GOOD NEWS! You got a ballot in the mail a couple of days ago and now you get to help decide something really important: Which politicians best deserve the chance to lead our city, region, and state to—we hope—a brighter, happier future?
It’s okay if you don’t know. That’s why we’re here. We’ve been checking out the candidates for months—doing research, thinking hard, and then, eventually, bringing them all in for face-to-face interviews. You’re worried you won’t make the right choices? Relax! We’ll make them for you!
All you have to do is read our handy endorsement guide, mark the names we tell you to, and then make sure it gets to the county elections office by 8 pm Tuesday, May 15. As you’re doing that, here are some other things you need to know: First, you’ll notice we’re not wasting our time with little-watched judicial contests or any race that solely involves Republicans. And second, perhaps most importantly: Don’t worry! There are no monsters here, and even if you pick wrong, how bad can it be? We get to do this all again in four years.
CITY OF PORTLAND
Mayor: Charlie Hales (nonpartisan)
After months of watching this mayoral race—Portland’s most competitive in 20 years—and after hoping and praying that one of the 23 candidates would see fit to sweep us off our feet, we’re disappointed to report the following: Our political loins are about as cold as they were in 2004 when cranky grandpa Tom Potter was trying to convince us (and himself) that it would be a good idea to put him in charge.
And that’s a shame. Because if ever this town needed someone electrically compelling—what with an ever-shrinking city budget, crumbling roads, unparalleled inequity, rising tensions over police accountability, a slow-growing economy, and new seasons of an annoying cable show that lampoons us—that time is, uh, now. But no.
Businesswoman Eileen Brady has stayed in the conversation this long largely because of an overwhelming pile of campaign cash (which she’s hemorrhaged at an equally astounding rate, arguably with little return). Some of her best ideas are buzzwords or programs our current mayor, Sam Adams, is already working on. And while she’s expended much energy to align herself with Green Party and Occupy-affiliated voters—cozying up to fellow candidate Cameron Whitten, an activist and Occupy Portland organizer with more moxie and charisma than almost anyone else in the race—she’s also the choice of the Portland Business Alliance. And the PBA is an outfit that demands a return on its investment. (Also—ugh!—Potter endorsed her.)
East Portland State Representative Jefferson Smith is progressive, quirky, and refreshingly blunt. He dropped an NWA reference in our interview and even tossed off the word “shitty.” It feels like we really ought to be behind him. But his personal style, his propensity for jawboning, surliness, and dismissive attitude left our editorial board surprisingly and undeniably cool. We’re also concerned—despite Smith’s anti-labor stand against the wasteful Columbia River Crossing bridge—that there’s still a reason that most major public employee unions (especially the Portland Police Association) have lined up on his side.
And then there’s Charlie Hales. Sure, he’s the only candidate who’s ever served on city council. But that was a decade ago. And he bailed on the gig in the middle of his third term to go work for the same industry—streetcars—whose cause he’d spent championing while in office. He says he’d get gruff with the police union, but he whiffed on knowing the name Keaton Otis, a mentally ill man killed in one of the city’s more recent, and controversial, police shootings.
And while Hales says he prizes things like preserving Portland’s social safety net programs over other city priorities, real estate agents and developers fund him—the same people who drive gentrification and don’t like paying fees for things like social services and cops and parks.
Given those choices, we were sorely tempted to pick none of the above. Whitten genuinely impressed us. He’s not afraid to tilt with the bigger-name candidates. (Unlike the city’s other alt-weekly and its presumptive daily paper of record, we actually interviewed some other candidates besides the Big Three.) And, at one public forum this spring, he laudably forced them all to do something human: dance. We also considered, as a lark, a write-in endorsement for Adams, who’s been a far more important and successful mayor than most people give him credit for.
Of course, Adams isn’t running. And Whitten, while funny and smart and passionate, isn’t quite ready to run city hall—as either a political boss or technocratic manager. The same thing goes for the other earnest candidates we invited: Bill Dant, college student Max Brumm, and Scott Fernandez. (But wouldn’t it be fun to see someone like Whitten in a debate against Dan Saltzman in 2014?)
So we’re back to the obvious choices. And of the three, Hales squeaked by as the candidate we could best imagine spending the next four years with. Hales is reasonable. He didn’t rub us the wrong way, and knows how to work well with others. We also found ourselves liking some of what he had to say—and believing he’d be the most likely candidate to deliver on it.
We think he means it when he says he’ll stand up to the police union—his record with the fire bureau when he last served on council, pushing it into hiring more minorities and women, means something. He’s the only mayoral candidate in arms over the fact that just 34 percent of our cops actually live Portland (proving he reads the Mercury, since we were the first and only paper, in 2010, to affix a dismal number on what had long been an anecdotal phenomenon).
He’s even come out and clearly stated—referring to the firing of Ron Frashour, the cop who shot and killed Aaron Campbell in 2010—that “failure to follow directions is not a criteria for shooting to kill…. That will not be an easy conversation.”
Hales also comes across as flexible, the candidate most likely to listen. He does that even with his own opponents. We think that trait, along with his success passing a parks bond the last time he was in council, could help him team effectively with Housing Commissioner Nick Fish to develop some kind of housing and mental health levy that would finally provide sustainable funding for those needs. And in the meantime, he says he’d rethink our decades-long commitments to urban renewal districts that starve the city and county and schools of tax dollars.
He brought specific ideas for funding transportation at a time when revenue from the gas tax, amid historically weak demand, is plummeting. Among them? A new tax based on miles traveled, not gas guzzled. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that Hales has suggested painting police riot gear pink.
If he does just that—even if he lets fat-cat developers run all over Portland, even if he stops building bike lanes on major thoroughfares so he can repave little-used side streets, even if he moves back to Washington State in two years to get out of paying taxes—it’ll be worth it. Vote Hales now and then let’s wait and see how we all feel in November.
City Commissioner, Position 1: Amanda Fritz (nonpartisan)
Here’s the choice in the only city council race featuring an incumbent: Should we keep Amanda Fritz, a citizen politician and devoted tax-dollars watchdog, whose independence and quirkiness and zeal for process has sometimes left her on the outside of consequential city hall decisions?
Or should we dump her for Mary Nolan, a sharp-elbowed former Oregon House majority leader who boasts city bureau and private-sector experience—but who’s also run a negative, whatever-it-takes campaign and has big support from all the city unions who don’t much like that they haven’t been able to co-opt Fritz after all these years?
We’re going with Fritz.
She’s the more careful candidate on issues like whether to invest in the Oregon Sustainability Center—a shiny, multimillion-dollar present for green economy zealots that could sink an already-strapped city budget even further in the red.
“It’s nice, but we can’t afford it right now,” Fritz said during our endorsement interview, perfectly illustrating her worldview.
Fritz helped kill an unnecessary water filtration plant, saving Portland hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been paid through sky-high water rates. She asks annoying, yet valuable, questions during city council meetings, emerging as Randy Leonard’s best frenemy. And she’s been a champion for publicly financed elections, riding the now-defunct system into office in 2008. This time, she’s accepting no more than $50 per contributor—even as Nolan has collected thousands from the unions she’ll have to negotiate against. (But let’s not forget that Fritz has had to spend, as of mid-April, $82,000 of her own money to stay in the race.)
Not that Fritz is perfect. Even with a light portfolio of bureaus, she’s stumbled.
She did a poor job fighting back when the police union—which had ulterior motives, fearing potential discipline because of GPS tracking—unfairly rapped her over the rollout of the city’s new 911 system. She needed Adams’ help last year to rescue an aimless plan for the new Office of Equity and Human Rights, only recently hiring a nationally prominent director for the new office. She can get too involved in crusades like keeping well-managed food carts from serving beer and wine.
Further, we wish she’d step up and take bolder stances on police accountability, given her history as a psychiatric nurse and the fact that she’s already no friend of the police union.
Nolan’s best argument for firing Fritz is that she’d wield more influence, drawing on her time running two city bureaus and also her own business. We’re not certain about that. Nolan is reliably progressive, but she’s inescapably a politician. There’s a reason she’s no longer a leader in Salem: She earned a reputation as someone who puts her own aspirations above anything else—voting no on a divisive 2009 transportation bill after cajoling most other Democrats to say yes. She also loses a lot of luster for the nasty campaign she’s run—spending more time nitpicking Fritz’s record than actually selling voters on why she’d be any better.
Fritz has more sway than the public might realize—it’s just that, sometimes to her own detriment, it manifests behind the scenes. She’s also spent the past four years improving at the city hall game. Tellingly, two of her colleagues, Saltzman and (more importantly) Nick Fish, also value her voice on the council. She should stay.
We’d also encourage another candidate in the race, Teressa Raiford, to stay involved at city hall. Raiford, an African American activist whose family has been personally touched by the pain of gang violence, spoke unflinchingly to both Fritz and Nolan about the realities of inequity in Portland. The city needs more voices like hers. And as for Nolan, if she can stand waiting two more years, we think she’d also make a good opponent for Saltzman.
City Commissioner, Position 4: Steve Novick (nonpartisan)
No, Steve Novick probably doesn’t need our endorsement, or any other, to help himself onto Portland City Council.
The guy who’s held the seat for the past 10 years, retiring Commissioner Randy Leonard, has already anointed him. Portlanders preferred Novick over Jeff Merkley in their 2008 primary race for the right to take down former US Senator Gordon Smith, and many still remember him fondly. And Novick has raised vastly more money than the less-experienced and lesser-known candidates who’ve thrown in against him.
But more important than any of that? He’s flogging a pair of brilliantly compelling reform proposals that deserve to be taken for a test run at Portland City Hall and in the Capitol—and he’s got the right friends in high places (like Governor John Kitzhaber) to make it happen.
The first is a plan that would tackle the region’s tangle of public safety and mental health budgets and then, presumably, untangle them. Novick says Salem should give local governments like Portland and Multnomah County a set chunk of cash for public safety and let everyone get together to prioritize how much should be spent on front-end treatment (which is cheaper) and how much should be spent on jail beds and prison stays (which are ridiculously expensive).
Novick’s other plan would see Portland, which already runs its own health insurance program, invest in its special health clinics and health coaches for high-cost workers—a way, eventually, to keep costs down. He’d even let private companies buy in.
Beyond those big ideas, Novick is likely to emerge as the council’s leading voice on police accountability matters. He’s one of the only candidates in any of the races to wonder why our city’s Independent Police Review office doesn’t do more of its own “independent” misconduct investigations. He’s also willing to talk about scary ways to raise transportation funding: street-paving fees that vary by neighborhood and variable-price parking meters.
It would’ve been better if a well-funded rival had taken on Novick—forcing him to sharpen his pitch to voters. But two opponents do deserve special mention. Jeri Williams, a sex-trafficking survivor and a person of color from East Portland, brought real power to our discussion of issues like cop accountability and equity. And Mark White, a Powellhurst neighborhood activist and the former co-chair of the city’s defunct Charter Review Commission, effectively, naturally, highlighted the need for real charter reform in Portland.
Measures 26-126 through 26-134: Vote yes on all
Which gets us to this chunk of the ballot, exclusively dealing with Portland’s charter, a document akin to the city’s constitution. City commissioners hamstrung Mark White’s charter commission when it tried to tackle complex issues like utility rate oversight and police accountability. But the commission managed to bury something significant in this list of “housekeeping” charter changes (most of which will clean up outmoded language like “the exhibition of deformed or crippled persons”): a measure that would give some power to the next commission, whenever it’s convened. If voters say yes, those commissioners would be guaranteed two-year terms and be given the explicit right to serve more than one term. The recent commission had to beg and plead for the nine-month terms they served amid increasing frustration.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY
County Commissioner, District 1: Deborah Kafoury (nonpartisan)
In just four years on the county commission, Deborah Kafoury has emerged as a reliably staunch advocate on issues of housing and health. She thinks big (partnering with City Commissioner Nick Fish to help streamline and update the region’s needlessly redundant social services system) and small (no elected official in the region has done more to erase the stigma surrounding the quiet scourge of bedbugs). Moreover, she’s managed all that—and fought to hold the line on safety net services—at a time of shrinking county resources. Kafoury clearly deserves to continue her work, and even expand on it. She’s shown she can work across jurisdictions—beyond working with Fish, she helped close the deal for the new Sellwood Bridge. And now, for her next act, we hope she’ll persuade the Oregon Legislature to stand up to the tobacco lobby and give the county the green light to raise much-needed cash through a tobacco tax. Her opponent, Wes Soderback, couldn’t make our interview.
County Commissioner, District 3: Judy Shiprack (nonpartisan)
It’s a good thing Judy Shiprack isn’t terrible at her job. In fact, the one-term commissioner came off as impressively capable when it came to discussing the needs of her district—a densely populated chunk of long-neglected outer Southeast Portland—and the county’s role in improving its quality of life. Let us also mention her most conspicuous achievement: the transformation of an old Carnegie library into a community center. Shiprack, a former state legislator and prosecutor, has drawn just one semi-serious opponent: activist, mom, and psychic medium Patty Burkett. Burkett was relentlessly focused on criticizing public housing agency Home Forward. Hopefully she’s already sensed that, while we respect her energy and her passion for politics, we’re not going to give her the nod.
Ballot Measure 26-125: Yes!
No-brainer doesn’t begin to describe this ballot measure. Saying yes extends our current library tax levy for three more years. It won’t raise your taxes. And saying no would be stupid and disastrous. Which is why no group or opposition campaign has come forward to urge anyone to do that. Come fall, we might be asked to do something more dramatic: approve a special library taxing district that will actually cost us money and lead to cutbacks for the county and city budgets. BUT THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS VOTE. So please SAY YES so our heavily used and award-winning libraries can stay open.
METRO COUNCIL
Councilor, District 5: Sam Chase (nonpartisan)
Metro remains the country’s only elected supra-regional government—guiding land-use and transportation policy, and tending graves and zoo animals, on behalf of 1.5 million people spread over three counties, including ours. But its seven-member governing council, led by former Hillsboro Mayor Tom Hughes, is somehow always dominated by politicians from the sticks.
That’s one reason why the two Metro Council districts that share Portland need the smartest and strongest candidates possible. In District 5, that’s Sam Chase, the current director of the Coalition of Community Health Clinics and a former chief of staff to City Commissioner Nick Fish. Chase opposes the current Columbia River Crossing. And he’s as good a housing advocate as Metro can get: He helped spearhead Portland’s policy of setting aside 30 percent of urban renewal cash for affordable housing.
Retired vice principal Helen Ying, Chase’s main opponent, is pleasant and says a lot of nice things about community outreach. But she’s too green for a job this wonky (and, troublingly, she also supports the current Columbia River Crossing plan). Brad Perkins, a real estate guy and neighborhood activist, rails (get it?) too much about the need for high-speed rail and would raise barriers to bicycling by proposing a license fee. This race could head to a runoff, but Chase deserves to win outright.
Councilor, District 6: Bob Stacey (nonpartisan)
Bob Stacey is another wonk who belongs in Portland’s bloc on Metro. We endorsed him two years ago when he ran against Tom Hughes for Metro president and nothing’s diminished our opinion of him, or his résumé, since then. (He’s led 1,000 Friends of Oregon, been a planning director in Portland, worked for TriMet, and twice served as Earl Blumenauer’s chief of staff, first in Portland City Hall and then in Congress.) Stacey remains a firm opponent of invading precious farmland on the fringes of our region just so we can build houses that are so far from jobs and services that no one will actually want to live there. He speaks articulately about the need for in-fill industrial development. And, like Steve Novick, he’s willing to talk about radical transportation funding ideas like a tax on vehicle miles and congestion tolling on highways and city streets. Stacey’s opponent, Portland State grad student Jonathan Levine, couldn’t attend our interview.
STATE OF OREGON
Attorney General: Ellen Rosenblum (D)
John Kroger, recently revealed as the next president of Reed College, handpicked his preferred successor at the Oregon Department of Justice a long time ago: Dwight Holton, the political scion and federal prosecutor who, for almost two years, stepped up to lead Oregon’s US attorney’s office.
In placing his imprimatur on Holton, Kroger could have done a lot worse. Holton is collaborative, can claim solid management experience, and has a clear judicial track record of taking on polluters and other reprehensible types. Nor is he a reactionary, having come up in the Clinton White House before taking work as a federal prosecutor first in New York and then, since 2004, in Oregon.
But as agreeable as we found Holton, we were just slightly more impressed by his only rival in the race, Ellen Rosenblum—a former appeals court judge and former state court judge who also, many years ago, spent some time as a federal prosecutor. She’s also smart and likeable and unquestionably progressive.
In truth, both Rosenblum and Holton would make worthy attorney generals—and whatever daylight there is between them is minimal and ought to be measured in something more akin to microns than inches. Neither will tolerate fraud, etc. And they both thunder about protecting seniors and consumers and homeowners, etc. Whoever wins the primary, because no Republicans have filed, will undoubtedly assume the office next year.
Two things tipped our choice—and neither had anything to do with Rosenblum having worked and lived in Oregon way longer than Holton. The first is Rosenblum’s more nuanced approach to medicinal marijuana. Rosenblum has said she’d prioritize other crimes over marijuana and has found herself (even if it’s all just been a grab for national marijuana lobby cash) in a position to foster enough trust in patients and providers to make meaningful changes in the legal gray area where shady dispensaries have begun to thrive.
Holton, backed by district attorneys and law enforcement officials from all across the state, will have a harder time doing that. He carries a lot of baggage stemming from his federal job, which made him play the role of the heavy, and he did himself no favors by inflaming the medicinal pot advocates by calling Oregon’s pot laws a “trainwreck.” In our interview, he insisted he supports the state’s pot law—but we worry all the same about how he’ll enforce and interpret it.
The second point for Rosenblum was her unbidden nod toward completing Kroger’s work on reforming public records law in Oregon. Kroger couldn’t manage to browbeat legislators into loosening the state’s shamefully expensive, opaque, and loophole-filled statutes; maybe she can. Of course, it came after both candidates disappointed us with weak stances on releasing public employee pension information—stances that seemed more designed to please backers in big labor than actual citizens.
Holton very nearly overcame all that by offering what’s likely the more robust platform on police accountability. He notes accurately that he helped push for the ongoing federal probe of the Portland Police Bureau’s use of force, he speaks clearly about the breakdown in trust between the cops and some community members, and he even has an endorsement from one prominent member of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, Dr. T. Allen Bethel. But his plan to look at whether his office could emerge as a state hub for deadly-police-force investigations, among other things, is more exploratory than solid. We question whether he could effectively stand up to skeptics among his law enforcement backers to make it happen.
We’re also just slightly dismayed by Holton’s relationship with the white-collar law firm that hired him after he left the US attorney’s office. Lane Powell represents and takes money from the kind of companies—Wells Fargo among them—that an attorney general ought to be rankling instead. Holton plays down the relationship, but also acknowledged using office space at Lane Powell to do campaign work. That’s a gift, but it hasn’t shown up yet in his state campaign finance records. Instead, his campaign says, Lane Powell will wait until after the campaign to submit invoices. Which is, conveniently, after voters who’d otherwise take umbrage at such an arrangement would’ve already cast their ballots.
State Representative, District 36: Sharon Meieran (D)
You could flip a coin to decide who ought to replace city council candidate Mary Nolan in one of Oregon’s most reliably Democratic legislative districts and you honestly wouldn’t go wrong.
In a close call, we’re pulling for Sharon Meieran, an emergency room doctor at Adventist Medical Center, over Jennifer Williamson, a well-connected lobbyist and attorney who’s also worked for the Oregon Department of Education. Meieran also boasts a law degree (plus the endorsement of another prominent doctor in Salem, Governor Kitzhaber) and is uniquely positioned to work on health care reform. Plus, sending her to Salem affirms the notion that qualified political outsiders deserve just as much a chance to serve as insiders do. But we won’t be troubled if voters decide otherwise. Williamson, who makes much of her experience as a first-in-her-family college student navigating the horrors of financial aid, will also be an effective advocate for good ol’-fashioned liberal issues and wouldn’t need any help learning her away around the Byzantine world of the Capitol. Computer programmer Benjamin Barber didn’t make our interview.
State Representative, District 47: Jessica Vega Pederson (D)
Here’s a somewhat easier call, this time to decide who should succeed mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith in this unpolished pocket of outer East Portland. We felt a little bit better picking Jessica Vega Pederson, a Microsoft executive with a family history steeped in politics, than we did Thuy Tran, an engaging optometrist and community volunteer. Pederson showed a slightly better grasp of issues like kicker reform (give it to the schools) and seemed to be a stronger advocate for sentencing reform and reducing prison spending. Tran, though she’d bring a perspective to Salem that’s lacking (she’s a former refugee and also a longtime business owner), was less bullish on the kicker and on sentencing changes—and a tad uncomfortably bullish on ideas like bicycle license fees, the pre-emption of real estate transfer taxes, and exploring a regressive sales tax.
State Representative, District 48: Jeff Reardon (D)
We’re for anybody but Mike Schaufler, the allegedly Democratic 10-year incumbent representing this district in eastern Multnomah County (and now, thanks to redistricting, parts of Southeast Portland). Schaufler wouldn’t return our calls or emails inviting him to meet, but we’re not troubled. He was famously punished by his caucus over accusations he groped a woman at a labor convention last year. He memorably bucked his colleagues by refusing to get behind the push for Measures 66 and 67. And then, just last month, he received a $3,000 campaign contribution from the anti-union Tea Party-backing Koch brothers. He returned it, sure, but only after he pissed off his few remaining supporters on the left. Jeff Reardon is a teacher who’s served time on the David Douglas School Board. We didn’t meet him, but we’ll hazard a guess that doing that work has grounded him in one of the most vexing issues facing the state: our lousy, under-funded schools.
“We’re also concerned—despite Smith’s anti-labor stand against the wasteful Columbia River Crossing bridge—that there’s still a reason that most major public employee unions (especially the Portland Police Association) have lined up on his side.”
I don’t quite get this statement. Is the Merc now against candidates that public employee unions back? In case you haven’t figured it out, not all unions are the same. The labor union that endorsed Brady for her pro-CRC stance likes it because they want the jobs from it, plain and simple. The public unions, on the other hand, know that Smith will work hard to _not_ waste money on boondoogles, but instead work to save core services, and thus public employee jobs.
As for “standing up to the police union” — sorry, but standing up that union is not going to work, and I’ll put $100 on that with you Merc folks if Hales gets elected and tries that approach, because I know it’s going to fail. Maybe he “reformed” the fire bureau, but affirmative action is a lot different than changing aggressive behavior in the police ranks. Maybe you felt that Smith didn’t listen to you, but his colleagues in Salem think he’s a good listener, and so does the police union.
“We also considered, as a lark, a write-in endorsement for Adams, who’s been a far more important and successful mayor than most people give him credit for”
In that one statement, the Merc demolished any endorsement cred it ever imagined it had. On the other hand, the only reasonable explanation they’d say that is to say something provocative.
Which I guess worked, since I’m commenting. Great job, Merc!
Damn those unions, if Mercury staff can’t have benefits and a living wage nobody should.
THE MERCURY SHOULD JUST HAVE SAID, “FUCK IT” AND ENDORSED FRANK CASTANO FOR MAYOR. THAT WOULD AT LEAST HAVE MORE INTEGRITY THAN THIS PANSY-ASSED WAFFLING ON THE DECISION.
Pathetic. You’re supposed to be the Mercury, you’re supposed to have some alternative chops, some indy cred and this is what you come up with? You’ve likely kept our shot at an independently financed, feet-on-the-street, candidate out of office and why? Because the unions support him? I think far more highly of Charlie Hales than you do. Go jump off that billlion dollar boondoogle.
“We’re also concerned—despite Smith’s anti-labor stand against the wasteful Columbia River Crossing bridge—that there’s still a reason that most major public employee unions (especially the Portland Police Association) have lined up on his side.”
And the Mercury endorsement for governor of Wisconsin is…
Paul Cone wrote: “In case you haven’t figured it out, not all unions are the same. The labor union that endorsed Brady for her pro-CRC stance likes it because they want the jobs from it, plain and simple. The public unions, on the other hand, know that Smith will work hard to _not_ waste money on boondoogles, but instead work to save core services, and thus public employee jobs.”
Sorry, Paul Cone. They’re the same by definition and purpose. It’s not like they have plenary membership meetings to endorse candidates, either. It’s the executive boards that are looking for an easier time negotiating. Do you know of any labor unions that have real endorsement meetings where the rank and file can participate directly? Did you know the major public employee unions have staunchly opposed campaign finance limits in this state in much worse than Citizens United — so that there are no hard limits, not just no soft limits. Hell, it was the unions that were the major backers of the Citizens United decision by filing briefs in support — on the record in favor of it. Measure 47 failed in only one county — Multnomah — center of all the public employee unions. All those Republican districts out East? They all voted heavily for campaign finance limits.
And guess what, the Republican Secretary of State candidate is also in favor of campaign finance limits. Guess who isn’t? The Democrat, bought and paid for with tens of thousands if not over a hundred thousand dollars in public employee union money.
I’m not in either of those parties. But this talk of Governor Walker and Citizens United people need to realize that party labels aren’t very useful anymore when it comes to talking about the problems of corruption in Oregon. The Dems are in power here, and they love it just as much as Republicans do when they get elected and oppose the same exact reforms they seem to support when they are the opposition party elsewhere. Party labels and unions as public interest champions — those mean nothing to me anymore. It used to mean something to me. I’d never take away rights to form a union, but facts are facts, their support for specific politicians isn’t a good thing.
As far as the endorsements, Fritz is a great choice compared to Nolan, another staunch opponent of democracy while in the legislature. I’ve had to run campaigns against her anti-democracy bills. Mark White is so much better than Novick, who also opposed campaign finance reform as a shill.
Hales — well, you know my opinion of hales if you do a web search. Here’s the link anyways: http://swoolley.org/blog.cgi/StatementRega…
I’m voting for Cameron Whitten and whoever isn’t Hales in the next round.
Seth Wooley, what the hell are you talking about? The primary function of a union is to protect its members jobs, and its leaders are elected by their members to do just that. If they don’t, they’re not reelected, just like public officials. You’re just reemphasizing my point about the Mercury not getting that.
1. I have watched members of public labor unions in this state work hard for campaign finance reform that works in the course of 5 years working on this issue in the state legislature.
2. I know that at the very least PAT has a very open process, with all sorts of members at the table, to make their endorsements. They endorsed Smith through that process.
3. Anyone who knows Jefferson knows that he is fiercely independent. I have never seen him make a move with special interests or his own interests at the forefront of his mind. I have seen him do just the opposite. I have also seen him work across the aisle in a way that is both smart and sometimes frustrating to his own party.
4. I am super bummed that *my* paper of record has chosen not to endorse the progressive (read: frugal, forward-thinking, independent) in this race. To say that pink riot gear will make up for allowing developers to run rampant makes it all worthwhile? Agh. Sometimes funny is just not that funny.
5. And I will leave at this. Get to know the candidates better. Attend more forums and debates. Spend a day with each of the candidates. I promise – you will, by November, find yourselves excited by one candidate. He is totally the Portland Mercury in this race – edgy, funny, self-depricating, interested above all in the public interest – and I heart you both.
The CRC. Is. Not. A. Bridge. Project. Repeat it with me: Five miles of highway expansion: roughly 50% of costs. Bridge: 25%. Light Rail 25%. Please, please, please get this right and stop helping this polluting boondoggle along by talking about it like it’s a bridge project.
Jefferson’s been a strong leader speaking out against this highway boondoggle for years. And for government transparency. And for on-line voter registration. And for energy efficiency. And for investing in our local small businesses instead of throwing ourselves like a hungry hussy at out-of-state corporations. I know the state legislature isn’t really your beat, but I’d encourage folks to look at Smith’s record.
Finally, if Jefferson was *so* convincingly connected to the Police Union, he would have had that endorsement months ago, when Smith could have used it in his Voters’ Pamphlet and all that. Fact is, he’s a friend of organized labor on most issues – which seems like a good thing to this progressive – while having had some clear disagreements with the Police.
Smooches.
“…progressive, quirky, and refreshingly blunt. He dropped an NWA reference in our interview and even tossed off the word “shitty.” It feels like we really ought to be behind him. But his personal style, his propensity for jawboning, surliness, and dismissive attitude left our editorial board surprisingly and undeniably cool.”
So, “refreshingly blunt” AND “surly”, do we have that right? Aware, knowledgeable (yeah, you got lots of NWA references in your “interviews”, right?), that damnable “jawboning” (who DOESN’T hate people running for office talking, right??), but let’s face it, the MOST damning point is that “personal style” killer. For the Merc, it’s, oh how should we put this? “too many notes for the royal ear”, isn’t it? Jefferson Smith, your acknowledged progressive, someone you’re instinctively attracted to (“ought” contains worlds, we’re certain…) and yet, and yet…too many notes. Too tall, too wonky, too many accomplishments, crammed into your tiny chairs, too strategic a thinker, too good a fit for the job, just not…Mercury enough. Too smart for his own good, right? The whole blunt/surly nexus gets all Merc mashed up with “personal style”, which really is the thing, isn’t it? His big ol’ self just left the editors all surprised and cool up in there. Man, it’s hard to be all perfect and whatnot, but thankfully, this laser-like endorsement “rundown” clears up all the doubts. Everyone else agree? We’re all Mercury Editors, now!
I don’t think I’ve ever loved a mercury comments thread as much as this one. Thank you, nearly all of you, for already posting exactly what I was thinking about these endorsements.
Boondoggle.
It’s disappointing that The Merc didn’t cover the judicial races — at least the contested supreme court position (#3).
Charlie Hales is a cancer on this city.
I agree with the majority of the comments here. WTF MERC?! Hales? That old tax dodger? Seriously? You make it sound like you chose him over Smith simply because Smith “rubbed you the wrong way” in an interview. How petty. Sorry he didn’t feel the need to wash your balls in speaking with you. Hales is our Sarah Palin…getting elected, then bailing on his duties to go make money. What kind of value system is that? What if he gets a big job offer while in the Mayor’s office? I cannot respect anyone who wants a voice in Oregon but refuses to pay to live here. He’s no better than the douchbags from the ‘Couv who pollute our Westside streets on the weekends.
I really expect better from you guys. You’re the Portland Fucking Mercury.
You – unlike all the other papers in town – had the luxury of publishing your endorsement AFTER we all learned that Charlie Hales has been repeating a glaring falsehood about his involvement in saving the public schools a decade ago. This misstatement starts to look like a pattern of deception when coupled with his tax and residency issues over the past ten years or so, voting in Oregon while avoiding Oregon income taxes by claiming tax residency in Washington State.
And you had before you a candidate you mostly agreed with, the only leading candidate who opposes the most cripplingly expensive potential mistake a future mayor could make, but you couldn’t endorse him because on interview day you weren’t feeling his “personal style?”
WTF is THAT about?
This is the kind of shit I expect from the Oregonian. What exactly are you trying to prove here?
Yeah, I’m voting for Jefferson Smith because (unlike either of the other major candidates) he is smart, well-informed, substantive, thoughtful, progressive, AND honest. And because he already busts his ass for the people of East Portland every single day, and I want all of Portland to benefit from that.
I want to live in whatever city the Portland Mercury Endorsement Board lives in, because it sure as hell isn’t Portland, Oregon.
SOMEBODY CALL THE WHAAMBULANCE FOR ALL THE COMMENTERS WHOSE CANDIDATES YOU DID NOT ENDORSE.
“Novick says Salem should give local governments like Portland and Multnomah County a set chunk of cash for public safety and let everyone get together to prioritize how much should be spent on front-end treatment (which is cheaper) and how much should be spent on jail beds and prison stays (which are ridiculously expensive).”
Yeah, that’ll happen. Salem LOVES giving away money from their own kick so other politicians can spend it.
About the only sensible part of the mayoral endorsement is dismissing Brady to start with, IMO. And if you really think a coddled developer class (which Hales shows far more fealty to than Smith does to unions) left to run amok won’t have a more deleterious effect on the city’s well being than giving good contracts to City workers (by no means a given), I’m not sure you’re paying attention in this town. Bad Merc, no biscotti!
Paul, first you say not all unions are the same, and now you say they are the same. I’ll leave it at that.
I can’t find any info on the PAT website about how they had an open process where the rank and file got to vote.
I looked at the endorsements list, it was incumbents every time, and in races where there was a legislator moving to city, they endorsed the legislator (an incumbent, too). When two candidates met the same criteria, they did a co-endorsement. Why do they bother having a meeting to vote if it follows a formula? Greg Walden, even?
Endorse the incumbent, hope you get your back scratched. Boring and useless.
@OREGOMETRY: I SORT OF AGREE WITH YOUR WAAAHMBULANCE OPINION… BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, THEIR DECISION AS WRITTEN IS STUPID AS FUCKING INBRED TURKEYS. I PERSONALLY EXPECTED A STRONGER EDITORIAL DECISION. IF NONE OF THE 23 DIFFERENT CANDIDATES IMPRESSED THEM, THEY SHOULD HAVE CALLED FOR A WRITE-IN OR A LEAVE BLANK CAMPAIGN… INSTEAD WE GOT…. WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS WAS. WHOEVER ON THE STAFF LED THIS ENDORSEMENT PROCESS SHOULD HAVE THEIR PAY DOCKED.
Great endorsements, Merc. You’re actually paying attention in this race.
The Police Union is neck-to-neck with the Water Bureau in the race for most corrupt organization in this city, and the biggest threat to our city and our freedom. They have a long, long history of being the ruling body in this city- read “Portland Confidential” or any scholastic history of the city, and you’ll see the pattern that continues unabated in the 21st century. Jefferson Smith had a chance to make a great statement here, and secure the race, by rejecting the bureau’s endorsement and making it clear that he will not play their games as mayor. Unfortunately, he’s shown his true colors by accepting their endorsement- he’s just another Xerox-copy Democrat in a city that needs someone more progressive and aggressive than the Oregon Democratic Party. He’s only running as a stepping stone to something else.
Sorry Jeff, you’re about to fall in the river, and your police union buddies won’t bail you out.
Hales doesn’t impress anyone, but he shook my hand and looked me in the eye when I talked to him, and that’s more than I can say for either Brady or Smith. I think he’ll listen to Portlanders and I don’t think he has his own agenda to push through in office.
Too bad Tres Shannon isn’t running again. That’s who we need as mayor to make this city the paradise it can be.
Based on your description Mikey, I have a very hard time believing you talked to or met Jefferson Smith at all. Smith kowtows to nobody except his wife and his dog, and has made a point of disagreeing with certain special interests to their faces in this race. Smith has the best experience with budgets in general, and is the only one making the protection of the general fund from boondoggles (like the CRC Hales’s developer friends want him to build and which he promised he would) his highest priority.
Mikey, unless you’ve dropped your support for Chris Rich, then like the Merc, you’re a “none of the above” guy. One thing impresses me about both your soft endorsement of Hales and that of Team Mercury. Your reasons for not supporting Jefferson Smith for Mayor don’t sway me.
Among the Mercury staff, some were turned off by Jefferson’s personality. I think the big guy can be overbearing too. Grizzly at times… You say you lost confidence with Jeff because he didn’t take your advice and reject the police union endorsement. Boo hoo.
Sorry Merc – I won’t vote for someone who stepped down from office for reasons of “business opportunity”. Once a quitter always a quitter.
I support the Merc Ed board’s decision on Jefferson Smith, even though I held my nose and voted for him over Hales.
From all I’ve read about the guy, he seems like someone who’s far more interested in being seen as someone who gets things done, rather than actually being the candidate who has the interest, stamina and political abilities it takes to actually get things done.
The Mercury is considered a thought leader for 18-30 year olds in Portland.
That is why I am completely mystified you endorsed Charlie Hales for mayor, as did the Willamette Week, which reaches a much older audience.
I have known Jefferson Smith for at least 8 years. I agree he is the opposite of Brady in personal warmth, which seems to be the core of your concern.
Smith’s Bus Project has placed people in their 20’s in positions of power to create new and change old policy. That includes congressional, state, city and non-profit staffers.
Smith is a management geek and is the most fiscally conservative of the lot.
He is the most honest in his positions, he does not promise what he thinks the audience wants to hear.
Smith is the smartest of the bunch and has consistently attracted smart, creative people to his projects.
Mercury readers are hungry for an honest candidate, a different kind of public servant, and a leader.
Of the candidates, Smith stands far above the rest.
Colin, I have the same impression as you.
Smith supporters, can you defend your candidate’s acceptance of the police union endorsement? It’d be much more interesting to hear about policy than to read your constant personal attacks and criticism of the people who don’t agree with you.
“Smith … is the most fiscally conservative of the lot.”
That’s like saying Charles Manson is the sanest person in his cell block. It might be true, but it don’t mean much considering the competition.
Jeffy’s supporters do seem to be the most … aggressive in their defense. I’m not sure it’s having the impact they’d like.
Mikey, you can read Smith’s own defense in a lengthy response to the Merc. Look under the Hall Monitor column.
I am not bitter the Merc didn’t pick my candidate, I am just surprised at the lack of quality this endorsement represents. Further, the largest project any of these folks are going to have their hands on is the CRC. So on that grounds alone I had to vote for Smith.
WTF, I head to Seattle for a couple of days and you guys endorse Hales? No, it can’t be true…this Amtrak Wifi must be defective.
Thank you for noting that not only is Mary Nolan a seasoned politician–part of the state’s powerful Democratic machine–but she is also a bully. Never have I seen a race where the well-funded challenger has taken such a negative approach to unseating her rival. Poor form, Mary Nolan, poor form.
Mikey: you suggest that rejecting an endorsement from a union that represents employees that you might someday manage is a good idea? It may be politically popular to hate the PPA right now, but our future Mayor will have to work with them.
Nothing on the Secretary of State? There is a choice there; who is the lesser evil?
Yea I stopped reading after the Mayor bit. That was poorly researched, poorly argued, and poorly written. Fucking bush league, guys.
Michael, I reject your whole premise. “Can you defend your candidate’s acceptance of the police union endorsement?”
It’s a bullshit question, like “Have you stopped beating your wife lately?”
I frankly didn’t expect Jefferson Smith to be backed by the police union. Of the 3 media spotlighted candidates, Hales and Brady are the ones who would have had the police sweep the parks of protesters early on. Smith is on record as having the back of OccupyPDX. Should grass roots win over Brady’s millionaire Miracle-Gro campaign, we’ll have elected the one candidate who will be able to lead the police bureau, as opposed to fighting it. That doesn’t sound like a sound reason to withdraw your support. But like I noted before, you’re not much of a fan of any of the 3 leading candidates.
Vote for Cameron.
“Sending (Meireran) to Salem affirms the notion that qualified political outsiders deserve just as much a chance to serve as insiders do.”
You use this rationale to endorse the health insurance industry-backed candidate over single-payer champion Williamson, but then you endorse Charlie Hales?
I’m baffled.
The police union is actively defending murderers on the city payroll. Jefferson accepted their endorsement. That does not put Jefferson in a strong position to reduce police violence and keep police from shooting unarmed citizens in the back.
The police union supports the excessive use of force to suppress protests. Witness 2 cops for every protester on May Day. Most of those cops were getting paid overtime, which pleases the union and takes budgeted funds away from other city priorities. Jefferson is not demonstrating a commitment to reining in excessive overtime by accepting the endorsement of the police union.
The next mayor should not be coddling the police union. The police union is not a friend to the budget or to the citizens of the city of Portland. Accepting the union’s endorsement sends a very poor message about Jefferson’s priorities as mayor.
I had no idea Tre Arrow is a candidate for mayor until i saw his name on the ballot. Perhaps folks ought to consider him?
“Accepting the endorsement of the police union” has ZERO significance with regard to “coddling” the police or anything else. If you have some evidence that a quid pro quo of some kind was involved, then please share it. Otherwise, you’re just talking out of your ass.
Look, I hate the way the police have been shooting unarmed people too. Do you think Smith doesn’t? Yes, he got the police union’s endorsement. But in the absence of a quid pro quo, it means simply that this union believes that this candidate will be a better Mayor.
Maybe it’s because he won’t waste buckets of money on the Sustainability Center and other expensive projects. Maybe it’s for other reasons. But it’s more than a little naive to think that the only possible reason they endorsed him would be that they expect his support when they do something wrong.
Dear Mercury:
The community center that’s Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack’s most conspicuous achievement? It doesn’t exist. Hopefully will someday. Don’t if you ever get out this way, but maybe you ought to visit us in SE Portland sometime.
Due diligence comes to mind in reporting of any kind. Don’t cha think? I knew your endorsement was not going to be proffered in my direction specifically because you either have no interest in investigating the debacle that is HomeForward and the “stealth” that continues to this very day or you’re associated with one or more of the “SlumLords”. So, no big deal right? The tax payers are just fine with being ripped off as usual, correct? And, I spoke of the magnitude of problems relative to the mental health programs; of which you also chose to ignore; the safety and accountability issues affecting senior citizens; and the fact that the police are expected to handle the insurmountable increase in mental health breakdowns without proper training of any real significance. As well as the ongoing $$$ smack on property tax payers for obfuscated spending @ every level of government; not just the county. These problems within the purview of the county commissioners are real and in my view should not be debased or ignored for foolish copy. As to my powers of the esoteric? Stay tuned. You just might be surprised @ your own prognostications! Reform begins with me! http://www.votepatty2012.com See you in the funny papers, as ya’ll say! Adieu! Patty Burkett
Oh, by the way…
@the point of the endorsement interview departure, I also stated that I am proud to be a responsible medical cannabis card holder and enthusiastically endorse the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012. I mean after all, ladies & gents…what ‘s up with diminishing a sense of accountability? Especially from one who is seeking; what is declared in the Multnomah County Candidates Guide as a “lucrative” position? Friends of Judy; in these political positions like to make fun of me stating the obvious…c’est la vie! After all, what happened to the “get $$$ out of politics? Tangled in the web. See ya later, Best to one and u, Patty
@ DamosA, I see the compelling argument you’ve made there for the Arrow candidacy.
*wipes away tear *
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 suspect that most people reading this article already made up their mind about the mayor’s race. Why make an endorsements for the judicial races instead?
It seems the move west of the river has changed you, Merkleyree.
@DamosA…no. Be serious.@Graham….wait, they get paid? What! @R, considered by whom exactly? I highly doubt that Unless we are talking about a few subsets in which case, most people don’t care
What the hell kind of line up is this? Babes-in-diapers, plutocrat whores and politcorp fascist pigs dancing on stage. These bitches are gonna make Sammy look like a study in competence.
Someone call the police, clearly the staff of the Mercury has been kidnapped and either tossed in the Willamette (river or paper) or chopped up into little pieces. What the hell? How else could anyone explain those endorsements?
We need a runoff that includes Jefferson Smith. Six months of Eileen Brady and Charlie Hales would rob the city of the great debate that, in large part, Jefferson has led. If you’re at all on the fence, vote Jefferson into the runoff – just watch his Ted Talk and Portland Will videos to see what I mean. You cannot deny that when we have Jefferson in the debates, we have more thought-provoking discussions at those events (and at the bar afterward). We are all tired of the “business candidate” against the “insider candidate”. Here are the four main reasons I’m voting for Jefferson at this stage and you should too:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/35316112/Vote%20Jefferson%20Smith%20into%20the%20Runoff.pdf
I lost faith in Mercury political endorsements during the era of Amy J. Ruiz’ constant trolling for a job in the upcoming Adams’ administration on the editorial page.
OMG. When I read the Merc endorsed Hales, I thought it was a freaking joke of some kind, a misprint, a funny page, something….REALLY? Whoever is driving the Merc bus needs to pull over and get some sleep. Better yet, WAKE THE F UP!
This was a no win situation on the mayor thing. There is no win there. Progressive minded people WANT to believe Mr. Smith will go to City Hall do good. But we don’t believe him. He is to Portland progressives as Mitt Romney is conservatives. You really want to believe him, but something about him makes you want to run the other way. Trust your gut.
Cameron Whitten got my vote! Only honest fella running in this here election. The rest can just fuck right off.
I’m glad to see the endorsement of the library district measure. Yes, our libraries are award winning, have one of the highest circulation rates in the country, and support so many of our community members with more than just books. Libraries are hubs for equitable resource access in a world with an ever growing digital divide. Our libraries give us books, yes, but they also give us a warm place to take our kids on a rainy day, homework help for teenagers struggling with assignments, workshops on how to find a job in this difficult economy, help with taxes, resources for making our homes more sustainable, and more. Well worth supporting in a more stable way!