Isn't it rich? Don't you approve?
It really is unbelievable. The City of Beaverton has indeed hired former Portland Development Commission boss Don "The Don" Mazziotti as its economic development director. This at the same time that the city negotiates a major, major public-private real estate partnership with Merritt Paulson, who until late July (and perhaps even later) had Mazziotti in his stable as a paid consultant, heavily promoting the very same project.
When they do this kind of stuff in Chicago and New Jersey, everybody laughs. When they do it in Oregon, people just pass the arugula with a straight face and act like everything's fine. "Human nature doesn't apply here. We're so holy, there is no need for ethics rules." Whatever, people. Party on. It's only the Paulsons taking your money... again.
UPDATE, 5:32 p.m.: The latest load from The Don:
Mazziotti said his former job as a consultant for the Beavers will in no way influence his development decisions at the city.The Don? Listen? Now, that's comedy.Those decisions will remain up to Gary Brentano, Mazziotti said. Brentano is Beaverton’s business development services director and is the point person at the city for the stadium project.
"I just plan to do a lot of listening and a lot of learning," Mazziotti said.
| Posted at 5:13 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (16)
Who will Brentano answer to -- Don?
Posted by Jack Bog | September 16, 2009 5:39 PM
Nice use of the, "Send in the Clowns" lyrics.
It sounds like Michael Moore's new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story" examines Henry Paulson's efforts to get TARP passed - especially after the public rejected the idea, and Congress voted it down the first time. Let's just say it was not pretty.
I think it ties in with Merritt's own moves, because one of the selling points in all this has been our enhanced reputation. That's the "bio-tech jobs" of this deal - the promise of great publicity for us simply by giving Merritt his own little soccer playpen with Henry paying for it and owning a share of the team.
What could happen is that the movie will allow more people to realize the true nature of Henry Paulson's work with Goldman Sachs and the Bush administration. And that's downright ugly.
Then our wisdom for getting mixed up with these East Coast investment bankers will be seen in a new light. Just as the bio-tech jobs disappeared, the added prestige we were supposed to get from the deal will vaporize into the Rose City air.
The rest of the country could start seeing Portland's leadership as hopeless idiots. How do you get taken locally by the same people who just took the entire country? Aren't our people paying any attention?
There's no time to waste. We have to move fast. Portland's rep is worth a lot and we can't let Sam and Randy screw it up. How can we distance ourselves from these clowns...Wait, that's it!
Maybe we can play "Send in the Clowns" before every city council meeting.
Posted by Bill McDonald | September 16, 2009 5:45 PM
LOL. Careful, Bill - You wouldn't want to wake up with a horse's head in your bed now...
Posted by RANZ | September 16, 2009 5:52 PM
Couldn't we have done a package deal and thrown in Adams and Leonard?
Posted by notapottedplant | September 16, 2009 6:00 PM
The Don in Beaverton? That will be about as amusing as Tony Soprano guest-hosting on The View.
Posted by RANZ | September 16, 2009 6:11 PM
No...Not "Send in the Clowns", but "Damned For All Time/Blood Money" from JC Superstar.
Beaverton has just damned itself for all time, as far as I'm concerned.
Please, somebody look into whether they will take Sammy and Randy as a package deal. I assume that they both bend over and spread 'em when the money clip is snapped....that oughta count for something.
Posted by godfry | September 16, 2009 6:16 PM
Wait, wait, wait ... So they hired this guy "to listen and learn?" Where do I sign up for this gig? Whatever Don's charging, I'll do it for half!
Posted by Mike (the other one) | September 16, 2009 6:37 PM
Meanwhile, it's a year later after TARP was announced. The plan was 700 billion to buy up toxic assets from the books of banks. And how many of these troubled assets are still on the books? All of them.
As soon as Henry Paulson got the money he redirected it right to the banks, so the casino gambling could go right on. In the polite world of the super-rich he just changed his mind. If it happened down here at our level, we'd say we'd been snookered, conned, lied to, and ripped off.
Remember how earnst he was about getting these toxic assets out of the system? It was so vital. Then, 10 minutes later, after he got the money, he kissed off the plan and used TARP for something else.
These assets are as dangerous to us now as they ever were, and if I'm following this right, they will soon be joined by more from the commercial mortgage area.
Analogies are never perfect but here's one that may capture what happened: Henry Paulson was like a junkie who borrows money to pay his rent but blows the money on more drugs. Meanwhile the rent has still not been paid.
Another possible play here was that the September 11th, 2008 market withdrawal was a deliberate attempt to fleece America with a manufactured crisis in the waning weeks of the Bush administration. The fear angle was definitely played with Henry Paulson saying there'd be martial law if this TARP money was not granted to him for these toxic assets.
They're all still on the books. Un-friggin-believable.
Locally we had it here in terms of the soccer-only thing at PGE. If we didn't give them what they wanted, we'd lose the franchise. We'd be in violation of their standards and the sky would cave in. Children would weep and the Timbers Army would be sent to Iraq.
It was all BS - just like dear old Dad pulled out of his ass back in Washington.
Posted by Bill McDonald | September 16, 2009 7:29 PM
Bill, I'm reading Les Leopold's book "The Looting of America" and I think you'd enjoy it immensely -- a very clear, easy to understand explanation of the financial fantasyland that is vomiting pain over all the people who didn't enjoy any of the sugar when the good times were rolling . . .
I really do think Jack ought to do David and LLP in rotation over on the left there: both run all over the Portland area preying on peoples' desire to believe the best of their fellow man, both are scammers.
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | September 16, 2009 7:49 PM
Gino Biggi and kids, I beg, I plead that you refuse to sell your property to help implement the Paulson/The Don/The Mayor fiasco on the City of Beaverton.
Your love of the city, your history with the city, and your family's future in the city will be many times more rewarded than the potential dollars in your pocket. Respect will be forever.
Posted by Jerry | September 16, 2009 9:19 PM
George,
Thanks for the recommendation. And that was a topnotch observation about the Barefoot Lord and Panhandlin' Dave.
If you go back to your initial comment you should have had a bigger more descriptive name than just David to go along with the one for the Barefoot Lord.
Take the audience to the line. Don't make them have to think, "David? Who's David? Oh yeah, the panhandler guy."
But it is absolutely brilliant as an observation. Because it's based on the truth.
Posted by Bill McDonald | September 16, 2009 9:24 PM
You wouldn't want to wake up with a horse's head in your bed now...
Around this nutty place it would probably be a unicorn...
Posted by Jon | September 16, 2009 9:26 PM
Let's send "the Don" a hearing aid!
Posted by portland native | September 17, 2009 8:05 AM
Speaking of criminals in the Bush gang, here's another example, from the agency where the regulators literally were in bed with the corporadoes they were "regulating"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-norton17-2009sep17,0,6215749.story
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | September 17, 2009 12:19 PM
I think the next thing that needs to happen is a city name change to Beaverdumb
Posted by LucsAdvo | September 17, 2009 6:03 PM
More like Beaverdon...
Posted by RANZ | September 18, 2009 9:11 AM