FOR THE SECOND TIME in five years, mayoral spokesman Dana Haynes has been found in violation of state rules limiting how public employees may talk about upcoming elections.
Secretary of State Kate Brown's office informed Haynes on Thursday, July 10, that he'd broken the rules when he wrote a February press release calling a proposed water and sewer board's backers "anti-environmental." Those comments were attributed, in the release, to Mayor Charlie Hales, but Haynes told investigators they were his inventions.
Haynes was fined $150 for the breach. That's shy of the $250 maximum penalty, but double the penalty Haynes faced in 2009 when, as a spokesman for Portland Community College, he improperly hyped an upcoming bond vote in a blog post.
Haynes declined to comment on the recent finding, but suggested he, not the city, would shell out the $150. "The city does not get fined," he says. "People do." DIRK VANDERHART
A SOUTHEAST PORTLAND resident who's grown angry over Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick's push for a new street fee has decided he wants to make the pair pay for it dearly.
Ray Horton filed recall petitions against both Hales and Novick on Friday, July 11—winning approval to collect signatures three days later. For either recall to make the ballot, Horton must have 34,921 signatures by October 9.
It's been 62 years since a recall effort has even made the ballot, let alone prevailed. DENIS C. THERIAULT
