This Week in the Mercury
Sunday, February 8, 2009
City Hall / News / Politics / Portland Recall Adams Effort Presses Fritz
Posted by Matt Davis on Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 5:21 PM
While most Portlanders may be spending their weekends doing other things, the folks at Recall Sam Adams.com have written an open letter to City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, asking her to place a vote of confidence resolution on the council agenda. Fritz stood up to a couple of the "recall Sam" crowd in council last Wednesday, and they've evidently decided to test her campaign pledge to be "beholden to the people of Portland" against the commissioner's political and personal interests in defending the mayor:
Portland, Oregon — This weekend a volunteer effort began in which citizens are asking Commissioner Fritz to place a resolution 'expressing confidence in Mayor Adams' on the Portland City Council's Regular Agenda. Citizen volunteers have asked the Council to allow for public testimony prior to their vote of confidence for Mayor Adams during the Wednesday, February 18, 6:00PM council meeting. The monthly evening session was selected so citizens who work standard business hours and attend high school or college classes have the opportunity to provide public input.Commissioner Fritz's experience as a “[f]ormer mentor for at-risk kids and PTA mom” makes her the ideal person to represent the public concerning the Mayor's trust issues. One of Fritz's primary themes as a publicly financed candidate was that she intended to be “beholden to the people of Portland”. This popular message gained her over 70% of the vote in last November's general election. She promises 'Transparency, accessibility, community involvement' on her campaign website in which she would “[Push] the City Council to meet at different times and places so that all citizens have the ability to be part of our government”.
The same folks have made a couple of Youtubes targeting Fritz and Adams over the past week, which make interesting watching, if you can put up with the bad spelling and over-use of red caption titles. Meanwhile, we'll put a call in for comment with Fritz's office tomorrow.
1
Matt, why do you keep deleting my comments from your other blog? It seems counter to any sort of open discourse. Do you not like opposing voices to be heard? I'm confused.
2
Poor spelling and red caption titles. So you're saying a Republican is in charge of the site? I guess that makes sense since whomever is in charge of that site won't reveal themselves.
It's probably Loren Parks, the sexual hypnotist from Las Vegas that funds all the Bill Sizemore initiatives.
It's probably Loren Parks, the sexual hypnotist from Las Vegas that funds all the Bill Sizemore initiatives.
3
The only thing worse than having someone you disagree with most of the time not being able to use a spellchecker is having someone whose policies who agree with hitting on 17 year olds, lying about it to get elected, and being completely neutralized as an effective leader as a result.
Is there any way to solve this through trial by combat? We could fund a lot of school repairs from the pay-per-view rights. I say Sam gets a shotgun while the shoeless goobers have to use stale pork rinds.
Is there any way to solve this through trial by combat? We could fund a lot of school repairs from the pay-per-view rights. I say Sam gets a shotgun while the shoeless goobers have to use stale pork rinds.
5
OMG hitting on 17-year-olds! OMG lying about sex! OMG I feel so betrayed!
Where was all this hysteria and calls for resignation when we found about detainees being tortured in Abu Ghraib? Where was all this moral fervor about lying when we found out that there were no weapons of mass destruction and the case for war was a big old sham? Where was the public outrage when the Bill of Rights was ravaged?
Certainly there was some of this, but leave it to a sex scandal to capture the American public's true attention. Why is this?
Why can't so many of my fellow citizens learn to care more about people dying than about acts which, though they resulted in lies which caused some temporary harm to reputations (note - none of these lies caused the wholesale destruction of a country or the deaths of thousands of service men and women), were, in and of themselves, totally harmless before the media went sniffing around.
Grow up, you people who still have a bug up your ass about this. Seriously. There are homeless people crowding the streets who don't have a roof when it rains. There's a stimulus package which needs your support or input so that we can all hopefully have job security again someday. There's a big bridge being built which is going to cost a lot of money and could use public input/discussion. And you want to talk abou this? Really?
I grew up believing that politicians are "representatives" - meaning they represent public ideas and popular policies through their work. So when I voted for Adams I voted for a set of policies and a vision. Those are still unchanged. There is no logic in the notion that because a politician lies about their private life it means they will lie about their public policy. And that we expect this type of transparency at all (and drool over it, seemingly, as if our political races were more reality show than a democratic exercise), is rather ridiculous.
I hope America is at the end of this slide into "character"-based politics. And if they continue with it, I hope that we can start to see lying about war and torture as being rather more significant indicators of bad character than lying about sexual relationships.
More...
Where was all this hysteria and calls for resignation when we found about detainees being tortured in Abu Ghraib? Where was all this moral fervor about lying when we found out that there were no weapons of mass destruction and the case for war was a big old sham? Where was the public outrage when the Bill of Rights was ravaged?
Certainly there was some of this, but leave it to a sex scandal to capture the American public's true attention. Why is this?
Why can't so many of my fellow citizens learn to care more about people dying than about acts which, though they resulted in lies which caused some temporary harm to reputations (note - none of these lies caused the wholesale destruction of a country or the deaths of thousands of service men and women), were, in and of themselves, totally harmless before the media went sniffing around.
Grow up, you people who still have a bug up your ass about this. Seriously. There are homeless people crowding the streets who don't have a roof when it rains. There's a stimulus package which needs your support or input so that we can all hopefully have job security again someday. There's a big bridge being built which is going to cost a lot of money and could use public input/discussion. And you want to talk abou this? Really?
I grew up believing that politicians are "representatives" - meaning they represent public ideas and popular policies through their work. So when I voted for Adams I voted for a set of policies and a vision. Those are still unchanged. There is no logic in the notion that because a politician lies about their private life it means they will lie about their public policy. And that we expect this type of transparency at all (and drool over it, seemingly, as if our political races were more reality show than a democratic exercise), is rather ridiculous.
I hope America is at the end of this slide into "character"-based politics. And if they continue with it, I hope that we can start to see lying about war and torture as being rather more significant indicators of bad character than lying about sexual relationships.
6
Jenhowell,
Welcome to the world of blog commenting where your completely sane idea will be trashed because some douchebag wants to insert his/her inane idea that they are above the fray because they care about the lie, but not the sex.
Your completely sane post that I'm sure you spent time on is irrelevant here. The 4 people that still care about Sam humping the hot 18 year old are really doing their best to post everywhere and pretend they're heavenly angels who don't sin. Fvcking Christianists...
Welcome to the world of blog commenting where your completely sane idea will be trashed because some douchebag wants to insert his/her inane idea that they are above the fray because they care about the lie, but not the sex.
Your completely sane post that I'm sure you spent time on is irrelevant here. The 4 people that still care about Sam humping the hot 18 year old are really doing their best to post everywhere and pretend they're heavenly angels who don't sin. Fvcking Christianists...
8
Garrett - I possess the advantage of being able to write long, well-thought out blog posts in under 5 minutes. And for some reason, I've thought about this issue obsessively. It seems to combine a number of pet peeves I've had for a while now. A cross between people/media not taking actual politics/policy seriously enough and people/media taking sex and so-called "character" politics too seriously. Add in issues of personal privacy, a dash of (un)conscious homophobia and our society's weird sexualization/overprotection of teenagers and you have a perfect storm of issues for me to care about.
So I can't help it. But I type fast and think fast. And at least one person told me once that what I wrote about this actually mattered. So you never know, though I bet you're right, for the most part.
So I can't help it. But I type fast and think fast. And at least one person told me once that what I wrote about this actually mattered. So you never know, though I bet you're right, for the most part.
9
There are no mis-spelled words in the red captions. "Lobbyist" should have been plural but to say "if you can put up with the bad spelling" indicates that perhaps you are the one with spelling issues.
10
The key word here is "*former* mentor for at-risk kids and PTA mom."
Amanda's worked for years to get on the Council so she doesn't have to be around snot-nosed rugrats any more. All that grass-roots, community lovey-dovey stuff? No longer operative...
-E
Btw, thank you jenhowell77. As the sole person on earth who cares about Abu Ghraib, the war in Iraq and the US Constitution, you surely are doing yeoman's work. Someday, once the other 299,999,999 people in America catch up to you, they'll surely put your adorable mug on a coin, which I will then happily use to wash my clothes, if a load of laundry can still be bought with coins at that point. Why oh why can't the world see itself as jenhowell77 sees it? I hope that someday, when character is no longer an issue in public life, we will make an exception to the no-character rule just long enough to recognize the superlative character of jenhowell77. You, jenhowell77, are truly a saint.
Amanda's worked for years to get on the Council so she doesn't have to be around snot-nosed rugrats any more. All that grass-roots, community lovey-dovey stuff? No longer operative...
-E
Btw, thank you jenhowell77. As the sole person on earth who cares about Abu Ghraib, the war in Iraq and the US Constitution, you surely are doing yeoman's work. Someday, once the other 299,999,999 people in America catch up to you, they'll surely put your adorable mug on a coin, which I will then happily use to wash my clothes, if a load of laundry can still be bought with coins at that point. Why oh why can't the world see itself as jenhowell77 sees it? I hope that someday, when character is no longer an issue in public life, we will make an exception to the no-character rule just long enough to recognize the superlative character of jenhowell77. You, jenhowell77, are truly a saint.
11
Jenhowell -- "Where was all this hysteria and calls for resignation when we found about detainees being tortured in Abu Ghraib? Where was all this moral fervor ... blah blah blah"
Same place it always is. Deafening us with whining from the Park Blocks.
Same place it always is. Deafening us with whining from the Park Blocks.
12
Jenhowell - Who's to say we *didn't* call for the impeachment and trial of war criminals Bush and Cheney for all the FAIL of the past eight years?
Regarding Adams, what he did may have been legal, but was repugnant and nasty - going after the barely-legal tail.
Regarding Adams, what he did may have been legal, but was repugnant and nasty - going after the barely-legal tail.
13
"Garrett - I possess the advantage of being able to write long, well-thought out blog posts in under 5 minutes."
"So I can't help it. But I type fast and think fast. And at least one person told me once that what I wrote about this actually mattered."
Unfortunately Howell, modesty does not appear to be one of your virtues. What a shame.
Generally people who crow unprompted about how wonderful they are, are anything but.
But you probably know that already.
"So I can't help it. But I type fast and think fast. And at least one person told me once that what I wrote about this actually mattered."
Unfortunately Howell, modesty does not appear to be one of your virtues. What a shame.
Generally people who crow unprompted about how wonderful they are, are anything but.
But you probably know that already.
14
Lets get this straight- because the millitary committed atrocities and homeless people exist- we are supposed to ignore the fact that the Mayor of a major city is a lying pediphyle. Great logic. Heres an idea- find a mayor who you can trust to visit a High School without having sex with your kids!! Just because there are lots of problems in the world this lying freak show shouldn't get a pass!
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