Well, yeah, but could you think of a better guy to be state treasurer?

I guess we got to clone him.

Drat. Teddy the K should have relieved us of Sam Adams.

This is a shame. He was taking on the City.

I'll vote for Cogan. Anyone but Novick.

Definitely a lose for MultCo. Can't blame him for movin' on up, though.

Anyone so admired by the O's swooning Anna Griffin cannot be unimpeachably desirable:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/anna_griffin/index.ssf/2009/08/my_new_political_crush_multnom.html

Mr Kulongoski has imposed two unelected public officials upon the residents of beleaguered Multnomah County, one upon the entire state. Perhaps a sounder, more democratic appointment would have been to name Mr Westlund's second-in-command at the Treasurer's Office. Or someone with actual experience with the Office but not currently holding an elected position.

It must certainly be a relief to Mr Wheeler that he no longer need concern himself with averting the Sellwood Bridge disaster-waiting-to-happen.

Since it's Tuesday, I'm going with a reference from the show "Lost":
Losing Ted from Portland politics is like when Jacob is killed in the secret chamber under the base of the Statue of Taweret - the Island is left unprotected and all its inhabitants are in danger from the Evil Smoke Monster - also known as Sam and Randy.

President. He's presidential material, as long as he stays away from the high-velocity and high-altitude stuff.

Maybe he can run with Michelle Obama as VP, or vice versa. I'd start watching TV again.

"Judy Shiprack"

Not to mention, failed developer who couldn't even make a project work with govt money.

This augurs not well for Mult county. Mr Wheeler at least was willing to try to cut spending, something I'm not seeing any local pol do otherwise.

I'd be curious if the pub employee unions will allow him to make a diff at the state level.

"Shipwreck" Shiprack.

What Bark Munster said.

"I'll vote for Cogan. Anyone but Novick.", I agree with snards. Novick is for all intents and purposes a communist.

This reminds me of when Mike Riley left Oregon State to coach the San Diego Chargers. He thought "this is my shot" and he took it even though the job wasn't done at OSU. In my opinion Ted can do his best work reforming and running Oregon's most populous county. Not to mention he has also been a good counter to the shenanigans at the city of Portland.

Good luck in your new position Ted. Come back soon, hopefully as a candidate for Mayor.

I agree with Gil. Yes, he's not going to be at home to prevent the local checking account from being robbed (to steal from Stephen Fry, I suspect that Sam Adams's favorite drink is "Everything In The Till And No Funny Business"), but at least he can smack a few hands trying to rob Oregon to pay Portland.

Do you think the ol' guv is doing this to make it easier for city council to have it's way?

Nah! Ted wouldn't do that, would he?

The thing that stuck out about Shiprack wasn't that she defaulted a PDC loan, it was the "Oh, you thought I was going to pay that back?" attitude.

One of the under-appreciated challenges of leadership is succession planning. Wheeler"s will be put to the test.

Goldschmidt & Co. got Wheeler out of their way. Looks like a sucker play. Wheeler's betting against the house looking ahead. Or, maybe he's been totally co-opted. Or both. Maybe Jack's and others' faith was misplaced. Time will tell.

This is another reason to abandon the sinking ship of Mult. Cnty.

I too wish you the very best, Mr. Wheeler. We need thoughtful, reasonable, accountable citizens guarding the public interests. You've shown yourself to be a contemporary guardian of these interests in Portland.

Keep an even keel and I do not doubt you will rise to the top in the state, and better.

I'm going to say what "Gardiner Menefree" alluded to above and what some must surely be thinking but haven't raised. Perhaps out of respect to the deceased, perhaps for other reasons. I acknowledge I am a neophyte to the political arena, so please correct me if I'm way off-base. Here's my question:

Why didn't Ben Westlund resign earlier? Surely, he must have known his cancer was overtaking him. And why didn't the governor, in good conscience, encourage Mr. Westlund to resign earlier? (Is it really because the late Treasurer was in fine health as late as last Friday, as reported in a recent post in the WWeek?)

Had the Treasurer seat been vacated a whole lot earlier, we, as the voters, would have a more robust choice in the May primary. And to be fair to candidates, more people would have had a fair chance to consider a run.

Now we're left with four candidates who filed for a major office in the last TWO days (Hill, Metsger, Wheeler, and some other guy).

That seems plain wrong for an office with considerable financial oversight.

Then there's the fall-out in Multnomah County to consider as a result of Wheeler's appointment. Given that Wheeler was announced today (also the last day to file for the 2010 elections), we, the voters only have a couple of people running for Chair (Cogen and Carter). For Cogen's old district in the County, a bunch of people somehow managed to throw their name into the ring by 5 pm today.

I think the current candidates for the Chair and District 2 are all fine, good people. I'm disappointed at the rushed process that makes me wonder whether even death has become politicized in order to keep elected office in the hands of insiders. Was the passing of Ben Westlund leveraged for political gain? If so, that's a sick society.

Health insurance coverage. Another example of why we need single-payer health insurance in the U.S. like the civilized countries.

"Novick is for all intents and purposes a communist."

Anyone who really thinks that is for all intents and purposes a fascist.

Re: "Then there's the fall-out in Multnomah County to consider as a result of Wheeler's appointment."

ST&CP:aSS, while there are clearly consequences regarding elective offices following from Mr Kulongoski's rash appointment of Mr Wheeler, there are also practical organizational effects upon the very feeble Multnomah County governmental structure:

http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2010/03/11/county-scrambles-to-fill-wheelers-void/

Surely Mr Kulongoski was aware of the mischief his political gesture would produce.