Amy’s out of town this week, so it took me precisely 28 hours to decide to muscle in on her city-hall patch and get down there. Actually, I sort of had to go down there, because for all my big talk about “offending your sources,” it was sort of necessary to smoke the peace pipe with Commissioner Nick Fish, who was sworn in this morning. [Amy, if you’re reading in Minnesota, I promise my motivations were pure! I was joking about the muscling-in! I swear…]
Fish and I had a fairly frank exchange during the Mercury‘s endorsement interviews, about the downtown rent-a-cops. Now, however, he’s the city’s commissioner of public works, which means he’s going to be working on homeless and housing issues. And rent-a-cops or none, I’m going to want to be covering those…
So I thought I’d start things off on the right foot by asking Fish, who was sworn in this morning, about all the stuff on the walls in his office. MTV Cribs, except…with his office. Because it’s amazing what you can find out about a person from the stuff they choose to put up on their walls…and it turns out, you know, Nick Fish is pretty big potatoes.
FISH: First day in his office today…
On the wall behind him? That’s the gavel used to impeach Nixon, given to Fish’s father, 13-term U.S Rep Hamilton Fish Jr, by House Judiciary Committee chair Peter Rodino in the summer of 1974. THE GAVEL USED TO IMPEACH NIXON. That’s right. Fish’s dad served on the committee. Meanwhile I have a whiteboard on the wall of my office. More Nick-Fish-Naks after the jump.
“It’s a day of some anxiety, but it’s nice to get this done,” said Fish, when I asked him how it felt to be sitting in Erik Sten’s office at last. “It’s been a long haul, and that was the first time I’ve had an opportunity to speak in front of my new colleagues. They’ve made this transition very comfortable for me.”
“There’s a good vibe in this building at the moment,” he continued. “Two of the three races were decided decisively, and I think you could say I received a mandate to get on with the work.”
Next Nick-Fish-Nak, a cartoon by Oregonian cartoonist Jack Ohman, on the occasion of Rosa Parks’ death. She’s sitting at the front of the bus, and the driver’s saying “I think this is your stop.” Fish thinks it’s Ohman’s best cartoon. But then, he’s a civil rights lawyer. He would.
Fish’s mother was Canadian, and there’s a poster from the Baie St.Paul arts camp in Quebec, where his family would stop on the way to spend summers up there.
When Fish lived in New York, he won the Rudy Bruner Award in 1997 for a groundbreaking supportive housing project in Times Square. “At the time,” Fish said, “supportive housing projects were still very controversial. We broke the trend.”
A painting by Vancouver-based painter Fred Maurice. It’s of a building in the Pearl District. Recognize it? “His work was still affordable when we bought it,” Fish joked.
Congressman Barney Frank’s House Rules Manual, from when Fish used to work for him…
Fish’s great grandfather was the last Democratic mayor of Brooklyn. He got this unassuming donkey for his trouble…
Fish’s father was the principle house author of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the early 1990s. He got this award…
Fish’s grandfather, Hamilton Fish, was one of the stars of the Warren Beatty movie Reds. He knew Communist journalist John Reed and anarchist Emma Goldman. I’ve circled him faintly on the poster, towards the top right. “I think this film is one of the best things Warren Beatty ever did,” Fish said.
Fish’s daughter was baptized at St.Mark’s church in the Bowery. When Fish lived there he was president of the Landmark Fund that for ten years preserved the district for the arts. He was given this photo of the church reflected in a window.
And here’s a New York Times Magazine cover, showing Fish’s father in the line-up for Nixon’s impeachment. “It was an extraordinary collection of people,” Fish said. Just like Portland city council.
Cripes. Those are some pretty intimidating walls, Commissioner. Congratulations on your election. And remember: No pressure…but we expect you to do as much with Portland as your family has already done for this country. If not more.
On my walls I have a picture of YOU, Matt Davis, wiping the tears out of your eyes. Behind me, an autographed photo of actor George Gaines who played Cmd. Lassard in the Police Academy movie.
And I have a 12″ tall Benjamin Franklin action figure.
Nothing as cool as a gavel.
Email pictures of your office furniture!
mdavis@portlandmercury.com
Nick Fish is so sexy.
This is a great post.
Loved the post.
Amy–don’t worry–I saved the scoop for your return.
I nominate Randy Leonard for the next MTV Cribs/office edition.
Nick Fish
b-but nixon wasn’t impeached…
Do you have one of these for all that stuff in Adams’ office?
Yes, Nixon was impeached. He wasn’t *convicted* on account of his resignation. It’s a two-step process: House impeaches (i.e., makes an accusation by approving articles of impeachment) and then the question moves to the Senate, which votes whether to convict. The first step happened, the second did not, again, because Nixon’s resignation mooted the question. So, yes, Nixon was impeached. The word doesn’t mean what many people think it does.
Interesting that Mr. Fish has the very instument that allowed for the ‘slippery exit’ of Tricky Dick…
* a warning: don’t trust Slippery Nick *
Nick Fish’ father was a ‘Friend of the Nazis’… FOR REAL!
check him out on wikipedia, the stuff this guy said was DANGEROUS and insane… ex:
When accused of anti-Semitism, he responded, “It doesn’t bother me any. There’s been too much Jewism going around anyway.” ~Hamilton Fish III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Fish_III
#Fish.27s_alleged_Nazi_ties_and_.22isolationism.22
Nick Fish’ father was a ‘Friend of the Nazis’… FOR REAL!
check him out on wikipedia, the stuff this guy said was DANGEROUS and insane… ex:
When accused of anti-Semitism, he responded, “It doesn’t bother me any. There’s been too much Jewism going around anyway.” ~Hamilton Fish III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Fish_III
#Fish.27s_alleged_Nazi_ties_and_.22isolationism.22
excuse me, I meant GRANDfather.
Who does this remind you of??
…and a creepier sidenote, he is also a relative of the serial killer/paedophile/cannibal Albert Hamilton Fish aka The Brooklyn Vampire, the Gray Man or The Buttephant.
(Revolting stuff, careful when you read the disgusting details on wikipedia.)
No- worldwide pablo,
not quite.
you are right, Impeachment is a two step process wherein the House ‘Indicts’ the Senate ‘Convicts’
however-
Nixon was NOT Impeached, The House Judiciary Committee held public impeachment hearings and played the white house tapes, but Nixon resigned before he was officialy impeached by the House. It would have happend but it didn’t. The ONLY two presidents that have ACTUALLY been impeached are Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton- Though neither were convicted.
Serious.
Can you believe Bush is going to get off BETTER than Nixon? (write your congressman!)
My father voted in support of Articles of Impeachment. I think PR Walters is right re the timing issue.
Only a few Republicans on the committee joined with the Democrats. Their courageous actions, however, helped to legitimize the committee’s action.
To respond to “researcher”, my grandfather was neither a bigot nor a “friend” of the Nazis.
Like most Americans, he was an isolationist pre 1941. In later years, he was a staunch supporter of Israel.
He introduced anti-lynching legislation, supported the labor reform agenda and denounced the excesses of Wall Street.
He and I differed on many issues. We belonged to different political parties. But he was no hater.
Nick Fish
Blimey. I leave this post alone for three days and come back to THIS?!