Worrying about Multnomah County (Jack Bog's Blog)

Now that the wise, calm, steady hand of Ted Wheeler has left the Multnomah County commission for the state treasurer's office, suddenly the makeup of that board looks pretty scary. Jeff Cogen will be jumping into Wheeler's still-warm seat as commission chair, and he is going to wield quite a bit of power. But he's still a relative unknown, and of the other three continuing commissioners, two are of grave concern.

Judy Shiprack (nee Bauman) wasted no time revealing her role as construction contractor shill when she ran out to Lents with Fireman Randy last summer to try to cram the Paulson baseball stadium down the horrified neighborhood's throat. And yesterday The Latest Kafoury, Deborah, popped up in Willy Week to tell the world that she's so happy that Wheeler's gone, because Cogen is going to supply a new brand of leadership -- "pushing the envelope," whereas Ted was merely maintaining the status quo.

Uh oh. Major uh oh.

Can you say "Convention Center hotel"? Can you say "new urban renewal districts"? It certainly sounds as though the stupidity in these arenas, skillfully stalled by Wheeler, could be about to resume.

Will Cogen stay the course and stand up for fiscal responsibility at the county level? I don't know. He's a former protege of Dan "Legend" Saltzman, the resident West Hills rag doll on the Portland City Council, and you'll soon see a lot of the two of their lawn signs side by side. Saltzman has never stood up to the big money real estate weasels, or the cops, or to anybody else for that matter, and it remains to be seen whether Cogen will do so. One can only hope.

It gets even scarier when one considers who's up for Cogen's soon-to-be-vacated seat. The Reverend Chuck (Inside Track to God) Currie is one of the candidates there, and he would likely be a second vote for whatever Deborah Kafoury wanted to do. When she tried to stay on in the state legislature despite actually moving out of her district, old Chuck was quick to defend her actions. He's also on the record, on this blog and elsewhere, as believing that Erik Sten was one of the greatest leaders Portland has ever seen. If Currie makes it onto the commission, any similarity between the county government and an adult enterprise would be strictly coincidence.

The other candidates include Karol Collymore, a current Cogen staffer who one might think would be a second vote for Cogen's agenda; and Roberta Phillip, whom we like a lot but is a political rookie with the potential for being eaten alive by the big money interests from the west side. Paul Van Orden is another attractive young candidate, but he reminds us of a cute orange tomcat left out in the yard at night and surrounded by hungry urban coyotes. Tom Markgraf, an Earl the Pearl flack? Great, if you like spending money on things that don't work.

Shiprack, Kafoury, a rookie, Cogen, plus Diane McKeel, the token member from Gresham... Go by streetcar, people. Go by streetcar.

Comments (9)

"Judy Shiprack (nee Bauman) wasted no time revealing her role as construction contractor shill"

Don't forget her own abortive attempt at being a developer:

http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2008/10/17/shipracked-with-few-pdc-loans-delinquent-judy-shiprack-is-in-rare-company/

She couldn't make it work with PDC money which is giveaways.

Plus it gives the union one more seat (via her husband) to come up with more make-work projects.

You'll miss Serena Cruz, Rojo de Steffey and Lisa Naito (forgot - she's still there) yet.

Posted by Steve | March 17, 2010 9:44 AM

I think this is the most unfortunate turn of policical events I've ever seen. At a time when this city needs new leadership, we get more of the re-treads. Mother Gretchen should be proud. While it is amusing to say we can always leave this city and it's corrupt political leadership, it's now time for me to go. Leonard et al will now have free reign and a no holds barred checkbook. Very sad indeed.

Posted by Andiamo | March 17, 2010 10:03 AM

This turn of events sures smells like chicago style back room politics. If Kulongowski waited one more day, Cogen would've been out of luck with the passing of the election filing deadline. With Cogen, it's like the current Portland city hall regime just put their plant into Multnomah County commission. More trampling on joe and mary six pack to hand out bennies to who ever is in vogue at the moment.

Posted by Bob Clark | March 17, 2010 12:02 PM

Jack, please do me a favor. The next time you're out at City Hall, bury a penny in the flowerbeds. I want to see how long it'll take before Sam and his crew have burned so much money that they'll be running metal detectors through the flowerbed for that penny.

Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | March 17, 2010 3:14 PM

Don't be fooled by Van Orden's easy affability and boyish good looks. He's got more IQ points than any of them, a better grasp of all the larger issues, has been schooled in the trenches of local government middle-to-upper management, and has more common sense than any other three of them combined. If any of them has the potential to eventually meet or beat Wheeler's mark, it is Van Orden.

But, I would also be glad to see Currie in one of those County Commission spots. He will always be a prominent advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, regardless of the position he holds, and it would be good if he understood what it was actually like to legislate and implement and horse-trade and administer with all the real world limits. Walk a mile in their shoes, Chuck!

Posted by dyspeptic | March 17, 2010 10:10 PM

I think you forgot Maria Rubio again. In her Mercury blogterview she even mentioned, gasp, salestax.

Posted by boats | March 18, 2010 8:44 AM

Re: Paul van Orden

Of course I understand the cute orange tomcat comment, Paul has a street smart charm... but I have to say: A tomcat clever enough to survive among hungry coyotes for 14 years, is a tomcat that has my respect.

Posted by Noah Kleiman | March 18, 2010 12:49 PM

At 40 years old, I like Jack calling me a Tomcat in the campaign. Honestly, I love that he is from back in NJ where I grew up and a fellow contumacious individual.

I am not trying to garner names of folks who in my opinion have a limited history creating jobs or being fiscally sound. My endorsements will not be owed votes on Council or Commission, contracts for poorly conceived development, or other classic back scratching. They are community, neighborhood, business , and small business leaders who will be the backbone of fiscally sound decisions if I am elected.

Respectfully,

Paul van Orden
http://paulforcounty.com/endorsement_list/

Posted by Paul van Orden | March 26, 2010 12:16 AM

Paul Van Orden used to work for Essex County back in NJ - He was an environmental officer whose turf included Newark. Now that is what I call an urban backyard - if he can handle coyotes from the land of the Sopranos, he can handle what ever Portland has to throw at him.

Posted by John Myers | March 26, 2010 8:30 AM

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Worrying about Multnomah County

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