This Week in the Mercury
Saturday, July 11, 2009
News / Politics BREAKING (with updates): Tom Potter Announces Support for Adams Recall Campaign
Posted by Stephen Marc Beaudoin on Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 12:28 PM
In what might go down as one of the most extraordinary political Facebook status updates in Portland history yet, moments ago former PDX mayor Tom Potter announced his support of the campaign to recall embattled mayor Sam Adams.
Aaaaand cut to the status update:
Tom Potter It's time for Portlanders to stand up and be counted regarding the recall of Sam Adams. It's easy to get a petition and get as many signatures as you can. Good government doesn't happen automatically, it requires an involved electorate. Get involved and recall Sam Adams!
Whoooooooa. Potter's stepping forward as a vocal supporter of the Adams recall is unquestionably the biggest game-changer yet in what has - so far, anyway - been a rickety recall campaign (aside from the hyper-active media coverage of recall spokesman Jasun Wurster's every comment and fashion faux pas). And don't forget: once upon a time, Potter and Adams were buddies on the Portland City Council during Potter's mayoral tenure, though their relationship soured during Potter's final months in charge (Potter opted to endorse mayoral candidate Sho Dozono over council-mate Adams during the primary election: Adams won in spite of this blow).
It seems Potter isn't alone in his vocal support of the Adams recall effort: his wife Karin Hansen has also announced - via Facebook, naturally - her support of the recall effort... alongside colorful commentary on the Cesar Chavez street re-naming process, throwing elbows to Adams along the way. Here are two recent updates from Hansen:
Karin Hansen has her petitions. Have you got yours? Go to http://www.citizenrecall.org/joomla/ for information on how to sign and/or how to collect signatures. We deserve a truthful City Council.
Aaaand...
Karin Hansen Setting the record straight (since The Oregonian can't...or won't...): Portland Bureau of Transportation and its commissioner-in-charge (Sam Adams) were responsible for setting up and monitoring BOTH processes in the street renaming, not just the most recent process. Put the turd in the appropriate pocket will you, please!
You heard the woman! Put the turd in the appropriate freaking pocket!
This has got to sting for Adams, whose supporters may already be conducting push polls to gauge or sway his public support after months of turmoil and drama. Do you think Adams will call Potter to plead for mercy from his former colleague? Does the recall support from Potter and Hansen matter much beyond being merely political bravado?
E-mails to Potter and Hansen haven't yet been returned; we'll be getting on the horn with recall campaign spokesman Wurster later today for his reaction.
UPDATE 1, July 12, 8:45 am:
The Portland Sentinel is reporting that Adams and Potter appeared together at Saturday's Mississippi Street Fair, posing for photos as part of the Fair's awards ceremony, only hours after Potter's announcement, via Facebook, of his support for the Adams recall campaign. Umm... awkward? There's a great photo over at the Sentinel website, too, with Potter and Adams at near-opposite ends of a photo op line-up.
UPDATE 2, July 12, 2:58 pm:
It has come to my attention that both Potter and Karin Hansen have un-friended me on Facebook. Dang. What's up with that, guys? *sad face*
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Hey. Tom Potter did something. Isn't that cute.
this recall is bringing out all sorts of winners.
You're contradicting yourself: Push polls, by definition, don't gauge anything--they push a message to thousands of people. By all credible reports, the poll reported this week was gauging opinion, but was not a push poll. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll
Also: Potter was never Adams' boss.
Old farts of Portland Politics unite!
Hmmm... Potter never liked Adams, and it turns out he still doesn't like him.
This is news? I mean compared to some guys hanging out in Wurster's backyard, I guess it is, but still...
Can we stop with the trope about the push poll? Perhaps Adams IS running a push poll, but we don't know because the only "evidence" is an anonymous story of something that is NOT a push poll. I don't really support Adams, but what the guy at Jack Bogdanski's described appears to be message testing, not push poll.
see Kari Chishom's excellent explanation here:
http://bojack.org/2009/07/is_mayor_creepy_…
It feels like some people's white hot hate is blinding their sense of logic.
WTF? The guy picks now to finally do something about anything? Where was this enthusiasm when he actually had the job?
I agree that there's not been enough reporting done yet to definitely call these "push polls," so I've stricken that. Also: of course Potter was never Adams' boss in any official sense, so I've changed that to colleague.
The process of renaming a street for Chavez, although how it was carried out was essentially an act of domestic terrorism by a minority group, is not a reason to recall the mayor.
Besides, Tom Potter left one of the Interstate Ave. renaming hearings, calling himself "irrelevant." IMO, that makes his support of the recall also irrelevant.
He was a lousy Mayor and we were glad to be rid of him and now we are supposed care what he thinks?! He supported the nice, but incredibly inept Dozono, which just shows Potter's continuing lameness. So now gets his chance for revenge as do all of the other Dozono supporters, who will be the majority of signers of this embarassing recall. I'll be so glad when this crap is over with. It is just bringing out the worst in everyone except, oddly, Adams, who seems to have balls of steel to face all that he has had to deal with.
In the event that Sam Adams *is* recalled, who takes his place?
Heh. "Put the turd in the right pocket". Such class, our PDX ruling elite.
What a weird move for Potter. If you're going to shoot in a case like this, be sure you hit.
But then again I guess this isn't a master class in strategy...
I think Potters' support for the recall helps Adams more than hurts him. Potter wasn't the most popular mayor and didn't exactly get much done, and I can't imagine his association with the recall will do much.
"He was a lousy Mayor and we were glad to be rid of him and now we are supposed care what he thinks?! "
Maybe so. How exactly though was he so much worse than Sam Adams? Please tell me. Did you even live here then? Who exactly is "we"--you and your 10 friends?
If Sam is recalled, then there will be a special election. Wouldn't it just be great if Sam resigned and then ran in the special election? Then people would be in a position to know they were electing him under the circumstances. Then, if he wins, the matter is over. But, until the people get to weigh in, knowing the facts as they are now, this will continue to be an issue. If he is recalled, Sam will have lost all of his political capitol at that point. If Sam resigned and ran again, he might be able to maintain some respect.
News reporting now consists of "reporting" Facebook status updates. A new low.
Sam has been mayor all of half a year. Potter had four years. Apples and Oranges.
THANK YOU Tom Potter..
....like a minor knight in shining armor, with a hallowed reputation for benevolent neglect and outstanding personal ethics...
I'd take Potter, light years and galaxies away, over our current soryy abyss of a leader.
Whoa. Forget Denny's. The recall effort is headin' straight for a medium-sized table at Cracker Barrel!
And Tom Potter fuckin' loves some Cracker Barrel!!!!!
can we have Tom back? he was better than this...
Yeah I pine for those halcyon days of "Vision PDX". Such awesome effectiveness there! Yeah! And that neckbeard? Amazing. Best neckbeard this side of Dignity Village.
What are reporters doing with facebook profiles anyway? Do most mercury staff have them?
Well, Chunty, you're in luck either way. Please avail yourself to the new city business plan (www.pdxeconomicdevelopment.com), where a new utility tax will be used to subsidize "green" developing. Insert sarcasm here.
That sounds remarkably more worthwhile than spending a few hundred thousand dollars on public opinion surveys.
Wow, this is the only site I've found with ANY support for Shyster Sam. What should I make of this?
Synergy building bullshit costs money no matter how you slice it. If you prefer being told what you want to being asked, I guess that's your business.
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