Who’s Hot and Who’s Not: Bike Ranking Down, Measure 91 Fundraising Up

Friday, September 05, 2014

Gus Wendel, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Every Friday, GoLocalPDX breaks down who's rising and who's falling in the world of Oregon politics. Check out who made the lists this week.

Hot:

Merkley vs. Wehby: Labor Day Weekend is over, August has ended, and the unofficial start of election season has begun. At least one race has started to heat things up: both Merkley’s and Wehby’s campaigns launched fresh TV ads this week. Merkley’s ad focused on attacking the Koch brothers and their influence on Wehby. Wehby’s ad didn’t even mention Merkley, and instead highlighted her own credentials as a job creator.

Stuff Dennis Richardson Says: Reactions to Richardson quotes: shock, disbelief, hilarity, and fear. They are captured in Stuff Dennis Richardson Says, a video released by the Democratic Party of Oregon, which has over 40,000 views on YouTube this week. Brace yourself.

Andrea Miller: The clear winner in Katu’s televised debate over Measure 88 was the Executive Director of Causa, Oregon’s immigrant rights organization. At one point during the debate, Miller’s opponent was at a loss for words as she tried to refute Miller’s reasoned and persuasive explanations for why Oregonians should vote “Yes.”. Voting yes on the measure allows the DMV to issue limited driver cards to Oregon residents.

Tyler TerMeer: The new executive director of Cascade Aids Project (CAP) has hit the ground running, and we’re excited: Cascade AIDS Project recently received a $23,000 grant from Spirit Mountain Community Fund and a $50,000 grant from the Yahoo Employee Foundation to support ChatPDX, a program that combines peer education, healthy sexuality, and community service. AIDS Walk Portland, CAP’s annual HIV/AIDS awareness and fundraising event, is taking place this Saturday, September 6th.

Yes on 91: The campaign working to bring nonpartisan primary election reform to Oregon has been racking up the funds. It has raised $623,000, far outpacing the opposition campaign, Protect Our Vote, which has raised only $20,000.*

Governor Vic Atiyeh: Former Gov. Vic Atiyeh passed away July 20 at the age of 91. Politcal leaders and community members gathered in the Oregon House chamber for a memorial service on Wednesday, where Atiyeh was remembered for his stalwart service and consummate ability to bring people together.

New Approach Oregon: The marijuana legalization campaign recently secured an editorial endorsement from the Oregonian, the first time the paper has supported a marijuana legalization measure. This is one of a growing number of endorsements from organizations and individuals including William Riggs, retired Oregon Supreme Court Justice and Richard Harris, Oregon’s leading drug addiction expert.

Not:

Darren Karr: It looks like the former Republican candidate for governor who lost to Dennis Richardson in the primary is about to lose again. As GoLocal reports, Karr filed a federal lawsuit against the Oregon Secretary of State after his information did not appear in the voter’s pamphlet. Karr is seeking damages for fees amounting to “four years of the Governor’s salary and benefits” and “equitable relief as may be available under the law.”

47th: Oregon’s school attendance ranking. According to a new study, Oregon ties with Arizona for the fourth-worst in the nation for chronic absenteeism. Roughly 24 percent of fourth and eighth-graders reported missing at least three days of class a month. This may partially explains the mediocre math and reading level achievement across Oregon’s public schools.

Cover Oregon: The board of Oregon’s troubled health insurance exchange is scheduled to vote today on whether or not to dissolve the exchange and move its operations to the Oregon Health Authority and other state agencies. Still beset by technological difficulties, the exchange has long been a thorn in the sides of many politicians. We’ll see how big the thorn truly is come November.

John Kitzhaber: Conservative talk show radio host Lars Larson filed a complaint with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office against the governor for allegedly violating campaign election laws. As GoLocal reports, the complaint refers to a public service announcement video starring the governor. “If it isn’t against the law, it at least goes against the spirit of the law,” Larson said.

Portland Development Commission: The East Portland neighborhood of Lents recently lost an important tenant: the corporate headquarters of insurance agency Assurey NW. The Portland Development Commission (PDC) lured the agency to the neighborhood in 2007 with over a million dollars in loans and $300,000 in grants. Maybe the PDC will soon learn that subsidizing wealthy companies might not be the best community-building strategy.

Oregon Department of Corrections: It is increasingly apparent that the 2012 murder of an inmate by another inmate at Snake River Correctional Institute could have been avoided. According to the state’s reply to a $7.5 million lawsuit filed by the victim’s widow, negligence by the Department of Corrections played a “substantial factor.” There have been three murders of inmates by fellow inmates at Snake River since 2008.

#4: Portland’s new ranking in the nation’s Top 50 bike-friendly cities according to Bicycling magazine. Last year we were #1, but New York City took the top spot this year, with Chicago and Minneapolis coming in second and third. “Those cities are pretty far ahead with things such as bike-sharing and buffered bike lanes,” Ian Dille, the guy who wrote the rankings, said. We’ll see what the Bicycle Transportation Alliance has to say about that.

*[Full disclosure: The chief petitioner of the top two primary ballot initiative in Oregon is James Kelly, an investor in GoLocalPDX]