- ILLUSTRATION BY SHAWN DICRISCIO
Ray Horton describes himself as a “flaming radical lefty.” He voted for both Commissioner Steve Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales when they were elected in 2012, and he voted to keep Portland’s water and sewer bureaus in city hall’s possession in May, rather than turning them over to a new board.
Now Horton feels like he was sleeping with the enemy: “You wake up the next morning and say ‘who is this person?'”
The contentiousness of the city’s “street fee” debate have turned the southeast Portland resident’s allegiances. On Friday, Horton, a 69-year-old retired graphic designer and rabid Model A enthusiast, filed petitions to recall both Hales and Novick.
Those efforts might seem like long shots—enraged voters, after all, twice failed to land a recall of former Mayor Sam Adams on the ballot after a sex scandal—but there are reasons Hales and Novick might be bracing for impact. And the chief reason could be Hiram Asmuth.
Asmuth is the man whose Encore Political Services collected more-than 50,000 signatures to land the Portland Public Water District on May’s ballot (it netted nearly $140,000 for that work, according to campaign finance records). He had a hand in getting the successful anti-fluoride measure before voters the year before. Now, he says he’s going to pour those same energies into booting Hales and Novick from office.
“I’m going to throw as much of my weight into this as I possibly can,” Asmuth said this morning from Colorado, where he says he’s working on a separate issue. “When I get back, I’m going to try to kickstart this thing. I’m willing to take a massive pay cut to get it on the ballot.”
Asmuth, like Horton, says the street fee—which would assign residents a flat monthly fee, and assess charges on businesses via a much-debated sliding scale to raise up to $50 million a year for road improvements—is a death knell for the city’s small businesses. Like Horton, he’s adamant city hall needs to better prioritize its existing cash rather than forcing a regressive fee on voters (though as we’ve explored, such theoretical prioritizing is no easy feat).
“It’s terrible across the board,” Asmuth says. “There are much better ways to do this.”
He concedes that the recall effort will be tough. Horton needs about 35,000 valid signatures for each Novick and Hales by October 9 to get recalls on the November ballot. Just days into campaign—and up in Washington for a Model A convention—he says he’s got about 15.
“Recalls are never a slam dunk,” Asmuth says. “If it gets on the ballot I think its a slam dunk because guys have betrayed us at so many levels.”
A freelance graphic designer for nearly 40 years, Horton says he’s never been much of a political animal. He’s never so much as volunteered for a campaign. But he was incensed enough by the street fee discussion, and in particular Hales and Novick’s insistence on passing a fee without a public vote, that he filed the recall petitions on Friday. Horton’s since taken steps to arrange things with his bank to be able to accept political donations.
And he says there’s no going back. Even if Hales and Novick killed the street fee discussion today, Horton says he’d move forward with the recall effort. Enough supporters have emerged that he actually believes it has a chance. That wasn’t the case when he filed.
“It’s been a realization that this can actually happen,” Horton tells the Mercury. “These guys need to be aware that people are upset.”
While I do not agree with the street fee, this seems over the top and likely to fail. Interesting that it would come from the “far left” which is generally more willing to pony up for services.
Hopefully, this means that the whole political spectrum is as sick of annual cost hikes as I am.
This isn’t coming from the “far left,” it’s coming from an opportunistic shitbird who clearly sees that there is a lot of money to be made in leading the recall.
The attempted street fee rollout has been comically inept on the part of our elected representatives, but it would be comically inept of us as citizens to recall them merely for trying to enact rules – in a completely legal way – that some of us don’t like.
Encore Political Services used some questionable tactics to get the Water and Sewer measure onto the ballot. Wonder what their signature gatherers will be saying this time?
http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX…
This is a bad idea and the time/money would be far better spent fighting the fee and/or finding a quality candidate to run against Novick/Hales when the time comes, but I don’t think signature gathers would have to stray too far from truth to sell this one.
Would be nice if you provided a contact. Would love to have a petition in our business.
These two are bad news (not that the rest of local government is anything to shout about) and getting rid of them might help control the others.
I have a whole bunch of people still from my recall of VERA KATZ that want in on this one…Hales…and Novick are not doing the job…BAD ROADS…..comes under the heading of COMMUNITY SAFETY, that is the first job,Hales for sure is a failure in my time with him on that, and my issue wasn’t potholes, but 5 men, judged guilty but insane, parked next to a grade school in SE. He ran out then, he is still running now…Novick, just is a short Randy Leonard.
Euphonius, did you actually read the article you linked above in your comment when you stated “Encore..used questionable tactics.”?
“Hand them the board.” is not questionable. It’s how you get signatures. If you keep the board, and don’t hand it to a voter, they don’t sign.
Read the script and talking points. What’s questionable about that? Everything in the script has been proven true multiple times.
AFTER the PPWD lost, coincidentally the City announced they were going to raise the roof on our already exorbitant water rates to pay for more unnecessary pet projects. And the E. Coli boil notice(even though that was discovered a few days before the vote). And the expose on BES overbudget spending($2,000 office chairs, anyone?).
This from the CRC loving Hales who also treats the homeless population with disdain, contempt, and disregard. Hales is a failure on MANY levels!
And now the street fee that is supposedly shelved only after Novick(not exactly the best pitchman) challenged Portland to challenge his authority, stating in his opinion(Novick’s) they(Hales and Novick) have 6 years to screw us. Well I for one and many others would rather give them a few months.
“…coincidentally the City announced ….. exorbitant water rates… unnecessary pet projects. … E. Coli boil notice (even though that was discovered a few days before the vote). …$2,000 office chairs, anyone?)….”
Oooh! No breakfast is complete without conspiracy theories…. Now we have a far-left complete breakfast. Where do I sign up to ban chemtrails?
Do continue Hiram- We haz popcorn *om nom nom*
CK,
Based on your above comment, my guess is you haven’t been living in Portland long enough to know what’s going on. None of the above is a theory. This has all been documented and reported. But don’t take my word for it. For your information, feel free to read:
“coincidentally the City announced rate hikes two days after”: http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Por…
“exorbitant water rates”: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
“unnecessary pet projects”: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
more unnecessary pet projects: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
more unnecessary pet projects: http://bojack.org/2010/02/panel_blasts_usi…
more unnecessary pet projects:
“E. Coli boil notice (even though that was discovered a few days before the vote”: http://mtna-landuse.blogspot.com/2014/05/b…
$2,000 office chairs: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
Hiram, yes, I’m aware of the gripes churned up by those interested in usurping the city’s water utility.
Portland does have some pretty spendy water rates, especially compared to a decade ago. Anyone willing to look at the numbers however can see that this primarily comes from some big projects that were either federally mandated, or had positive environmental benefits, specifically to the Willamette.
The “unnecessary pet projects” you linked to are red herrings meant to incite ire and distract from the real reasons for rate increases.
The $ figures for the public restrooms or rose festival HQ are a paltry fraction of the utility’s budget.
I’ve only been in Portland for 6yrs, Oregon for 13- but where I grew up in the midwest, we couldn’t even swim in our local city’s river.
The most troubling part of all of this, is that some of your links and sources cited, rise to the level of propaganda. It’s easy for the public to feel disenfranchised, and want to burn the whole political process to the ground- when instead, we should be encouraging people to participate in the political process and bolster our cities stewardship over our amazing natural resources.
You keep beating the drum of city incompetence though- there are plenty of private interests salivating at the chance to get their hands on our natural resources…. (Read: Portland “Public” Water District)
And if you’re in any way connected to the CPTI or the People’s Water Trust or whatever, which I would hazard a guess that you are, I’ve read the language of that proposal. It reads like Fischer Price: My First Legislation™ Not inspiring.