In the video, it's sorta hilarious to see the hot-shot Portland Elite Business Staffers cowering in the back of their office to avoid the threat of conversation with the Terrifying Theologians about Risky Moral Decision-Making. PBA is beyond pathetic on this! How weak !!

Wow. Afraid to talk to the community faith leaders. What is going on here.

PBA has a long history of turning a blind eye to the environment, health and welfare of the community and its members as it chooses profit over clean air, water, and social justice. Thanks to these faith leaders, PBA's ethics are revealed.

"[W]e took reasonable precautions for the safety of our staff. I take the wellbeing of our employees as my first priority, and reject any behavior that would potentially create an unsafe environment for both the staff of the Alliance and those who enter our office as welcomed guests." Can the Portland Business Alliance/Andrew Hoan please explain what how these three clergy members, including the Portland NAACP President, had the potential to create an unsafe environment?

Why do they think they just get to show up, unplanned and unannounced and demand a meeting? Without any evidence that they previously reached out and tried to request/schedule a meeting in advance, this is simply a political stunt disrupting an office. I don't know of any office that would be cool if another group just showed up, unannounced, and demanded a meeting on the spot.

If the PBA showed up at a faith leader meeting and demanded time to speak right then and there, does anyone think the faith leaders wouldn't just say "we're happy to speak with you, but let's get a date and time on the books and you can come back at that time"?

Just guessing here, but I suspect that the PBA receptionist is not unfamiliar with folks dropping off info and requests unannounced. Perhaps that even happens more than once a day -- OMG, the Horror !!

In this case, the No-Doubt Expert Receptionist could have said something radical like, "I'm sorry, but President & CEO Andrew Hoan is not available at the moment. May I check and see if one of our other three-dozen staffers [yep, that's the staff size] is available to speak with you for a few minutes about this Date-Certain Ballots-Flying Urgent Election Concern?"

It's not Rocket Surgery.

And actually, knowing some of these Scary Faithful Folks, I am one who is pretty sure that they would absolutely respond politely to a respectful request (or even an angry request) for a brief immediate meeting during normal business hours, even if many leaders were in another meeting -- someone would always pull out to help with an issue. They were not interrupting some special event at the PBA office, and not "demanding."

You dramatically overstate the depth of their Terrifying Insult to Delicate PBA Sensibilities.
Please relax a tad.

Give me a break, Left Coasting, they were toting a giant toy envelope, and had photographers in tow - no doubt they knew what the response was going to be when they chose to go this route versus setting up a formal meeting like anyone would do if they were actually being serious. It was a stunt, not a legitimate meeting request. You think they wouldn't have complained and feigned offense if they were pawned off to a staffer instead of doing a photo op with the Big Guy/Gal In Charge?

You've clearly never worked in a formal office before, as this type of shit simply doesn't fly. This isn't about the merits of their argument (I voted YES on the initiative myself, as I suspect you did too), this is about the fact that this was nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt.

Flavio, your indignation is phony.

PBA’s actions were far more of a stunt than you critcize the clergy for pulling. The org put itself into controversy. Of course they should expect some push back in a public way for their political expenditures and posturing on behalf of the super wealthy over the poor.

The only threat and disruption that PBA feared was to be revealed to the public and voters as the mendacious servants of the ultra rich that they are. And you know this.

These faith leaders used nonviolent methods to interrupt business as usual at the PBA office. Nonviolence does not seek to keep anybody comfortable. It's designed to address injustice, whether racial, economic or environmental. Measure 26-201 seeks to address all those forms of injustice, while the PBA seeks to defeat that measure. Finally, nonviolence (practiced successfully by the civil rights movement under Dr. Martin Luther King) is "aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally". See http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy#sub2. I'd like to see more such actions like this one, by people of faith and people of goodwill, working for justice in an increasingly unjust society.