So where is the panel of experts on the Paulson stadium deal? (Jack Bog's Blog)

Back in July, when the Portland City Council was basking in the glow of an early version of the PGE Park soccer deal with Little Lord Paulson, our mayor made a few of his trademark moves. First, as you'll recall, the deal wasn't finalized until 10 minutes before the City Council meeting at which it was aired, to the applause of the throng of scarf-clad soccer dudes who had been wheeled in for a show of sudsy enthusiasm. Other than Paulson, the Sam-Rand twins, and the hooligans, everybody in the room was ambushed -- no time to ask, or even to formulate, any questions.

But then came a truly classic Adams moment. He's never satisfied simply to lie to your face -- he always has to gild the lily with a little extra malarkey. For the thrill of it, I guess, although to know for sure you'd have to ask a shrink. Not only does he falsely deny having sex with the teenage intern -- he makes himself out as a mentor to the kid. Not only does he falsely accuse his opponent of lying about the scandal -- he makes the guy out to be a homophobe.

On this particular afternoon, as he rammed home the Paulson deal over dozens of unanswered questions, the mayor had to go one step further and add this tidbit (at around 74 minutes into the show, which starts with a few seconds of loud audio feedback):

Just one comment that I failed to mention at the outset. We'll be coming back to council with a panel of experts on facility renovations, so that will be giving the city council expert opinions on the contract that will be proposed. So, we're lucky that this facility was renovated within our lifetime, and some of the professional staff that worked on the previous renovation we have retained, or they have volunteered to sign up again. So we're gonna get really good experienced experts to give us the kind of due diligence rigor to make sure that this contract -- if it's eventually approved -- that this contract is really in the best interest of taxpayers.

Well, here we are more than six months after he banged that jerky gavel of his. We're told that we're all finally going to get to see the contract tomorrow. Will the expert panel's report be ready by then? Has the panel even met yet? Does anybody know who's on it?

If it's like everything else that's gone down on this deal, then there is no panel, and that was just one more little lie piled onto the steaming pile of falsehoods dumped on this city by its dreadful figurehead. And if the experts do show up, it will be quite amusing to poke around and see why they might want to be so enthusiastic about such a dubious project.

Comments (7)

Picky, picky, picky...Anyway, public records act request has revealed the panel of experts (Panel Chair, M. Shizaru): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_monkeys

Posted by Mojo | January 13, 2010 12:09 PM

I've only known a couple of people for whom lying was a pathological problem and it seemed that, for them, their notion of a lie's effectiveness rested primarily on delivering the it with a focused emphasis and delivering it to as large an audience as possible. In other words, not a lot of care went into details or crafting supporting evidence or persuasion or keeping track of who knows what. Blunt, opportunistic deception was mostly a matter of force and timing; and shaping it as an announcement exploits our group tendency to have an expansive sense of audience, to relax the same alertness to dishonesty we possess when we're addressed individually. I don't know what these people were like privately, but professionally it seemed a genuine compulsion, and was their standard method by which they advanced their concerns. Even if the goal itself wasn't poisonous, the road to it always was.

Posted by ep | January 13, 2010 1:32 PM

'experienced experts' good one Sam-inator ! I just hate those inexperienced experts.....

Posted by billb | January 13, 2010 4:51 PM

I assume Marshall Glickman will be on the panel of experts.

Posted by John F. Bradach, Sr. | January 13, 2010 5:34 PM

I hope the panel of stadium "experts" are better than the historic "experts" cobbled together for the 39th/Chavez name change.

Uh, oh. Does "experienced experts" mean it will be the same bunch? Given the term, redundency might be appropriate, if not ironic.

Posted by NW Portlander | January 13, 2010 6:27 PM

I mean who cares anymore? This is getting depressing, I'm an old guy thinking about leaving when I retire.

Now I'm starting to hear, sharp, young kids see there are no opps for any kind of advancement in this town and they want to leave also.

It'll just get me angry when I think of how many years and dollars we waste on polishing the same old scrap heap of downtown Portland instead of doing something that matters and makes life better for people who live here.

Posted by Steve | January 13, 2010 8:27 PM

Remember an expert is defined as a past drip under pressure

Posted by phil | January 14, 2010 5:31 AM

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

So where is the panel of experts on the Paulson stadium deal?

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