A bad story gets worse

So that $1.47 million loss that Portland taxpayers suffered in an apparent cyberswindle? This story on OPB says it could have been avoided easily.

According to an email exchange obtained by OPB, the loss could have been easily avoided. The records show the city’s treasury flagged the $1.4 million wire transfer as potentially fraudulent before the money left Portland’s coffers.

But housing bureau officials paid it anyway. At this point, cybersecurity experts say, there’s little chance the city claws it back.

There's a saying that goes something like, don't attribute to malice what can be explained by mere incompetence. But I'll tell you one thing: If I were in law enforcement, several City Hall minions would be getting their first experience with a polygraph machine, if they haven't already. The person then in charge of housing, Shannon Callahan (pictured), no longer works there, but she'd have a lot of questions to answer that she might want to have her lawyer present for. She could pay the lawyer's bill out of the six months' severance pay she got for doing her job so well.