The race for Multnomah County Chair is just heating up, and one candidate’s current and former colleagues are adding fuel to the flame.
Seven current and former elected Portland Public School (PPS) board members published an open letter to Multnomah County voters July 29, saying they have grave concerns about Julia Brim-Edwards readiness to serve in the county chair position she’s running for.
Brim-Edwards currently serves as the county commissioner for District 3, which covers Southeast and East Portland to the Gresham border. She has served in the position since mid-2023, after current county Chair Jessica Vega Pederson left the seat when voters elected her as chair. Brim-Edwards served on the school board for 12 years, in two separate stints.
The letter was signed by current board members Eddie Wang and Michelle DePass, and former members Scott Bailey, Amy Kohnstamm, Eilidh Lowery, Rita Moore, Andrew Scott.
Members who signed the letter have served in leadership roles alongside Brim-Edwards, and said they are deeply concerned about her readiness to serve as county chair. They said they believe it’s important for voters to be aware of their concerns before voting on who should lead the county. That includes perceived issues with collaboration, management, oversight, and an unwillingness to make hard decisions.
Brim-Edwards is currently one of two candidates vying for the county chair position. County Commissioner Shannon Singleton, who represents District 2, is also running for the leadership position. Former County Commissioner Sharon Meieran has also announced her candidacy for county chair, but hasn’t officially filed yet.
DePass and Wang have both publicly endorsed Singleton for the county chair role.
The letter said on multiple occasions, Brim-Edwards privately lobbied other public officials against the positions the board and district had agreed to.
DePass, who overlapped with Brim-Edwards for four years on the board, told the Mercury Wednesday that Brim-Edwards worked around the board on multiple occasions. For instance, she said Brim-Edwards spoke negatively in public and in the media about a 2025 school bond measure the board had referred to the ballot. DePass said as a member of the fundraising committee for the measure, Brim-Edwards failed to call on her connections in the local business community to help support it, which Brim-Edwards had agreed to do.
Additionally, DePass criticized Brim-Edwards for some of her work on the county commission. DePass said she and others recognized a pattern of behavior in recent Moda Center discussions, in which Brim-Edwards was involved in early closed-door meetings secretly called “Project Mt. Hood,” while being directly involved in board meetings regarding the deal. Now, Brim-Edwards is publicly criticizing current Chair Jessica Vega Pederson for a proposed deal that she was part of in the early stages.
“As former school board members, we recognized a pattern there, of privately lobbying against what the board had collectively decided,” DePass said.
Brim-Edwards defended her work in a statement Tuesday.
“My record on the PPS Board for 12 years speaks for itself: better learning outcomes, additional funding for teachers and classroom time, extra assistance for struggling students and equal access to sports facilities,” Brim-Edwards said in a statement. “I worked hand-in-hand with principals, teachers, nutrition workers, bus drivers, coaches, students, parents, and board members to make these meaningful improvements for our students – that will stand the test of time.”
Other former colleagues provided separate statements to the Mercury in defense of Brim-Edwards. Mike Rosen, a former PPS board member who served with Brim-Edwards, said he strongly disputes the letter’s point of view.
“When things were at their lowest points in PPS over the last three decades, Julia was there for us, working alongside parents and school staff to dig PPS out of the ditch, all the while working with others, and keeping focused on helping our kids,” Rosen wrote. “Ironically, nearly all of these current and former board members asked for Julia’s support and help when they ran for the board.”
Virginia La Forte, a PPS board director and mother of a PPS student, said Brim-Edwards has a “laser-like focus,” saying she “doesn’t waste time on political distractions” like today’s letter. La Forte and Brim-Edwards did not serve on the board at the same time.
“She asks smart, informed questions, and that’s exactly what voters expect from their elected leaders,” La Forte wrote. “Julia has a long history of effective collaboration with the community members who actually keep the schools running, and she’s developed extraordinary relationships with school families who need leaders to do what’s best for their children.”
State records show La Forte made a $250 contribution to the Brim-Edwards campaign for county chair in January.
But in their letter, critics asserted that Brim-Edwards was ineffective in her role as vice-chair of the school board for several reasons. They said her tenure was “marked by secrecy, unclear or delayed decision-making, and an inability to unify the Board around shared goals.” Despite Brim-Edwards’ ongoing criticisms of Vega Pederson, she deferred decisions in a way they believe was meant to avoid accountability.
“Time and again, Ms. Brim-Edwards aligned herself with the most politically expedient path, even when data and long-term student outcomes suggested a different course,” the letter reads.
DePass said while Brim-Edwards publicly criticizes the chair for ongoing challenges at the county, many of the criticisms levied against Vega Pederson are decisions made by the board as a whole—a board Brim-Edwards is also part of.
