UPDATE, 4/13: Mississippi’s law might preclude Hales from going to Pascagoula, but nothing prevents the USS Portland from visiting its namesake. The Navy League of the United States wants to bring the Portland—the first USS Portland to be named specifically and only after PDX—to the city in Fall 2017 for the ship’s commissioning, a formal ceremony that will usher the ship into active naval service.
Portland City Council listened to a presentation from the Navy League this morning on the commissioning, which the league says will involve all matter of pomp and pageantry.
“It’s going to be a great thing for Portland,” Hales said.
At any rate, it’s way better than going to Mississippi.
Original post:
For the second week in a row, Portland’s talking about banning city employees from traveling to a bigoted state, and this time Mayor Charlie Hales’ Pascagoula dreams may be dashed.
Hales and First Lady Nancy Hales had planned to travel to Mississippi next month to pay a visit to the USS Portland (actually, the third USS Portland to be owned by the US Navy), named in honor of this city. But after Mississippi became the latest state to pass a terrible, homophobic, discriminatory law yesterday, Hales says he’ll put those plans on ice.
“I would be very disappointed if the Mayor of Portland was not able to be there for the launching of the Portland,” Hales said this morning, adding “these travel bans, if they are to mean anything, should mean we are not able to go to Mississippi.”
Banning travel to states passing what Hales calls “anti-human rights” laws has become a somewhat regular occurrence in Portland City Hall. Just last week, council temporarily banned employee travel to North Carolina because of a law targeting transgender residents. A year before, council banned travel to Indiana for a short time before the state walked back its own controversial law.
None but the Magnolia State ban has had any tangible effect on employees’ travel plans.
Hales says he’ll bring a resolution before City Council to make the travel ban official. He also says he’ll reconsider nixing his trip should the Navy see fit to “move that ship three miles out into international waters.”
What a clown. I hope the Navy doesn’t waste resources to accommodate his tantrum. Just rename the ship.
Banning individuals who work for the city from traveling to states that have laws that the mayor ‘doesn’t like’, sounds like a human rights violation in itself. A mayorship isn’t a dictatorship. There are bigots in Portland also … What does the mayor plan to do about them?
His choice not to go.
It has nothing to do with the law, that was decided by the legislature in Mississippi. Now, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales may have the view that it is bigoted, and has declared that his staff will be like Oregon State Governor Brown that state employee’s will not go to Mississippi due to interpretation of the law.
Just remember.. a previous mayor and city council actually declared that Portland will not support US Military efforts due to “the war on terrorism” and openly declared that Portland was a Sanctuary City if a military person deserts the military, Portland police will not hold that person for military authorities if they found them, despite the fact that it is part of US Federal Law for the city police to do so.
If the Mayor does not believe he can attend a commissioning ceremony because of protest of another state passing a law. So Be it.. the USS Portland (LPD-27), a San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship is going to be commissioned with or without him. I wonder if the Navy will allow it to attend the “Rose Festival Fleet” in the future.