117 bobbleheads, plus Simone
We've got a couple of months fo figure out our votes for Portland mayor and City Council. And it's a good thing, because as it turns out, there are 118 candidates for city office.
OPB has the lowdown on the daunting numbers, here.
A total of 19 people are running for mayor, and 98 are running for the 12 open council seats. The city’s current auditor Simone Rede is running for reelection unopposed....
The charter change... expanded City Council from five to 12 seats, and gave the mayor a more administrative role that doesn’t include a council vote. And councilors will be elected to represent four new geographic districts — with three councilors elected to each district.
It's hard to imagine a good outcome here, but we'd better try to make the best of a bad situation. Readers, if you have some good information about any of the races, the council in particular, your insights will be welcome, from now until Election Night.
Future Portland's web site is helpful. They promote moderate politicians and aim to endorse those they think will be less divisive and ideological and more competent. https://futureportland.org/about
ReplyDeleteThey have endorsed Sam Adams- but maybe that is the best we can hope for. Not seeing any endorsement for mayor.
DeleteAnd note that they also used ranked-choice voting to pick their endorsed candidates, which makes sense. It’s a better way for a group to make a choice among more than two candidates, whether you like the status quo or want to see it changed.
DeleteI’ve always thought that a bus operates best when one driver was behind the steering wheel
ReplyDeleteAh, the good old Fuhrerprinzip! Adolf agreed with you.
DeleteCool, now do an entire transit system.
DeleteStill only need 1 driver? Or maybe that one driver can't drive 200 busses at once?
Subtleties go unnoticed quite often.
DeleteA dart board?
ReplyDeletePortland's Democratic Socialists (DSA) have endorsed Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) and Mitch Green (District 4), if that's helpful in knowing who not to vote for.
ReplyDeleteAs I've reported--even before the saps voted--on the charter commish at PortlandDissent on Substack. (28 posts and couunting), the charter was specifically engineered for this kind of mess. (Who actually did the engineering is a good question, never answered by any of our media friends, but let's just say that most members of the commission are useful idiots, as the Commies are fond of saying). The idea is to ramp up the power of unions, nonprofits, progressive busybodies...thus the mad rush for "endorsements" (aka contracts to sell out). Shane Dixon Kavanaugh's poignant article this morning in the O--stuff he coulld have written before the mopes voted--is more evidence that local media just doesn't get it and is too broke to staff this kind of stampede.
ReplyDeleteThe city of Portland is a deserted dirty smelly dangerous mess. Why should the candidates for office in this disaster, be any different from the real estate they want to “govern”?
ReplyDelete