I will vote against Amanda Fritz. She is another tax-and-spend liberal. We have too many of those already -- we need government that respects people's pocketbooks, and realizes we, the citzenry, are struggling more than ever.

Guess you won't be voting then. Look at the candidate list.

The last thing we need in city hall is another champion of the public employees unions a la Opie and Moses. She gets a NO vote from me also.

Yeah, man -- those public employees... what gall they have... being public servants and all...

If I were registered to vote in Portland, I would happily give Amanda my $5 and vote. Alas, I am not (nor am I a member of a public employees union -- or any union, for that matter).

Fritz is just the latest incarnation of the narrow-minded, quasi-liberal Portland council clones. She's all about whatever as long as the unions and her various little cliques agree. I'd like to say all style and no substance but it's worse than that - no style, no substance, no independence, no grasp of what "average" Portlanders want.

All activism all the time is what's wrong with this town already.

The last thing we need is more of the "European model" - it doesn't even work in Europe.

...or England

ellie,

you can give Amander your $5 and your vote even if you don't live in Portland, Gary won't tell - ask Vlady.

...and simply calling them "public servants" as some sort of talisman doesn't immunize them from criticism - even if YOU do it. After all Bush is a "public servant" and I don't imagine you feel like some sort of "political racist" when you criticize him. Sauce for the goose and all that.

Ah, rr... how privileged I feel that you chose to address my comment!

Who said anything about immunization from criticism? But I suppose inflammation of criticism is OK, right? I can't imagine a group of people I wholly support nor deny, so your inference that I'm defending an entire group of people is laughable. What is also laughable is the indictment of an entire group of people -- public employees are sooo evil, you know. But I suppose I should be more careful in my employment of sarcasm, lest it be hastily read as an endorsement of something unintended.

I have to agree with Mr Bog. It's not a real cornocupia of choice here, people, even with the free money. I like Charles Lewis myself, but if it comes to Fritz vs. C Smith, no contest. ANything for a regime change!

She is another tax-and-spend liberal.

haven't read much history of Republican spending in Portland, have you?

narrow-minded, quasi-liberal

what the heck is a "quasi" liberal? someone who's almost, but not quite, a liberal?

The last thing we need is more of the "European model"

given that Europe's home to a few dozen models of government, with a spectrum of tax schemes, spending models and problems, what the heck is the "European Model"?

I have given Amanda a bit of my mind before that she isn't my type of candidate but there is no doubt in my mind of her honesty, commitment and work ethic. I also seriously doubt that she parades the causes of any clique per se. She seems her own person with a lot of susbtance and a fair amount of independence.

My concerns are that her platforms focus on the safety nets for the disadvantaged when there is NO money instead of creating wealth within the city that will raise tax revenues.

She seems her own person with a lot of susbtance and a fair amount of independence.

Which will put her at a distinct disadvantage against Homer Williams's streetcar pal.

what the heck is the "European Model"?

Giselle Bündchen?

The unions own city hall - and will continue to own it, as long as we keep electing people like Fireman Randy, Opie and Fritz.

The unions also play a big role in most elections. If a candidate gets the backing of the government employee unions (say, 10 percent of the vote), the Bus kid/Willamette Week crowd (another 10), and the "gay vote" (another 10), that's around a 30-point block right there. The challenger would have to win 51 percent out of the other 70 percent of the voters. It ain't do-able.

If you get Mark Wiener on your side, chalk up 10 percent bonus votes, at least.

"The unions also play a big role in most elections."

You realize there are about 400,000+ active PERS accounts now. You can probably guess which way that bloc will vote on any issue plus a very high turnout.

Balance this against the total potential voters of 1.5M who might get a 50% showing at election and you can explain how we elect who we do and what motivates them.

"...there is no doubt in my mind of her honesty, commitment and work ethic. I also seriously doubt that she parades the causes of any clique per se. She seems her own person with a lot of susbtance and a fair amount of independence."

I agree with Travis on this. Amanda comes off as a bit nutty, confrontational, and alarmist at public meetings. She rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but it's clear to me that her intentions are good.

" . . . it's clear to me that her intentions are good."

What's that saying about the paving on the road to hell???

Sounds like a do-gooder in the Fireman Randy & Opie mould.

Amanda had my vote last time, and she will have it again. She is not bought off, and truly cares about PDX citizen welfare.

"She's all about whatever as long as the unions and her various little cliques agree." . . . Amanda has "no grasp of what 'average' Portlanders want."

It's typical of right-wingers like rr to condemn unions every chance they get, and to claim that they're doing so on behalf of "average" citizens. When I hear this stuff I wonder whether the speaker is a dupe or a willing propagandist for the wealthy elites, because few forces in Western history have done more for the average person than unions.

What kinds of professions constitute the bulk of union membership? Teachers, blue-collar workers, firefighters, cops, nurses. For the most part, union members earn average wages and share the same basic concerns of other middle-class members of society.

To portray union members, or unions, as the enemy of the average citizen is to do the bidding of the wealthiest, most exploitive and most anti-democratic elements of this society.

Anyway, as to Amanda Fritz, I consider her membership in a union and her career as a nurse to be points in her favor. Both of these things should give her insight into the concerns of the average citizen of Portland.

*****You realize there are about 400,000+ active PERS accounts now.******

Statewide including retirees and former employees living out of state. What the heck does this statement have to do with an election in Portland? By the way the largest concetration of retired PERs employees is in metro Salem.

Greg C

Nonny,
Thanks for the endorsement. If I win in a write in I will serve, providing I haven't moved to Tigard by then.

I support Amanda in this race. She is the only one of the candidates that will put budgeting priority on core services first, rather than continuing to cut services for the sake of trains, trams and trolleys. There's a lot we don't agree on, but I do not doubt her honesty and integrity. When it comes to what the city is supposed to be doing, she definitely "gets it".

The quality I noticed about Amanda is she is one of the few who listen first,speak second.

I don't know if thats a reason to vote for someone,but I like it.

The City; for better or worse, has made great effort to encourage participatory democracy. Thats why we get all these nutcase people coming up from the neighborhoods. I much prefer the professionals who have such a great understanding of how to run a city..

snicker snicker

"What the heck does this statement have to do with an election in Portland?"

You realize the 3 biggest employers in downtown are CoP, State of Oregon and Feds. I am just stating that a very large bloc of voters in any part of the state are beneficiaries of state largesse. You can read what you want into it, but my sense is they vote on key issues the same way enough to swing a vote in their favor.

If you don't think this is real, then look at Ted K's top guy, Tim Nesbitt and his heritage. He knows who he has to keep happy.

***You realize the 3 biggest employers in downtown are COP, State of Oregon and Feds.****

Unfortunately for you the elections aren't restricted to just the downtown. The City of Portland has about 5,000 total employees not all of which are City residents. I doubt the State and Feds have that much combined. And you forgot the County, and Port of Portland, etc. Meanwhile there are over 300,000 registered voters in the City.

And yes I am still having trouble understanding what 400,000 PERS accounts worldwide have to do with a City of Portland election. If you want to blame someone for the electing the current Council I suggest you start by looking at your neighbors.

Greg C

From what I remember Amanda was one of the only candidates who was willing to halt the construction of the tram when it became apparent that the whole thing was a huge bait and switch con job by the OHSU brass and certain CoP insiders. In my opinion she cares more about the quality of life in Portland in terms of things like parks and living wage employment than condo towers and toy trains. There is no doubt in my mind that she will represent all the citizens of Portland with complete resolve and integrity if she's elected to the city council.

A shrill "neighborhood activist" as city commissioner - yeah, that's really gonna fix things down at city hall. Oh brother, the lunacy knows no bounds in this town.

"And yes I am still having trouble understanding what 400,000 PERS accounts worldwide have to do with a City of Portland election."

OK, assume the distribution of PERS accounts is fairly equal on a per capita basis or at least within proportion.

There are about 1.5M voters and most of the time about half show up or 750K.

The 400K PERS voters will probably have a turnout rate of about 80% or 320K. THis is about half of the actual voters on average.

THe people with PERS accounts will probably be a solid bloc one way or the other. So if a Randy or Sam can get AFSCME endorsement by promising no reform of FPDR for example, then the competition is looking at an uphill battle.