Blogtown, PDX

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Politics When City Commissioners Attack!

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on Wed, Mar 12 at 5:21 PM

If the blogging below weren’t enough, you can listen to the entire council debate on special election public financing (say that five times fast) by clicking here. It’s long—nearly 40 minutes—but I swear it’s interesting.

If you want just the back-and-forth between Commissioners Randy Leonard and Erik Sten (who both laughed when Sam Adams referred to their fight later in the day, so it doesn’t seem like there are any hard feelings), then click here.

It gets good at about 2:20, with accusations of whose responsibility it was to scrutinize this ordinance. Leonard’s demands to “let me finish” kick in around the 4:30 mark. “You shouldn’t be able to buy an election,” also Leonard, is at 10:30. Sten’s “common sense parlance” dig about the ordinance title is just before 11:00. “This is all about what you thought in your mind,” Sten says at 12:15, when he’s asking Leonard to tell him what he thought he was voting on. (Sorry the audio isn’t great. Confidential to Sten: Talk into your mic!)

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Comments

The day's best line came from Sten, frustrated with Leonard's whining about not knowing what he was voting on, said, "I understand you think it's my responsibility to staff you, but..."

Or something to that effect.

Posted by Heard it with my own ears | March 12, 2008 10:36 PM

You might actually be able to hear me laugh out loud on the tape at that comment. There were a few zingers, but that was one of the best.

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz | March 12, 2008 10:42 PM

After listening to the tape, I am not so sure it was a zinger as much as an attempt at "spinning". It sounded like Leonard was not asking so much to be staffed as he was that Sten be open, forthcoming and transparent. Clearly Erik was trying to pull a fast one and he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

As a fan of Erik Sten, I am disappointed at the gamesmenship he displayed in this incident. He is better than what this debate displayed.

Posted by afanoferiks | March 13, 2008 12:32 AM

Piggys in the wallow, piggys in the trough. What man alive could resist the slough. Please unless these criminals do something spactacular like solve one of the cities big problems we don't really want to hear about their rat like actions.

Posted by Stinken Lincoln | March 13, 2008 10:26 AM

I am glad that this disparity has been brought to the public's attention. $200,000 for a six week campaign is a bit luxurious, particularly when we citizens are paying for it.

If one steps back and looks at the process, one has to question why the only candidate in this election who qualified for public financing (by getting 1,700 contributions in ten (10) days) also just happens to be the chief of staff of the incumbent who resigned suddenly.

No matter what the specifics, this city hall produced a product that has "insider dealing" stamped all over it.

To add insult to injury, Jim Middaugh is calling his efforts "grass roots."

Is this really what we want running our city? Do we want a city hall insider who apparently hijacked a process meant to help genuine "grass roots" candidates?

There is a dishonesty here that we should all be very concerned about.

I am the "grass roots" candidate in this election. We started with a few friends, active in labor and environmental justice, who asked me to run. We've handed out over 8,000 green business cards, directing people to our web site, and we've had over 15,000 hits since mid January. We've done this without tax payer money, the old fashioned way, by talking to people, and listening to their concerns.

Ed Garren
Also a candidate for seat #2
Portland City Council
www.edforportland.com

Posted by Ed Garren | March 13, 2008 11:28 AM

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