Phony baloney (Jack Bog's Blog)

In addition to reportedly driving while his license was suspended, Portland mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith didn't vote in Bush vs. Gore (when he was 27) or in Clinton vs. Dole (when he was 23). That's pretty sad coming from Mr. Bus Project -- the guy who brags himself breathless about empowering young people to vote.

Bad enough, but then he makes it worse. Smith has got some lame story that he "thinks" he FedEx'ed in a ballot from Ohio in Bush vs. Gore, but Multnomah County elections didn't count it. "If it didn't count, that makes me angry at the elections department."

If you took the extraordinary step of FedEx'ing a ballot from Ohio to Oregon in Bush vs. Gore, you wouldn't remember for sure whether you did that or not? Those sound like the words of someone who may have some problems with truth-telling. Yeah, it's not an important point, but the false embellishments are all too familiar to Portlanders.

We know what it's like to have a narcissistic mayor who makes up stories as he goes along, and Portland's not doing so well because of it. It would be a shame not to learn the lesson that that experience should have taught us by now. Let's hope this particular candidate for city office gets the Jesse Cornett treatment from the electorate.

Comments (15)

For someone with a Harvard Law degree, 12 years later he has done remarkably little, given the opportunities that credential almost automatically confers, and it appears he walked out on a couple of good jobs after very short stints. He's 38 years old now, not a wunderkind anymore, if he ever was. This present effort at being a career politician isn't looking particularly auspicious.

Posted by boycat | September 19, 2011 9:28 AM

Not cool--there is no excuse for not voting in every election from age 18 on.

Posted by jimbo | September 19, 2011 9:29 AM

The guy seems like a whole lot of nothing to me, he hasnt done much for being 38 years old. I think we have learned from Obama that a harvard pedigree is no guarantee of competence.

Posted by mk | September 19, 2011 9:30 AM

"If you took the extraordinary step of FedEx'ing a ballot from Ohio to Oregon in Bush vs. Gore, you wouldn't remember for sure whether you did that or not?"

Really simple to have FedEx send you an eMail confirmation of delivery, Jefferson.

This guy has been a politician way too long already. Stop him before he goes further.

Posted by Steve | September 19, 2011 9:34 AM

That 38 year old paunch is too close to being permanently attached to the public trough.
Don't go there Portland voters! Please! Send this guy back to the real world for a real job, if anyone will have him. His work history is not exactly stellar.

Posted by portland native | September 19, 2011 9:51 AM

The bad driving record and all of that didn't mean much to me. I agree that this non-voting thing is a major red flag for someone who has built his entire schtick around the notion that young people need to get out and vote. "I had my nose buried in law books, and I didn't care about anything but getting a good job" is such a frikin' cop out. It wouldn't surprise me if the people who worked with him when he was an associate at Stoel Rives have very few flattering things to say about him, but can't speak out due to employment disclosure laws, etc. (BTW I was simultaneously in law school full time, worked 20 hours a week at a law firm as a clerk and was an officer in the National Guard, and it would have never occurred to me to miss out on voting in a presidential election.)

Posted by Usual Kevin | September 19, 2011 9:57 AM

What happens to Jefferson now?
Has he given up his legislative seat to run for Mayor?

Posted by clinamen | September 19, 2011 11:20 AM

Clinton v. Dole was going to be a blowout and everyone knew it, but there's no excuse for not voting in Bush v. Gore. And trying to throw the elections office under the bus (no pun intended) is not cool.

Posted by Dave J. | September 19, 2011 11:21 AM

He "thinks" he FedEx'ed his ballot, but isn't sure.

Sounds kinda like Anthony Wiener "I did not send those pictures but I can't positively say they are not of me".

You are right, who cares about the voting?

I care about the hypocrisy and the lies. Don't we have too many hypocrite liars in office already?

Posted by Harry | September 19, 2011 11:32 AM

Running for mayor is high-profile (at least locally). I think more detail on his work record will surely leak out.

Posted by Snards | September 19, 2011 11:41 AM

Narcissism and compulsive lying? Aren't those just basic qualifications for elected office?

Posted by Allan L. | September 19, 2011 12:09 PM

Don't do as I say, do as I do...

Posted by Ralph Woods | September 19, 2011 12:37 PM

There is no good excuse for not voting. And most especially for any person running for office (let alone someone who once passed a course in Constitutional law...) This privilege (that so much of the world lacks) is at the core of who we are in this experiment of a country. I don't trust people who have regularly not voted at any time in their over-18 lives; it feels like a character litmus test to me--there's either too much laziness or self-absorption or hubris going on...

Posted by Doris | September 19, 2011 1:59 PM

I think there are a lot of good reasons for not voting, from the cynical to the radical even to the realistic. But this is pure opportunism, narcissism and hypocrisy.

Posted by Sally | September 19, 2011 2:29 PM

IMHO if you can't be bothered to vote why do you think my vote for you is warranted ?

Posted by tankfixer | September 19, 2011 6:22 PM

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Phony baloney

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