I think the Tribune is about the only source in town close to the truth. You can tell Paulson is benefiting from his consultant's (Vera) coaching. She slammed PFE through without even getting City Council input and made Leonard look impotent.

I guess its time Leonard returned the favor to Portland. Let's see, no public hearings (no the 20 Timbers fans are not representative), a story that changes dollars and locations by the day, a smart man (Paulson) who needs this thing done NOW, an egomaniac city commissioner and a mayor who is ripping plays out of Bush's book by spending everything he can to buy votes.

We are really screwed.

As far as Papa Paulson - When he decided to bail out Goldman S to keep his stock up and then told Lehman to go bankrupt two days later in October, I think he showed his character.

"Meanwhile, Paulson's infamous dad will stop at nothing in cashing in on our children's future."

If I don't have children to pay back all this debt, does that make me a deadbeat?

For me, the lasting image from the big city council meeting to vote on the soccer deal that isn’t really a deal yet, was a comment made by Commissioner Fish. The 2 “No” votes were taking the standard opportunity to reap as much of the benefits from voting “No” as possible, while covering themselves with the soccer fans by saying how much they love the game. Commissioner Amanda even wore her soccer scarves from childhood.

But you can’t have a circus without the clowns, and you can’t have a move by politicians without a little congratulating. That’s the game the assembled leaders really love. If the Big Earthquake ever hits Portland, the first thing that will happen is 10 minutes of congratulations by our city council for the wonderful job they did preparing for it. Then they would run outside. So this was no different, and it was time to praise Sam and Randy for the incredible job they did negotiating the deal/no deal.

Commissioner Fish, the only one who even has the potential of having any sense on the council, showed what a fast learner he is in politics – the Not-So-Beautiful game. Turning to Randy Leonard, Nick suggested that based on the brilliant negotiating Randy had done on this deal, we should send him to negotiate in the Middle East.
Naturally, when Nick went with this line of praise, Randy puffed up like a Spring rooster and allowed that he was such a tough negotiator that if we sent him to the Middle East he could “start a war.”

So now we have this son of an investment banker millioniare – a millionaire who got a lot richer participating in the financial orgy of greed and bad judgments that threaten to destroy America as we speak – lecturing the city council about what they have to do next. Meanwhile our city council has approved a deal without really having one, leaving us in a position to get our budget worked over again. Not to mention that if any of this money is from derivative deal bonuses, we could get our karma worked over here as well.

But all this is the standard song. It isn’t aggravating to me to listen to anymore because it’s so predictable. It’s like watching creatures in the wild instinctively acting the way they always do. There’s something almost reassuring about it – like when the swallows return to Capistrano.

But let’s not get crazy with the congratulating – especially with this bit about Randy and the Middle East. For one thing, you never congratulate yourself about bartering for a rug, if you leave the store with no deal and no rug. I’ve been to the Middle East, I grew up in the Middle East, and Randy Leonard couldn’t negotiate a cup of coffee in the Middle East.

"Randy puffed up like a Spring rooster and allowed that he was such a tough negotiator that if we sent him to the Middle East he could “start a war.” "

Hey, you neglected to mention his bargaining ploy on the Tram. If I remember, he was going to tear it down with his little pickup truck if it got too expensive.

Of course, he kept on voting to build it anyways.

Great post, Bill.

Only 1 error: 2nd paragraph, 3rd sentence - replace "if" with "when"...

Wait a minute...while we're at it, in the same sentence, replace "10" with "60".

Those with the money dictating government. Can't say I'm shocked.

The City Council agreed to support Paulson’s bid for an MLS team on March 11 by approving the broad outlines of an estimated $129 million plan to renovated PGE Park for professional soccer and build a new Triple-A baseball stadium in the Rose Quarter. The deal calls for the city to commit about $70 million to the project, provided that no existing or future agency budgets be cut.

Wait, huh? $129 million? I thought it was $85 million? Can we have a running tally of the costs of this thing? I have a feeling the Oregonian will come out with an article in a month saying "the project, with a budget of $185 million and a City commitment of $90 million, is...."

The draft of the "Proposed MLS/AAA Transaction Terms for City Council Consideration" shows the $40 million franchise fee included in the (approximately) $129 million figure.

What concerns me is that Sam and Randy keep saying that the city can walk away from the deal if everything is not in place by September 1st. The draft proposal states that if all funding is not contractually committed by September 1st, "the parties may delay commencement of the MLS Stadium and the AAA Stadium by a to-be-agreed-upon time * * * *"

Maybe this provision was changed in the final agreement. Can we see for ourselves, or is the final agreement not a public document?

Couldn't just about anybody go to the Middle east and "start a war?" That doesn't seem as if it's a particularly difficult task...

Great article on what needs to be done to the Paulsons of this world:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

Several articles have mentioned that M Paulson will get a helping hand from H Paulson...I"m for that....just get some of H Paulson's back pocket change from the $400 million he helped himself to before he jumped over to the Bush disaster to ruin the world economy as fast as they could.
I don't like that H mentored Geithner...that alone should scare the bejesus out of any concerned American, not to mention the EG countries.
Dateline ran a great program last sunday and part two is tonight opposite 20/20..try it and see if they dont make sense.
we can all send a letter reflecting our disgust to gwbush.library@nara.gov.

I just wish that we all could do something to stop this deal. As satisfying as blogging is, unfortunately our words will not put a stop to this ludicrous project.
Suggestions? Come on folks, we are a group of diverse and I think pretty smart people, let's blog about how to put a stop to this nonsense and then do it!

I second the notion.

Hey Bill, my friend,

Spot on.
But who do you think you are with all that anti-government screed? Me?
If you're going to be me, be me.

I was going to compare you to Lars but that would have been too rude and outside the genuine spirit of camaraderie of which this is intended.

Or something like that.

let's blog about how to put a stop to this nonsense and then do it!

I've already written about one possible avenue.

And I have most definitely decided that I have gone to my last Portland Beaver game. When it's time yo take in a ballgame, we'll drive the kids to Keizer. Boycott, baby.

Our tax dollars at work at Goldman Sachs. Not the TARP dollars, which Goldman Sachs wants to return; it doesn't need those dollars anymore because it got billions of taxpayer dollars in counterparty payments from AIG.

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=Goldman+Sachs&srchst=cse

Oops, wrong link.

"Goldman Spent Millions to Bail Out 2 Executives"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/business/28goldman.html?_r=1

Jack -

If you want to take the kids to entertaining baseball, try either the Lewis & Clark games on SW Boones Ferry Road, or the UP games up on the bluff,, or the Pacific games out in Forest Grove. Fun; small venues, and priced right. Bring your own big bag of Hoody's ....er, whoevers' peanuts and soft drinks.

I think it would be productive to publicize alternatives to Paulson's teams. Maybe we can do this in an organized way.