Isn't Laurel Butman also the genius in charge of the SAP payroll computer system implementation? Maybe we should teach her how to use an abacus.

First rule of management: If you don't know what's happening, what's happening is bad for you.

I smell a freedom of information request (and possible lawsuit).

Maybe she told Mark Bunster....

I've already made the request. The latest I was told was to come back on March 10.

Maybe B of A figured out that the "full faith and credit" of our general fund isn't as good as it sounds.

I would guess that the interest rate they asked for is off the charts, and they're dickering. But it's all just speculation -- there's no transparency in Portland's secret money rooms.

Let's be fair. It's still going better than that meeting in Lents.

With all the construction activity taking place, one would assume that the financing is lined up. Ready! FIRE! Aim!

These people make the Three Stooges look like Stanford MBA's!

I've also been communicating all of this past week with Laurel Butman, trying to get the so-called "revised" MLS design guide.

Based on the current MLS guide, dated September 1, 2008, PGE Park will never be able to meet minimum requirements for essential spectator facilities, like restrooms and food concession stands.

That's obviously why the guide was never made public during any of the public hearings on this deal. Even after renovations, PGE Park would only have enough spectator facilities to adequately accommodate half of its projected seating capacity.

But since early September, the city has now been claiming that MLS is in the process of revising its guide.

Well, here it is five months later, and the city now officially says -- in response to my public records request from last week -- that it still does not have the revised guide.

However, back on January 19, MLS sent a letter to the city, stating that it has approved the PGE Park renovation plans.

So, assuming the architects would have needed the revised guide in order to draw up plans that meet MLS requirements, why doesn't the city have the revised guide?

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that no such revised guide exists, and that there has never been any plan to revise the current guide.

That's because it's unrealistic to think that there are any legitimate revisions that would make any significant difference as they apply to PGE Park.

Stay tuned. The next big showdown will come on Thursday, February 18, when the Design Commission holds a hearing on PGE Park. In the staff report, the Design Commission staff is also asking about the status and whereabouts of the revised MLS guide.

Laurel Butman is essentially the PR person for the Office of Management and Finance - she was not in charge of any part of the SAP project, but was on the communications team. I doubt she is a significant player, if one at all, on the financing of PGE Park.

Mr. Johansen used to respond to my requests for information directly. These days, I am instructed to go through Ms. Butman.

OK this is a question for all you members of the bar, are there any grounds to sue these morons?

Maybe I don't remember this correctly, but I could have sworn that CoP's outside bond counsel is KL Gates, who, as I recall, is also bond counsel to BofA, hence the "we are familiar with the standard form of documentation prepared by KL Gates for similar transactions, and expect that such documentation will be acceptable," at the bottom of page 3 on BofA's letter of interest. Does this ring a bell to anyone else here? It couldn't possibly be that the same people who wrote the BofA letter of interest also advised the CoP concerning its acceptance of the terms, could it? I probably misunderstand something, or maybe this is how things are done.

"Maybe I don't remember this correctly, but I could have sworn that CoP's outside bond counsel is KL Gates, who, as I recall, is also bond counsel to BofA" anonymon

Jesus H. what we have here is a bar complaint for conflict of interest they way I see this

CoP's outside bond counsel is KL Gates, who, as I recall, is also bond counsel to BofA

The way muni bond deals work, bond counsel is independent (at least theoretically) of all parties to the deal. The city has its own counsel (city attorney's office), the bond underwriter has its own counsel (in-house bank lawyer), and the bond counsel runs the deal and provides one or more legal opinions to the bondholders. KL Gates has had a stranglehold on local bond business in Portland for many years. It's a good gig, but compared to other branches of corporate law, it's not the most lucrative.