photo by Paul
By Vargus Pike
Members of the Green Party and the Oregon Progressive Party in conjunction with members of Occupy Portland held a local candidates forum Friday January 27th. The event, in a room above the People’s Co-op on SE 21st Avenue, was an opportunity for Portland mayoral candidates and city council candidates to meet, greet and discuss their political positions on a variety of topics important to members of both parties, as well as to members of occupy Portland. The format for the forum was primarily question and answer. Candidates were also given an opportunity to make a statement about themselves midway through the program.
Two of the three front running mayoral candidates, Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales, were present, as were city commissioner position 4 candidates Steve Novick and Mark White. Amanda Fritz, who is running for Portland city commissioner, Position 1, and Patrice Anna Burke, candidate for Multnomah County commissioner, District 3, were also in attendance. Numerous questions were asked in the span of over two hours on topics ranging from the stance of the candidates to corporate personhood, to the indefinite detention of citizens made possible by the NDAA, to governmental accountability and transparency. No candidate supported corporate personhood or the indefinite detention of American citizens, while everyone supported governmental accountability.
Throughout there was very little to distinguish each candidate from the others regarding their political stances, although one might perceive definite differences in style. Steve Novick who was seated to the audiences far left came across as a seasoned campaigner, appeared definite in his answers albeit somewhat quirky. Although running for city commissioner, his focus seemed to be more on making changes at the state level. Seated next to him was Patrice Anna Burke — seeming inexperienced and admittedly nervous, she did appear to be passionate and sincere. Next came Charlie Hales, intent upon running on his former record as city councilman and though perhaps offering little in the way of new ideas. Amanda Fritz sat in the center of the panel. It was noteworthy that every time she spoke she stood up to address the crowd instead of remaining seated to speak like the other candidates. Seeming a woman of integrity, that integrity imposed a rigid code of behavior some would consider to be both a strength and a weakness. Jefferson Smith’s presentation made him appear to be a fast-talking insider whose Freudian slip early on about “why I’m running for Governor” hinted at possible aspirations well beyond mayor of Portland. Finally there was Mark White, current co-chair of the Portland charter commission. His stated platform seemed based on a common sense approach, community involvement and reliance on the charted commission he co-chairs.
photo by Paul
While each candidate has their own strengths and weaknesses, it seemed they have little to offer in the way of new ideas or change. None were able to provide any insights to police oversight. Charlie Hales did suggest that community policing be stressed, while Jefferson Smith and Mark White both recommended improving training to improving outcomes.
Present in the audience was the Progressive Party candidate for the special election first congressional district: Steve Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds also participated in the forum when he asked the candidates, “What will you do in your position to increase government transparency and hold check writers accountable?” Candidates answers ranged from Steve Novick proposing itemized tax bills to Jefferson Smith proposing a single 311 number to access government services. When no one actually answered the question about accountability Mr. Reynolds had posed he attempted to refocus and redirect the question without success.
The forum ran long, and ended with a question about the city and counties disaster preparedness. All candidates agreed that the city is woefully prepared should a large earthquake strike, the primary issues being a lack of money and the poor condition of the infrastructure including public schools and bridges.
Another opportunity to learn more about the local candidates is Voices of the City: Portland’s 2012 Town Hall, happening this afternoon at PSU’s Hoffman Hall, from 1-4 pm. More information is at http://portlandwiki.org/Portland_Town_Hall_-_28_Jan_2012.
I was at the Coop without a seat ‘on stage’ I had to miss the forum today because I tried to get an invite but nobody responded and I was pushed out of the school just last year ~ so here is my statement ~ sorry it is a day late
I was unable to attend the mayoral forum at PSU because I have been asked not to return to their grounds. I tried attending the school last year and was not only sexually harrassed but threatened to be murdered on my journey through counselors and the Dean, as well as called racist names by a tennis instucter. So I will leave you this, and I hope it suffices until I see and meet a representative from your Party.
I am a 31 year old young woman currently running for mayor in the City of
Portland, Oregon. I hope to do very well in the May elections; I will do
well by the City. In the past I have been a volunteer and worked with
various populations in social services.
I am hoping to raise enough money to build as much low-income green energy
housing as I can during the term of service. I believe green energy is the
way to go with low-income anymore, because people in need of low-income are
also in need of energy assistance so it would be best to tackle both issues
at once. While doing this I hope to employ and on-site skills train people
that live in the general area of the new housing, some with little to no
experience working to gain job skills that can continue to be used and build
a sustainable moral of the communities. I also plan to build work relief
shelters for homeless men and woman, where they can stay while earning their
keep and a small wage working in and around the community doing labor gigs
some requiring and being skills training. I hope to take care of all the
Cities housing needs.
As well as housing and some job relief, I hope to work on
green energy. The City of Portland, Oregon is currently number three in the
United States on clean energy; I hope to make it number one. This would ease
the environmental impact as well as the financial impact of energy use. To
do this, I plan on introducing off shore hydro electric generators under the
major bridges where they can fit and still allow traffic flow of water
vehicles. Then I plan to fix the city with windmill generators where I find
appropriate. While doing this I will be looking into aesthetically pleasing
solar paneling for around the top quarter of windows for skyscrapers and
businesses and housing with windows that are large enough to make an energy
impact with solar panels the same, as well as around the gutters of houses.
I hope to figure clean energy without being an eye sore.
For education I am planning to encourage vegetarian/vegan
school menus with culturally diverse foods, this will help with the global
impact of the people of the city and introduce foods to children’s lives. A
fundraiser could come from the printing of new vegan/vegetarian meals cook
books, so children can make their favorite meals at home, and we can tackle
the candy and soda machine with reusable water bottles and apple machines.
I want to create city-wide book clubs aired on the local access channel,
and possibly a *Good Night* story in the evenings. I can hope to commit the
locals to collect box-tops and other fundraisers to raise money for building
the libraries of youth. The books (short novels) will be read with the
student so they can read along or read before/during/after to help readers
conquer the distractions of reading disabilities. I believe in airing this
and a pre-school through first grade reading/language level television show
to help those children whose rights aren’t respected as students by their
parents. Some show up for school late, and some never make it to school. I
am concerned about this population with my concern for child sex
trafficking; the sex slaves of their parents. I have found them obviously
immature and psychologically violent/dangerous.
I also will look into school uniforms if I am able to acquire the funding
to create a local cotton recycling/fabric and uniform making factory; this
would be better than sending all those old clothes to foreign countries;
instead the materials can be recycled into new cloth and manufactured here
in The States to create jobs in a down economy. The old clothes could be
recycled into new material, even alone to better respect Americas ability of
oreign aid. We should stop sending over our trash and receiving cheap goods
as a general rule.
I believe healthcare will be taken care of. I have agreed with universal
healthcare since I was introduced to the idea in the 90’s.
I hope to do well during this campaign, and I may even some day run for a
State or Federal Government position. If I get elected I’ll be President of
the United States of America in ‘no’ time. ‘No’ time means I’m too busy to
read the clock, and I only have a time line of completed projects.
Thank you,
Shonda Colleen Kelley
I respectively suggest to the Occupier comment moderator that the previous comment posted as a self-promotion for candidacy would be better served – both for the candidate and the newszine – by a venue other than in the comments section of a news article.
I agree that this comment certainly doesn’t fit in this space well. However, I couldn’t find cause to delete it outright, nor a good place to which to move it. I will say, that any people contemplating a run for office can definitely submit an article to The Occupier about their intent. Please see this page on how to do so. That would be a much better layout than a comments thread, for sure.
I went to the forum as well. I would have liked to see more questioning about the eviction of protestors from Chapman and Lownsdale Squares. So far, Jefferson Smith is the only candidate who has articulated a strategy for dealing with political protest that isn’t something akin to “use force to make the uncomfortable scene go away!” I hope there are opportunities to draw this distinction in approach as the campaign rolls on.
Dear Mr Pike,
I thank you for your candor!
Sincerely, Patty Burkett
votepatty2012.com