A sorry sight

If you were a politician running for re-election, against two strong opponents, and if you had some embarrassing personal problems, would you be smart enough to avoid making a big public scene about those problems? Sure you would. But Portland city commissioner Jo Ann "With the Bullhorn" Hardesty is not.

She is so delinquent on her credit card debt that Bank of America has her in court. And this week, it was revealed that when she had a recent court date scheduled in the case, she simply did not show up.

Today she's sorry. She's a downtrodden working person, just like you and me, and well, she fell a little behind. (It didn't keep her out of the casino, though.)

Her salary is in the neighborhood of $125,000 a year. She has been collecting that pay for more than three years.

Should a person like this be managing bureaus at a City Hall with a $6 billion budget? The question answers itself. Please, Portland. It was an interesting experiment, but you see what happened. Let's try something else.