FOR A MAYORAL candidate who’s made big splashes with an endorsement from the Portland Business Alliance (PBA), ludicrously flush campaign coffers, and some law-and-order talk about Occupy Portland, Eileen Brady has been remarkably successful at wrapping herself with the progressive flag.
After wowing a group of Portland Green Party members on environmental issues, Brady managed to emerge as the party’s top-ranked major candidate, ranking second on their list, just ahead of State Representative Jefferson Smith, when the group announced its endorsements this spring. (It may not have hurt that the Greens’ local director, Jorden Leonard, is a Brady backer.)
And then, at forum after forum, she’s managed to cozy up, to a surprising degree, to the one mayoral hopeful who did win first place in the Greens’ hearts: Cameron Whitten, the young activist and Occupy Portland organizer. Even though Whitten has excoriated Brady for her comments praising the police bureau’s handling of last fall’s Occupy eviction, Brady’s staff invites Whitten to events he otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend, gives him rides, and takes pains to at least mention his name publicly (if not his actual platform at cameronwhittenforunity.com). She’s been the only candidate to reliably do that.
And, meanwhile, another occupier, Devon Pack, has gone to work for Brady, helping with social media.
Brady’s supporters see all of that—the Green and PBA endorsements, the closeness with Whitten—as proof the businesswoman is open-minded and would lead the city as a pragmatic, issues-focused mayor. They also see it as a natural extension of her expertise in helping run hippie-inflected grocery chains that actually care about sustainability. But her detractors chalk it up to something else: proof she’s trying to please too many people. Their word is “co-opt,” which is what they worry Brady’s managed to do both with the Green Party and Whitten.
In a particularly tart line, one Brady skeptic and Occupy participant likened her to the popular kid in high school “who’s just using you.”
The whole issue has especially been a burr in the side of a lot of Smith’s supporters—who have been railing about Brady and her seeming embrace of Occupy on Facebook. Smith is arguably the more natural fit for the Greens and other non-mainstream political groups—drawing a clear distinction between himself and Brady, for example, by not mentioning how free-speech protesting has “consequences” that include arrests. And he’s been working hard to consolidate and engage that bloc as much as possible.
Now, some rumblings are afoot that could alter at least part of the equation. A few Smith-supporting Greens are pushing for a revote that would see their candidate flop places with Brady. They say she was slow to submit a questionnaire detailing her enviro policies (a request they made after their consensus-based endorsement).
It’s a canny gambit. But with ballots due in days, not weeks, it probably won’t work. And Brady, it seems, will get to keep her green, progressive street cred.
I’ve supported all the candidates endorsed by the Portland Green Party. http://www.portlandgreens.org/files/Portla…
So yes I’m a Brady backer, just like I am a Smith and Whitten backer. And Devon got the job with Brady after we endorsed her. It was not planned. There was no conflict. Anyone who says there is is welcome to contact me directly and I’ll set them straight. We also used IRV voting not consensus to choose endorsements.
“Co-opt” gets thrown around a lot, but Occupy and the Green Party both are pretty resistant because of our structure and decision making process. What you are actually seeing is not co-opting, but rather what both groups are susceptible to, “infighting”. Nothing kills grassroot groups like infighting.
Luckily both the Portland Green Party and Occupy Portland have plenty of great facilitators that can smooth things over. In the real world anyway. Facebook is just a giant troll universe unto itself and can’t be won over.
Occupy Portland endorses no one/any person, party or platform.
Anyone who alludes to anything otherwise is inherently dishonest and ridiculous and probably licks windows.*
*This statement has NOT been approved by the Occupy Portland General Assembly although they probably would if I asked.
Pee Ess- I seriously doubt Occupy would support Brady if they did.**
**This statement has ALSO NOT been approved by the Occupy Portland General Assembly although I’d bet several pints that if if you went around asking individuals who they support her name would not come up.
Occupy Portland doesn’t stand in the way of its participants supporting and endorsing whoever we want. The question about Occupy Portland endorsing is a distracting one that can be talked about better another time. For certain OPDX is not OWS, and whatever we decide to do here will be for local reasons.
Saying Occupy wouldn’t support a particular candidate if they were supporting candidates is pretty limp.
In actuality, though endorsements are off the table, I know Occupy has supported most of the Green Party candidates.
Cameron Whitten has benefited immensely from the experience of Occupy and all the people he has met who have volunteered to help him, including myself.
Eileen Brady got a lot of input from Occupy groups and individuals and enjoyed coming by the Occupy office.
Jefferson Smith and Woody Broadnax found some free time to participate in the Solution’s Committee forum.
Mark White found dozens of Occupiers breathing life into the Charter Review Commission he was co-chairing.
Amanda Fritz enjoyed doing a workshop on city government at the original Occupy camp.
off the top of my head
Occupy Portland is a fantastic resource for people that care about changing things for the better and our city is very lucky it is so vibrant and inclusive.
Jorden,
I didn’t say Occupy Portland stood in the way of anyone supporting who they want.
However suggesting that OP might endorse a candidate or a party or a platform is distracting and needs to be cut off at the head.
I can’t really address “Saying Occupy wouldn’t support a particular candidate if they were supporting candidates is pretty limp.” because it’s incoherent. And “limp.”
Regardless, I stand by the following statement:
Occupy Portland endorses no one/any person, party or platform.
Anyone who alludes to anything otherwise is inherently dishonest and ridiculous and probably licks windows.*
*This statement has NOT been approved by the Occupy Portland General Assembly although they probably would if I asked.
Denis: Why do you assume Jefferson Smith to be the default candidate of environmentalists and Occupy supporters?
Comparison for the moneyed mayoral candidates as an aid to figure out where they actually stand from a Green perspective. http://swoolley.org/files/mayorcompare.htm…
I’m not sure how Smith, who is pro-gun, against the sustainability center, voted for a linear bill for LNG (then voted against it when pressured), isn’t supportive of carbon and congestion taxes unless he can find some other fee or tax to displace it (opposed to revenue generation claiming fiscal conservativeness), opposes election reform, does not prioritize the charter review commission, and is against full transparency on issues of police accountability, would be a “default” candidate of greens and occupy supporters. Brady isn’t a default, either. Cameron Whitten is the voted, preferred candidate.
I’ve supported trying to get a reconsideration vote mainly to remove both Smith and Brady from the approval list. That Smith would win a different vote now that we have even more data in? Not seeing it.
Denis, did you fall for the Smith cult of personality? Say it ain’t so. 😉
Cameron Whitten is Eileen Brady’s magical Negro, her token black boy. She’s just using him as a tool to pander to the masses and convince us that she’s not another rich White plutocrat who is gonna gentrify the shit out of your neighborhood.
NO MORE BUSINESSPEOPLE POLITICIANS!
Screw the Portland Business Alliance!
Cameron Whitten is Eileen Brady’s magical Negro, her token black boy. She’s just using him as a tool to pander to the masses and convince us that she’s not another rich White plutocrat who is gonna gentrify the shit out of your neighborhood.