CITY COMMISSIONER—and mayoral candidate—Sam Adams spent the first warm, sunny day of the year going door to door, asking for votes. “Ballots go out in three weeks and the election is May 20,” says Adams, chatting with a man holding a garage sale on N Rosa Parks Way last Saturday, April 12. “I’d be honored […]
politics
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Setting the Agenda
Oregon’s Democrats Make a Game Plan
THIS PAST WEEKEND, as Chelsea Clinton cavorted through Oregon to campaign on her mom’s behalf, Democrats from across the state gathered in the Eugene Hilton and quietly hammered out a legislative agenda for the next two years. Laboring over ideas and organizational strategy, nearly 300 state delegates attended the biennial platform convention. In small groups […]
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Hall Monitor
Drama Queens
If Mayor Tom Potter had a thumbtack and a bulletin board, this stage of the city’s budget process would be exactly like the high school drama department’s spring musical auditions—with hopeful city commissioners counting down the hours until Potter’s budget decisions are posted. Some of the commissioners’ proposals will make the cut, while others will […]
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What’s the Dif?
Democratic Senate Candidates Go Head to Head
IT WAS A BIG WEEK in one of the most contested political battles in Oregon. (No, not the Democratic presidential nominee race, which brought Hillary Clinton to town.) Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and political activist Steve Novick are vying for the chance to take on incumbent Senator Gordon Smith—a vulnerable Republican with a multi-million-dollar […]
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More Notes from the Rope Line
A Glimpse of Hillaryland
IT’S 8 AM on Saturday morning, April 5, and we’re headed toward Hillsboro. That’s right—8 am, Saturday, Hillsboro. I can’t believe it. My mind is overrun with thoughts and apprehensions about how this ill-conceived Hillary Clinton rally might stack up against Barack Obama’s rock-star blow-through at the Memorial Coliseum last month. But as we pull […]
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Hall Monitor
Dishonest Objections
“I’d rather invest that money in sidewalks, in safe ways to school, and in paving streets and reducing traffic congestion and improving traffic safety throughout the city,” Mayor Tom Potter said during last week’s city council meeting, following a heated discussion on whether or not to spend $5.5 million to move the retired Sauvie Island […]
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Selling Obama Door to Door
Obama Supporters Kick Off Oregon Campaign
IN A RAINBOW of rain gear, hundreds of Barack Obama supporters crammed into a vacant Wild Oats grocery store on SE Division Saturday morning, March 29, to get ready to pound the pavement for their favored presidential candidate. US Representative Earl Blumenauer—in a T-shirt instead of his trademark bowtie—riled up the crowd, there for the […]
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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
Erik Sten: 1991-2008
“Tenacious.” “Dedicated.” “A bulldog.” Those were the words floating around city hall last week, as people passed out tissues and remembered their dearly departed colleague, City Commissioner Erik Sten. “I met him when he was first a staffer in [Commissioner] Gretchen [Kafoury]’s office, and his hair was down to his shoulders and he looked like […]
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Sho Must Go On
Dozono “Re-Launches” Bid for Mayor
IT WAS OBVIOUS what mayoral can-didate Sho Dozono planned to tell the assembled gaggle of reporters. His campaign manager, daughter, wife, and volunteers were all smiles, bustling about Dozono’s downtown campaign office in the minutes before a scheduled Monday morning, March 24, press conference. Dozono had taken the weekend to decide whether or not to […]
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Notes from the Rope Line
Barack Obama Visits Portland
IT’S EARLY Friday morning, March 21. Long before presidential candidate Barack Obama appears on stage, the jammed Memorial Coliseum where he’s slated to speak is totally electric—buzzing on a high stronger than all the coffee in Portland could possibly provide. And thank god for it. I’ve had about two hours of sleep but the energy […]
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Garren up for a Fight
Ed Garren Scraps for Votes
ED GARREN may be, at most, the current third place candidate in his bid to replace outgoing City Commissioner Erik Sten. Sten’s publicly financed Chief of Staff Jim Middaugh and labor attorney Nick Fish, who beat Sam Adams in the 2004 primary, are the frontrunners. But despite the odds, Garren—a newcomer to Portland and a […]