This Week in the Mercury

Diary of a Mad Man

Feature

Diary of a Mad Man

Portland Comedian Ian Karmel Documents His Life on Tour


Weird Rumblings

Film

Weird Rumblings

Portland Gets a New Experimental Film Fest



  |  

Monday, December 7, 2009

Politics Metro Race Heats Up, Rex Aims to Raise $100,000

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 11:30 AM

The race to replace Metro Council President David Bragdon is heating up. Today candidate Rex Burkholder sent out a press release taking a swipe his at his competitor's cash flow. "BURKHOLDER HOLDS SOLID LEAD IN FUNDRAISING," reads the announcement's headline. Rex's campaign has raised $84,114 and has $74,817 cash on hand while his competitor, former 1000 Friends of Oregon Director Bob Stacey, has raised $69,856 and has $49,502 currently in cash. Burkholder's campaign just opened an office downtown and is aiming to raise $100,000 by the end of the year.

Rex Burkholder at the 2009 Alice Awards
  • Rex Burkholder at the 2009 Alice Awards

A big chunk of Burkholder's lead comes thanks to Pearl District developer and former "Sultan of the Streetcar" John Carroll, who donated $10,000 to the campaign. Donations of $5,000 also come from developer John Russell, bike lawyer Ray Thomas and wealthy pro-tax activist Jody Wiser.

Another notable contribution is 1,000 bucks from Pearl District developer Mark Edlen. So are most of Rex's supporters big developers? "Not at all," says campaign manager Caroline Fitchett. "If you looks at his endorsement list, Rex has a broad base of support from across the region."

Stacey's top contributors are more of a mixed bag than Burkholder's and have individually given much less. For example, top contributor Christine Vernier runs a Beaverton computing company and gave Stacey $2,500 contributor while $2,000 donor Charles J. Swindells is a former US ambassador to New Zealand. Oregon wine magnate Eric Lemelson is another $2,000 donor.

"Oh good, he finally caught up," said Stacey, when informed of Burkholder's fundraising. "It's pretty exciting for him." Stacey says he's not worried about Burkholder's monetary lead and says his own campaign is steady and on course. "It'll be on the issues that this race is decided," says Stacey. "For example, I don't think we have $3.5 billion to spend on one transportation project that is an environmental disaster."

 

Comments (10) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
Lefty bike nazi, vs. a slightly more to the left eco nazi. What choices we get in this town! I'd estimate that a full 10% of the political spectrum is represented in every single race.
Posted by Blabby on December 7, 2009 at 12:11 PM · Report
2
@Blabby: If you're so fabulously unsatisfied with the representation that you're receiving in city government, there is a stupidly simple answer to that. I'll bet even you can figure it out.
Posted by Graham on December 7, 2009 at 12:24 PM · Report
3
Yeah, what this race needs is a real nazi nazi.
Posted by adolph on December 7, 2009 at 12:42 PM · Report
4
Well Graham, you are my usual source for stupidly simple answers.
Posted by Blabby on December 7, 2009 at 1:20 PM · Report
5
So the top contributors to Bob Stacey (who until recently was the Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Oregon) are Christine Vernier and Charles J Swindells. Coincidentally, 1000 Friends Board of Directors includes David Vernier and Charlie Swindells. No relationship, I'm sure. Just a fluke.
Posted by Nat 66 on December 7, 2009 at 4:17 PM · Report
6
NAT 66 - all the people who give multiple thousands of dollars to a Metro councilor are related and close - in some way. Whether sex partners or business partners or whatever.... It's all connected.
Posted by Mizzzzzzz on December 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM · Report
7
I want to know where Rex got my e-mail address for sending me political spam. My one guess is that he stole the "District newsletter" addresses from his employer, (given that the unsubscribe link includes "D5" and "D6" as the e-mail lists that I'm listed as subscribed to, which just happen to correspond to the District 5 and District 6 newsletters that I subscribe to from Metro,) which would be a huge ethics violation. Just imagine if Sam Adams got the city cell phone list up and working, and then used it for political purposes: Jasun Wurster would actually have something to complain about.
Posted by Matthew D on December 7, 2009 at 8:03 PM · Report
8
Portland could use more nazi humor.
Posted by eastside on December 8, 2009 at 9:23 PM · Report
9
Go Rex! Rex Burkholder is smart, capable, sincere, and what our region needs. He has my vote.

Matthew D, probably one of your friends shared it with him...blame them.
Posted by RexSupporter on December 9, 2009 at 4:58 PM · Report
10
Metro as an agency is subject to Oregon Public Records law. The various lists we maintain are subject to disclosure. That is the case with several lists requested by Mr. Burkholder's campaign. Similarly, Mr. Stacey's campaign also has requested documents from Metro under public records law.
Posted by Jim Middaugh on December 10, 2009 at 1:55 PM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use