunteer get married, we’ve had a volunteer get divorced, we’ve had several volunteers go to the psychiatric hospital. We’ve had volunteers that are homeless, volunteers that are elderly.”
Trouble is, Renaud is unlikely to qualify, according to Andrew Carlstrom, City Elections Officer.
“We verified the first 338 of his forms on Tuesday, and 69 were rejected,” says Carlstrom, City Elections Officer. “The total number of forms he submitted was 1045, so mathematically, he’s not going to make 1,000.”
Still, Renaud wasn’t going to speculate about his chances this afternoon. He’s going to Mount Rainier for the weekend—even filed in his Wellington boots.
“I need to get this shit out of my head,” he said.
Cornett’s first 310 signatures were verified Wednesday, of which just 22 were rejected. “If it was at that rate, he could make it, but we don’t know,” says Carlstrom. Volm’s first 306 signatures were verified Tuesday, of which just 15 were rejected. Burton’s first 300 signatures were verified December 30, of which 75 were rejected.
Carlstrom has ten business days to finish the verification of the signatures, until February 5. “But we’re hoping to get done a lot sooner than that,” he says.
He’s looking to find contributors who aren’t registered, who reside out of Portland’s limits, who have moved without reporting a change of address, or whose contribution was reported to the campaigns more than 14 days ago.
These 2010 Portland city council candidates are clearly deluded narcissists . They’re as pitifully unqualified to hold elected office as a an unemployed guy with a GED is unqualified to represent himself to be entrusted and paid for doing home repairs or moving furniture with his pick up truck. They’re agenda is essential selfish, to monopolize candidates’ debates, force press to interview them. These folks are NOT game changers in the fishbowl of PDX frontier politics. The comments of these self-appointed political amateurs make me cringe in embarrassment. Running a slate of unskilled ‘social agenda’ candidates (with the possible exception of the Sylvia Evans, woman running for Fishy’s seat whose acquired her credentials and legitimacy the same way Amana Fritz did, through years of committed community organizing) as coattails of the Obama’s change agenda is not winnable strategy. Watching politics-in-play in Portland Oregon is like watching bloated gold fish swimming in murky yellowed tabletop bowls – careening off the bowl’s sides only bump into each other.
Public financing can level the playing field and allow those without access to big money to run and represent the people. Should a democracy be run by private money or by people with something to add to the public discourse? I find these people inspiring. I hope they continue to influence the conversation and effect some changes.
Are there really “10 business days” between yesterday and next Friday, the 5th?
Oh, I get it… it’s because we do twice the work in Portland, the City that Works… is that it?
Yeah yeah. It was Friday afternoon. I just wrote down what he said without thinking. Thanks for pointing out the error!