Last Thursday's Trib story about the spendy new police radio system that the City of Portland is planning to buy had some really interesting material buried at the end of it. It implicitly raised the question whether the fix was in -- whether it was already pre-ordained that Motorola was going to get the lucrative contract -- even though a case could be made that other firms should be invited to bid on the job. Veteran reporter Jim Redden laid it between the lines this way:
During a December 2010 council briefing, Klum and Greinke said options for choosing the replacement system include soliciting requests from qualified companies or entering into a sole source contract with Motorola, the company given the contract to replace the system’s controller.
Although the final decision has not yet been made, Motorola may already have the upper hand in winning the contract to replace the radio system, according to the minutes of a public safety systems program advisory body.
The Radio Project Oversight Committee was appointed to provide an independent review of the project as it proceeds. At its March 22 meeting, project manager Larson told the committee about the previous Motorola contract to stabilize the controller. Board member Shea Marshman asked if there were any concerns that the work performed by Motorola might cause any difficulties if the city went with a different system provider in the future.
According to the meeting’s minutes, "Larson said there was a risk in having to replace the controller again if the city went to another vendor; that would be part of the analysis, asking the questions – does it make sense to go out to another vendor? Does it make sense to try to migrate our system onto a current Motorola system? Does it make sense to go out to RFP (request for proposals)? Larson said those are the kinds of analyses that need to be completed to make sure the city is looking at the right things."
Motorola was also the biggest contributor to the campaign in support of the public safety bond measure that is funding most of the radio replacement project. The company contributed $35,000 to the campaign.
The only other equipment provider contributing to the campaign was Emerson Electric, which donated $500.
Hmmmmm... you give five figures to one of you-know-who's pet political causes... then you get a $50 million contract...
If You See Kay, Red 2011
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Rodney Strong, Charlotte's Home Sauvignon Blanc 2012
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Alamos, Cabernet 2011
Cousino Macul, Cabernet, Anitguas Reservas 2009
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1967, Toscana 2009
Charamba, Douro 2008
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Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
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Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
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The Occasional Book
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
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Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
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Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
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Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
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F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
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Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
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Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
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David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
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Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
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David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
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Road Work
Miles run year to date: 212
At this date last year: 60
Total run in 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (3)
Pretty nice ROI. Cut me a slice!
Posted by Allan L. | July 18, 2011 9:40 AM
First radio broadcast of the new system:
"Calling all Cons, Calling all Cons"
Posted by Ralph Woods | July 18, 2011 9:52 AM
Very funny Ralph. Who gets the bond underwriting? Call GS...
Posted by Greg T. | July 18, 2011 10:08 AM