You have to give Commissioner Sam Adams some credit. He sure
knows how to turn a politically driven evacuation plan into a chance to
be seen as a ballsy leader.

Last week, just before the city council was poised to take a final
vote on the contentious plan to move the defunct Sauvie Island
Bridge to NW Portland, where it would serve as a bike and
pedestrian crossing, Adams hastily called a press conference.

Flanked by charts showing an increase in fuel costs, and a
corresponding decrease in gas tax revenue flowing back to the
city—thanks to people reducing their gas consumption—Adams
announced a $2 million hole in the city’s transportation budget.
He called for a 30-day evaluation of all city transportation projects,
to see how higher fuel and materials costs for things like asphalt will
impact their budgets.

He also killed the bridge project.

“I’m not confident we can bring that project in for $5.5 million,”
Adams said.

Adams’ rationale is believable. Hell, it makes sense. He says he’s
concerned that the part of the bridge project the city planned to bid
out would go over budget—it certainly could—and
there certainly aren’t extra city funds lying around to plug the
potential hole.

But here’s the problem: Adams originally had a $5.5 million
guaranteed maximum price contract on the table. That contract tanked,
however, when Commissioner Dan Saltzman balked that it was a
sole-source contract. And since it was Commissioner Erik Sten‘s
last day voting on the council, political calculus meant Adams needed
Saltzman’s vote.

What Adams has yet to explain, however, is why he put such a big,
exciting project like this—one that’s been in the works for
years—in that sort of a political bind. Why wasn’t the contract
ready for a vote weeks before Sten’s departure, or why didn’t Adams
address Saltzman’s concerns earlier? Like Adams’ Safe, Sound, and Green
Streets proposal, the first bridge proposal wasn’t sewn up tight enough
to withstand a political storm. And like that street fee
proposal, Adams yanked the bridge project off the table, while
declaring himself a prudent leader.

Speaking of turning bad news into good: Sho Dozono picked up
the sole endorsement of the Multnomah County Republican Party (Adams had earlier nabbed their Democratic counterparts’ solo
endorsement).

Dozono tried to turn the news into lemonade palatable to Portland’s
famously liberal voters. “As a successful civic and business leader I
prefer to look for common ground and shared beliefs in all
citizens, then build from those. I am willing to work with everyone for
the betterment of Portland and the region,” Dozono said.

But Adams’ campaign had their own take on it. “While many individual
Republicans appreciate Sam Adams’ leadership and support him even
though he is a strong and proud Democrat, Sam declined an
interview because he could not in good conscience solicit support
from an organization that subscribes to a platform that includes in
part: opposition to civil unions and basic rights for same-sex
couples; opposition to a woman’s right to choose; and it
supports numerous positions that breach the separation of church and
state.”