From a reader:

Thanks for the story on Potter and racial profiling. Potter stinks! I used to actually believe his hippy lala shit about listening to the people, but if he tries to assemble one more task force instead of actually doing something about institutional racism and police brutality, than I think we should recall his namby pamby ass.

We told you so, back when we didn’t endorse Potter for mayor:

The elusive candidate:

Unlike Francesconi’s past eight years in public office—which have been checkered—Potter has put forward few specific ideas that anyone can critique or use to forecast what he’d do as mayor. He’s repeated he will “listen to the people”—but when pressured for specifics, Potter has proven frustratingly elusive.

For example, if elected, Potter plans on immediately gathering and overhauling all the city bureaus—from Planning and Police to Finance and Fire. Certainly some bureaus—like Water—are in trouble and need evaluation. But others like the Planning, Fire, and Parks Bureaus have strong records and important projects in play. City hall insiders say they’re concerned those projects will come to a screeching halt if Potter pulls these extensive, and largely unnecessary, overhauls.

“The purpose for the [bureau] collection is that when we make changes, we make changes across the board,” Potter said at the Mercury’s endorsement interview. However, he could only make superficial explanations about improving “service orientation” and management structures. When asked what bureau might provide a blueprint for some of the changes he would like to see, Potter could not tell us a single one.

Potter also says he plans to spend at least half his time outside city hall. After 12 years with an elusive, aloof mayor, it’s a nice idea—but who’s holding down the fort? Potter doesn’t have a good answer for that, either. He says he’ll appoint a talented chief of staff, but was unable to provide names or even what sort of qualities this person should have.

The few specifics Potter provided, he managed to abandon or back away from. At the Mercury’s “You Promised!” arts and culture forum, Potter was asked to provide five specific pledges for programs he would try to accomplish during his first year. (At all three “You Promised!” forums, exit polling placed Potter as the least convincing and qualified candidate among undecided voters.) For example, Potter promised to encourage better direct support for the arts. But at the City Club debate two months later, Potter shied away when challenged by Francesconi, saying those funding sources weren’t set in stone, rather just ideas.

“There was nothing saying I would do that,” Potter recently informed us.

Likewise, in July, Potter pledged support for two capital projects—helping PSU build a new performing arts center and transform the dilapidated Centennial Mills structure along the northwest bank of the Willamette. But now, in October, Potter admits he’s done nothing to advance those projects and doesn’t even know where they stand.

For the past 14 months, Potter claims he’s been listening to the people, so why has he ignored repeated requests to be more specific?

At a time when the city needs to take action on economic development, police reform, and social issues, the city needs a mayor who can get the ball rolling. Moreover, given the structure of city council—where the mayor’s vote is balanced by four others—Francesconi’s bullheaded decisions will be brought under control.

Frankly, right now the city needs to hold its nose and take its medicine. Four years of platitudes about “listening to the people” is not what the city needs. With Potter in office, we may initially feel good about his dreamy non-specific ideology—but six months down the road? We could be in for a very rude awakening.

Indeed.