Politics Apr 27, 2016 at 4:00 am

It's the Mercury's May 2016 Endorsement Guide!

Comments

1
There's one more measure on the ballot for Multnomah County voters -- the Oregon Historical Society levy renewal (Measure 26-174), providing continued funding for educational and cultural preservation programs, including:

• Free admission to school groups and Multnomah County residents;

• Support for four East County Historical Societies including the East County Historical Organization (ECHO), Gresham Historical Society, Troutdale Historical Society, and Crown Point Country Historical Society;

• Preservation of cultural documents and artifacts;

• Exhibits and services that reflect the diverse histories of our region, and engage all parts of our county.

If the levy renewal passes, there would be no increase in property tax rates from what they are today. You can learn more at http://yesfororegonhistory.com/
3
Likening a rent freeze to same-sex marriage will not make it easier to negotiate a change in the state law blocking local rent control (and it's a questionable comparison). Portland is not a city-state, and pretending that it is won't increase the city's influence within the state. A mayor shouting from the barricades might help move a lot of free newspapers, but also may not end up getting much accomplished...in which case, Mayor Iannarone might well choose to leave office after one term, following her friend Charlie's example.

4
As for "Vote for Bernie"...by all means, help weaken the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party before her epic battle for the future of the nation with FREAKING DONALD TRUMP. Because what could go wrong? Ah, Merc. Merc Merc Merc. Merrrrrc,
5
"And holy shit, you guys—she actually lives east of 60th!"

Nice to know what's important to the Mercury Rising Damp Squib Selection Squad, or whatever it's called. Not paying all your taxes, though? Not a big deal.
6
On Slog there would've been 20 comments by now. I'm still not sure just what's wrong with Blogtown and/or Portland. Say something, people!
7
Gee, so Charlie Hales picks a jargon-spouting twit to be our next mayor, and the Merc falls for it.
Sarah Iannarone says lots of inane woo-woo things. My enemies at Bike Portland got it right for once when they described her as a person who trails off mid-sentence and can't finish a thought.

Her faillure to pay her taxes for five years and the way she blamed her accountant is the real Sarah Iannarone. Please note that she supports all of Hales positions, including unresrticted tent camping near schoolls.

8
@6 - Fine, since you demanded it... (I think things have become rather more quiet around here since the formatting change. No idea why. Maybe some people were only posting to get up/down votes..?)

I think voting for Bernie now is more about getting his points more play within the Democratic party, moving it/Hillary more to the left on economic policies. Once it's actually Hillary vs. Trump the smart/sane move is to vote for Hillary. (The principled move may be to vote for, oh, Jill Stein, but it won't move the needle any.)

For the other candidates I'm detecting a pro-rent-control stance from the Merc, which seems to run contrary to informed opinion about rent control. Is there a reason the Merc thinks it's a good idea? Yes, we need to get more low-incoming housing within Portland, but rent control appears to be a bad way to go about that.
9
Merrrrrc.

(Couldn't leave my inadvertent comma hanging.)
10
I'm now going to hold my breath until the Mercury agrees to move its offices east of 60th. (Please attend my funeral.)
11
I feel like the Mercury has told me at least a dozen times that Bernie Sanders can't win. This is why he's out of the race. So imagine my surprise that you would pass on an opportunity to endorse an all-female* slate of candidates by embracing the inevitability of Clinton's nomination.

Wait, who are you endorsing in the Republican primary?

* Gender identity assumed based on pronouns used in the article.
12
Portland'd problem is one of accountability; people like to blame leaders and are seeking a change in new ones when they should be looking at themselves. Any poly sci book will tell you deliberation is at an all time low among the public (intelligent opinion is replaced with "likes" and "dislikes") and that our social capitol is only declining. FYI political figures cannot solve your life so much as they can respond to your shouts, but if you shout for the wrong thing or fail to point the finger at the right thing then you may as well just point the finger at yourself.

Other than that, thank you merc- for not falling into the completely false "there are no silver bullets" argument which really is not an argument at all, yet I've now heard it coming out of the mouth of at least three politicians her in Portland. FYI there are silver bullets- they are sold online. WTF is the point of discussing something if you don't believe it can be solved?
13
...I should have said "intelligent discussion" rather than "opinion" as true discourse requires challenging one another's thoughts and reformulating or defending our own not just stating our opinion and letting it stagnate- that is just partisanship which not so coincidentally has also been on the rise for decades. Groupthink (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink) I believe is the term that describes Portland's political and social climate best. If you have actual progressive ideas but they do not wear hipster glasses as well as support the hypothesis that Californian "outsiders" ruined the lives of the Portland "insiders" then these ideas are politely shoved under the rug - assuming they made it to the closed-doors meeting in the first place.
14
Yeah! 'Shake up the city!' - by electing the failed mayor's hand picked successor and re-elect the same bunch. Great endorsements - NOT!
15
Funny, just noticed there is virtually no way to contact or give feedback to her beyond messaging her on Facebook. In light of all that I've said about deliberation, can you say totalitarianism? Her sustainability pipe dream is up in the clouds along with the entire urban planning department at PSU as there is no such thing as sustainability if it does not account for the nature of the users of the tool, i.e. human nature. These people are using a spraybottle to fight a fire- symptoms of a mass spread epidemic psychological dependency them and their doo-gooder hipster problem solvers cannot see through.

You already know she'll lost but neither should she be cast as some hero for the people when she cannot even speak to people outsider her poshy hipster club.
17
Oh god, Innarone? Really? This is just sad.

Charlie Fails' wife's cake / tax cheat, endorsed by the Mercury because she sports a goofy streak of hair dye. So quirky!!
18
Although I guess this settles a long-standing question about whether the Merc is a real alt-weekly or just an Onion-wannabe satire freebee gasping for relevance and trying to survive on a trickle of pot dispensary ad money
19
Thanks for the info! Made sure to vote against everyone you endorsed. That gas tax is a foolish idea that rewards irresponsible past leadership.
20
@Chunty: "The Shallot"? "The Scallion"? The Merc has been needing a new name anyway.
21
Yeah, just so you know, Stegmann is on the ballot in a notable chunk of East Portland. The city goes to at least 162nd, yanno...

I think it's sort of ironic that I spent 10+ years in Seattle reminding the Strangler that the part of town I was in was indeed Seattle, and now I'm doing it to the Mercury. But it is good to be back home in Portland, even if this wasn't Portland when I lived in Portland.
22
Just say no to Amanda Fritz!

Swindles the public out of fair process. Only concerned about her NIMBY constituents.

No MTB trails = No Fritz!

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