Saltzman’s Bunch Of Clowns Gather On Alberta

Ed Garren was probably right to avoid last Friday night’s candidate meet-up on North Alberta—not because his rivals to unseat City Commissioner Dan Saltzman are indeed a “bunch of clowns,” as he said last week—but because it was freezing cold, miserable, and wet up there. It’s time for some blinky text.

WHO HOLDS AN OUTDOOR EVENT IN OREGON ON A FRIDAY NIGHT IN JANUARY?

That was what I kept thinking as I shivered through proceedings at “Dough-nation,” which had been billed as a “new pizza place” by Spencer Burton’s campaign. Indeed it was a new pizza “place.” Note the flexibility of the term—an outdoor clay oven, mounted on a trailer, next to a tent, in a parking lot. In the pissing rain.

One guy kept pouring funnels of freezing cold water off the roof onto the ground next to me. Helpfulness is next to godliness, I thought.

“We’ve been here six weeks,” said owner Jim Skutt. “We’ve been doing this for years at festivals, but this is the first time we’ve done it in one place.”

I don’t think Skutt would mind my referring to him as a crusty old hippy. In fact, I think he’d probably find the abuse rather endearing. So, yeah. He’s a crusty old hippy. But a nice fellow, all the same. Most people gathered were affiliated with the various campaigns, but by seven o’clock a crowd of, let’s be generous, 20 people, had gathered to hear speeches by each of the candidates. During the build up I managed to eat a slice of, actually pretty fantastic, pizza, and muse on the appropriateness of the dj spinning Live and Let Die. Note: It was appropriate. In fact, I would like to hear this in future at all campaign events. Especially the gubernatorial debates between Bill Bradbury and John Kitzhaber.

• LEFT TO RIGHT: SPENCER BURTON, MARY VOLM, JESSE CORNETT, JASON RENAUD

Garren was pissed at these four for banding together to try to secure enough $5 donations to make the 1000 they each need by January 29, to qualify for public campaign financing. He felt it was cynical, indeed, he said he felt “violated” by the idea. But no need. From what I saw, most of the candidates picked up at most ten donations each, although they did all say how great their opponents were, and how they hoped the crowd would “make a donation to each of us.”

How did it go?

“It was cold,” said Cornett, afterward.

“It was wet,” said Renaud, chiming in.

“But any time I get the opportunity to speak to voters, whether it’s one or twenty or two hundred, I’ll take it,” said Cornett.

I asked him how he felt about being described as a “clown.” “I’ve been called a lot worse by people from whom it mattered to me more,” he said.

“It was good for a first effort on a rainy night,” said Burton. “I’m hopeul we can do this more often to give people the opportunity to come together in a spirit of brotherhood and talk about the campaign.” Commissioner Saltzman’s campaign manager Emerald Bogue wrote Burton back, saying “he couldn’t make it,” said Burton.

Of the speeches, Renaud challenged the crowd to tell him “one thing Dan Saltzman has actually done.” There were no answers. Cornett said that the average length of a city commissioner’s term since World War Two is 5.6 years. “He’s been here more than eleven years, and he wants another term,” he said. “It’s time for something different.” Mary Volm said she’s worked for the last 20 years in local government, and that in the last five years, “I’ve watched the city in a downward spiral. The city is here to provide basic services, it’s that simple. It’s not sexy, okay, but it’s absolutely essential to our quality of life here.” Burton said that “as a working man, it’s almost impossible to run without public financing.”

The Mercury is putting together a “Candidate Olympics” event with the Bus Project on January 28, the day before the contribution deadline. Stay tuned for more details.