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In this Discussion
- 1234 May 2012
- Cherry_Pie May 2012
- Dr_William_Hayward May 2012
- freddy May 2012
- kdawg May 2012
- Leland May 2012
- MirandaJuly May 2012
- swamp_knobbler_mahan May 2012
- YoursTruly May 2012
- zin May 2012
Comments
Well friends, it's s another election season, and you probably have your ballot already.
Here's my friendly guide to how I am voting (or would vote if I lived in a different district) this election. I don't mean to presume to tell you how to vote, but a lot of friends and folks who generally agree with me politically but who don't have time to sift through the voter's pamphlet or read all the news have asked me to send them this email, so I thought I'd share it with you in case you fell into that camp or otherwise were curious to know what my take on things is. Feel free to vote however you want, though, and feel free to delete or forward email this to anyone.
Here I go:
As an initial matter, I always vote for the sole candidate in all uncontested races. If you were up there, you wouldn't want people skipping your race and risking you getting beat by some whacky write-in. I'll let you know if I think an uncontested race deserves a write-in.
Vote yes on all the ballot measures. One funds the library, which is very useful and efficient, and the rest are pretty uncontroversial charter clean-up provisions.
Secretary of State: Kate Brown. She's done a great job and is a great progressive.
Attorney General: Ellen Rosenblum. This is a close call, but Ellen's been a fantastic Oregon lawyer and judge for decades. Smart; friendly; a good leader.
State Rep 36: Jennifer Williamson. Very involved in community affairs and leftist politics. She has outworked her opponent in endorsements and everything else.
State Rep 47: Jessica Vega Pederson. The only serious candidate, and a good one.
State Rep 48: Jeff Reardon. A good candidate. The current guy (Mike Schaufler) has ostracized himself from the left through boorish behavior and bad votes.
State Rep 52: Peter Nordbye. The only serious candidate, and the best chance of winning this seat.
Supreme Court 3: Tim Sercombe. All three candidates are good, but Tim's already an appellate judge and has the best track record of thoughtful opinions which also recognize the humanity of the people involved in the case.
Court of Appeals 6: Tim Volpert. The only serious candidate, and an extremely nice, smart, committed, and giving guy.
Metro Councilor 5: Sam Chase. The only really serious candidate. Endorsed by everyone you care about.
Metro Councilor 6: Bob Stacey. A great incumbent with a nobody opponent.
Multnomah County 1: Debbie Kafoury. A solid incumbent with a nobody opponent.
Multnomah County 3: Judy Shiprack. A solid incumbent with a nobody opponent.
Portland Mayor: Jefferson Smith. He's dedicated a decade to helping Oregon's progressive community and has a lot of success to show for it. He's also against the Columbia River bridge, which is a huge boondoggle the other candidates support.
Portland Commissioner 1: Amanda Fritz. A liberal who is often the only voice on the council in favor of closer scrutiny of spending and projects.
Portland Commissioner 4: Steve Novick. A longtime champion of Oregon liberalism and an excellent and brilliant guy.
If you have any questions about my choices, or a race or ballot measure I didn't mention, please shoot me an email.
Thanks, and happy voting! Your ballots are due to be RECEIVED by MAY 15.
Cody
Brady and Hales aren't terrible though. Not down for another 6 months of mayor's campaign. By then there would have been a debate in every person's living room, in person, and they will have raised enough money in campaign funds to pay for the CRC.
BTW there is a door to door Smith event Saturday, check the FB.
Gary saw Smith at Arbor Lodge and said he was quote "the biggest fucking jackass." Said he looked like a "Harvard MBA who's never worked a day in his life." Compared him to Bobby Newport from Parks and Rec "But without Paul Rudd's innate charm." I was like "Jesus!!!" But I have to say, Gary's snap judgments of people are almost never wrong.
I had dinner with a bunch of super super politically active ladies and civil rights attorneys and they say DO NOT vote for Smith. They said none of the candidates are great but he is the least great. They also said one of the candidates takes tons of gun lobby money, but now I can't remember which one?!???!!!
So where does all this leave us??
Smith def seems like the front-runner, based on yard signs, so I assume he will win.
You know who should give us a list of how to vote is JOSH.
JOSH WHERE ARE YOU
WHAT IS J. SMITH REALLY LIKE
From everything I've heard, Smith is indeed an egotistical, alpha male jackass who's pretty smart and liberal and has legislative experience representing east Portland but probably bullheaded and hard to work with. But yes, he opposes the CRC, which the other candidates support, and he's young and progressive and also gets stuff done.
I still haven't decided if I'm voting for Hales or Smith.
Brady kind of annoys me, the only thing she seems to focus on is JOBS, she has no political experience, and I feel like she's really misrepresented her role at New Seasons.
Also, I'm voting for Mary Nolan over Fritz. The Republican party of Oregon sent me a letter telling me Nolan rules (for a dem) and Fritz drools.
Jefferson is somewhat ADD, and believe it or not, shy. Brady is just the opposite, very warm in person. Smith has consistently attracted and managed awesome staff which have compensated for those weaknesses. Based on my experience, I would say no to the above stereotypes of Smith, they are a snap misread. But I can see how people would jump to that conclusion.
Josh def would have a perspective.
Interesting council alternatives a Smith-Novick-Fritz/Nolan bloc or a Hales-Fish-Saltzman bloc?
I emailed my lady lawyer friend to ask which one is the gun lobby person.
I feel like he has his eyes on a bigger prize than Mayor. If something came up that was better and more prestigious I think he would jump ship.
Of course, that's why I don't like Hales. He already quit on us once. He has more experience quitting from elected positions than anyone else running. Boo.
And then Brady... well, I just don't think she is a politician.
Maybe I'll write in Vera Katz.
I will say in favor of Hales, talking to friends who work at the city, he brought a customer service attitude to the permit department. Customer service attitude in government is where we need to go.
No matter who wins in Nov, the other 2 will have some future in government. Ditto for Adams, who has some foibles (mostly the typical ones for politicians, some are better at hiding them), but has gotten sh*t done, including for businesses and jobs with the economic clusters and landing Vestas and SoloPower.
"Eileen Brady is one of the most breathtakingly unprepared mayoral candidates we have seen in years. When we first interviewed Brady last summer, we were struck by how little she had to say about why she was running or what she hoped to accomplish as mayor. As the election draws near, we see little improvement."
now eating lemonade popsicle
also he founded the Bus Project which is RAD!
The Mercury: "East Portland State Representative Jefferson Smith is progressive, quirky, and refreshingly blunt. He dropped an NWA reference in our interview and even tossed off the word "shitty." It feels like we really ought to be behind him. But his personal style, his propensity for jawboning, surliness, and dismissive attitude left our editorial board surprisingly and undeniably cool."
Willy Week: "But [Smith's] talents do not include those of a manager. As WW has reported, he had serious trouble managing the Bus Project and details of his own life. Were Portland a city-manager form of government, we might feel differently about Smith in this position. But the mayor of Portland has to manage budgets, help negotiate with unions and provide basic services. Smith has shown little skill in those areas."
I have met with Charlie Hales - he asked me to brief him on some transportation issues. He was a good listener, asked smart questions, and seemed to understand that he couldn't just take my support for granted. I didn't track transpo politics back when he was commissioner, but he has a good reputation, particularly around working with and managing people effectively. I think he'll do a solid job. I know that isn't the world's most exciting endorsement, but it's pretty clear to me that he's the only actually qualified candidate - and to boot, he's done similar work and seems like a smart and effective guy.
I'm one of those that has caught the Smith charisma buzz from afar. From what I know of The Bus, and its spin-offs in Washington, Montana and elsewhere (?), it is just the kind of civic engagement work that I want to see more of. That said, Freddy's report is awfully convincing.
Now I have to google CRC.... Cock Rock Cretins? Complete Revolutionary Communism? Crappy Robot Cooking? Whatever it is: I'm against it!
We had a CRC-type issue in Seattle called the DBT (Deep Bore Tunnel), a multi-billion dollar piece of automobile bullshit that involves digging a toll freeway under downtown.
We elected a mayor that was against it, former President of the local Sierra Club chapter, etc., and spent years (unsuccessfully) trying to stop the project. Problem: the imagination of our political class (including media) is completely captured by freeway-building and fear of "congestion". Result: we've had an isolated, ineffective mayor that has done little to change the auto-dependent mindset. (It doesn't help that he kind of looks and speaks like Droopy Dog.) Likely one-term office holder.
If you want a quick overview of why the CRC will suck up all transportation dollars from both of our fine states for the forseeable future, economist Joe Cortright is the man to follow. This report is from 2008 but sadly, as nothing has changed, is still valid. If that's too long, try this column summarizing the issues.
As for the CRC acronym, though, it was suuuuuper confusing for me back when King County was considering the Congestion Reduction Charge. My twitter feed felt schizophrenic - my Portland people were all like, CRC will ruin everything! Oppose the CRC! while all my Seattle people were like, CRC is our last hope! Write your electeds and urge them to support the CRC!