“I believe that an enactment of a major new fee requires unanimous support,” Commissioner Sam Adams just said, alluding to the fact that he’d lost the Mayor’s support for enacting the street fee directly. “The corrosive influence of special interest lobbyists have taken their toll on this issue. I still have four votes, but I no longer have unanimous support. I propose that the Portland City Council send to this to the November ballot.”

Randy Leonard is now reading from the Federalist Papers, about how we’re a republic and that the initiative and referral systems “according to our founding fathers are perversions of our form of government” that have “a direct impact” on the ails of our state, like school funding and crumbling infrastructure.

“The passions of the minority” bring issues like gas taxes to the voters, where gobs of money defeat proposals that could help fund fixes to the Sellwood Bridge. “When you allow passions to marginalize the interests of the whole,” you lose things like health care for children, Leonard argues.

Leonard’s now taking aim at Potter: “The people that you unfortunately find yourself aligning with today are the same people that hate the day laborer center, they hate the homeless access center, they hate immigration rights, they think that anyone who wasn’t born here should be run out of this country on a rail, they hate your position on Del Monte. And if you think this is a good idea to refer this to the voters, how could you ideologically not refer the day laborer center to the voters.”

“I’m prepared to vote and fund a day laborer center as I’m prepared to vote and make a decision here today to fund our roads,” Leonard says. Sending the measure to the ballot means it will “be subjected to 10s of millions of out of state dollars from oil companies that have no interest in the safety or welfare of Portlanders, but only have an interest in their bottom line.

“Stick with what the founding fathers say we ought to do, and make decisions. Then let the voters decide if they like your decision,” Leonard says. He’ll support Adams in sending the measures back to his office (the first step before bringing it back as a ballot measure), but “as you can see, I’m not happy about it.”

“This is not one of the highest and brightest days since I’ve been on the city council,” he finishes. I’m with Leonard on this one.