Swamping the drain

I see that Portland Mayor Dud Wheeler's p.r. flack, Jim Middaugh, is quitting. I guess running interference for Wheeler and his new BFF, Sam Adams, got old.

Remember Middaugh? If I am recalling correctly, he was in the first crop of "clean money" candidates for City Council back in the earliest days of that nonsense. Of course, a modified version of said nonsense is still in place today, bringing us one excellent candidate after another. Which is why Portland is doing so well.

Anyway, Middaugh was originally chief lackey for city commissioner Erik "Opie" Sten, and later a flack at Portland's bizarre Metro "government." He's made a career out of defending the destruction of Portland by incompetence.

Middaugh's latest bounce is a shrewd move on his part. I strongly suspect that Wheeler's political career is about to end prematurely. He's still in public office only because no one competent wants his job.

So you'll never guess where Middaugh's going next. He's going to be the executive director of the Multnomah County Drainage District.

The what???

Yes, there's a government entity by that name. Another pot of public money you've never heard of, and that no one is watching.  Its function is described on its website:

The Multnomah County Drainage District (MCDD) helps protect lives and property from flooding by operating and maintaining flood management systems for nearly 13,000 acres of land along the Columbia Slough and the lower Columbia River. We manage and maintain flood control systems such as levees, pump stations, and flow control structures that reduce flood risk for residential communities and vital public infrastructure such as the Portland International Airport, sections of I-5, I-205, and I-84, and Oregon’s second largest supply of drinking water.

"Operating and maintaining flood management systems." I am trying to picture this. You check the pipes once a week. Yep, still draining, good.

I'm also trying to figure out what a p.r. guy would know about drainage management. Oh well, fungible bureaucrats, it's the Oregon way. Next thing you know, he'll be running the DMV.