Revolving doors (Jack Bog's Blog)

After some recent ugliness, the Clackamas County commissioners are working up some new rules for "decorum" at their meetings. No signs, no cheers (Bronx or otherwise), show your approval by raising your hand -- real grammar school stuff.

One of the interesting aspects of the O's story on the subject was the mention of Agnes Sowle, the "interim" Clackamas County attorney. Hadn't heard from Sowle in a while; she was Multnomah County attorney under the Mean Girls, including during the gay marriage drama of a few years ago.

That got us thinking, Who's the county counsel in Multnomah these days? Lo and behold, it's Chip Lazenby, formerly attorney at the Portland Development Commission from the Don Mazziotti days. Lazenby had his hand in many PDC debacles, from the SoWhat District to the shadowy Portland Family of Funds.

And getting back to Clackamas, Laurel Butman, former functionary in the City of Portland bond office (Motto: "Borrowing money is like getting cool stuff for free"), is now working as a deputy administrator in Clackamas. Lots of good Portland root stock being planted down that way. There's no doubt, our neighbors to the south are being Blumenauered.

UPDATE, 8:36 p.m.: An alert reader notices that between his PDC gig and his Multnomah County gig, Lazenby was general counsel at the real estate operation known as Portland State University.

Comments (15)

Chip was actually at Multnomah County in the 1990s - then I believe went to the State of Oregon - I think might have been out of government for a bit - then onto PDC. So, looks like full circle. Dealing with him just a very few times regarding human service matters, he actually was a pretty good guy to deal with.

Posted by umpire | January 12, 2011 5:14 PM

I can't imagine what it would be like to represent The Don and the rest of the Goldschmidt crew. Fortunately, I won't be finding out.

Posted by Jack Bog | January 12, 2011 5:21 PM

Guess those Clackamites had better get to those Council meetings and vigorously shake a fist.

Posted by Abe | January 12, 2011 6:13 PM

Blumenauered and Katzed!

That was a Katz rule, no signs or clapping in council, only raise hands.

Posted by clinamen | January 12, 2011 6:32 PM

With Vera, I always wanted to raise only 20% of my fingers.

Posted by Jack Bog | January 12, 2011 7:11 PM

A couple of times I've tried to dig into what the Portland Family of Funds does and can't make heads or tails of it. Talk about an opaque slush fund.

Posted by Snards | January 12, 2011 8:04 PM

Snards,
What kind of info did you find?
How much money are we looking at?
Who is "family?"

Posted by clinamen | January 12, 2011 8:18 PM

You can raise 20% Jack. I'll raise 1/5th.

Posted by Starbuck | January 12, 2011 8:27 PM

http://www.portlandfunds.com/index.php

Posted by clinamen | January 12, 2011 8:28 PM

I knew 2 city commissioners who often felt the urge to raise 20% of their fingers when Neil was mayor. They were sometimes known collectively as M&M.

Posted by LucsAdvo | January 12, 2011 9:14 PM

Watch out for robotic photo radar in Milwaukee. Its turning this area into a speed trap. These government flunkees are desperate for revenue so as to help fund the Portland (milwuakee) lightrail project, especially the Adams Cogen backroom deal to transfer funds from the Sellwood Bridge project to the light rail project.

Posted by Bob Clark | January 12, 2011 11:04 PM

They carry on as though there is still plenty of money around, and continue these backroom deals when we simply cannot afford them which is why we need more and more transparency.

We are at a critical juncture economically and we need to say enough is enough. Glad folks at Clackamas are working on this. My view is that many in Portland have been fairly beaten down, they need to have hope that this city can change for the better.

Posted by clinamen | January 12, 2011 11:32 PM

The Portlandification of Clackamas County began around the same time Jon Mantay was shown the door.

Posted by Garage Wine | January 13, 2011 5:25 AM

If anyone wonders why Clackamas County is being sold down the river, check out the County Commission Chair, Lynn Peterson's resume:
http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/bcc/peterson/resume.htm

With this kind of background, why would we expect anything more?

Posted by Nolo | January 13, 2011 7:34 AM

Definitely an insider!

Scary it seems only those who follow the mantra get elected.

If those who are not lock-step in with the agenda, they most likely are dismissed as a viable candidate around here. Another problem is that fear plays a role and some people are concerned that someone too far to the right will get in.

I propose there are people who are neither a lock-step or far right who would be capable of taking care of basics and working for the public interest. We need people who are willing to do just that, not interested in a political career, but to give service to the community for a term. We then need to commit to support them, and be the game-changers in this negative system we have now.

Posted by clinamen | January 13, 2011 12:32 PM

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Revolving doors

Comments (15)

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