JUST OVER A WEEK AGO, there were 28 people vying for a job at city hall. But the May 20 primary election dashed a lot of dreams, and left three men—Sam Adams, Randy Leonard, and Nick Fish—with secure employment for the next few years. What’s undecided is who will be taking the seat Adams vacates, […]
John Branam
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Fact Check
Scrutinizing the Candidates’ Junk Mail
If there’s one thing you can learn from this year’s truckload of campaign literature, it’s that candidates have a knack for saying a whole lot of nothing. In case you haven’t been to your mailbox lately, a landslide of fliers have been arriving at your home for the past week, as candidates try to grab […]
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Stop Payment
John Branam Ordered to Quit Paying Manager
After weeks of digging into city council candidate John Branam’s campaign finance records, Auditor Gary Blackmer determined that the $20,000 Branam paid Campaign Manager Phil Busse did not violate public financing rules that prohibit paying someone a wage that exceeds “fair market value.” But if Branam were to pay Busse another penny, it would be […]
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In Other Elections
A City Race Roundup
THE DOZENS of candidates vying for spots on Portland’s city council—as commissioners or the mayor—are doing more than sticking lawn signs all over your neighborhood. In Sam Adams and Sho Dozono’s case, both are furiously raising money in the weeks before they appear—along with 11 others—on the mayoral primary ballot. Since Dozono announced on March […]
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Hall Monitor
Payday
February 28 was Phil Busse‘s lucky day. That’s the day that the John Branam campaign for city council cut him a check for $15,000, for Busse’s work as campaign manager. (March 6 and March 14 were also good days for Busse, the Mercury‘s former managing editor. He picked up another $1,000 on each, and says […]
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Ready, Set, Run!
City Candidate Field Settles Down
The primary election is a little over two months away, and we finally have a sense of everyone who will be in the race. Tuesday evening, March 11, was the filing deadline for those wanting to be on the May 20 ballot. Candidates have until Friday afternoon, March 14, to withdraw from the race, and […]