Hales promises illegal loan guarantees, anemic apprenticeships (Jack Bog's Blog)

An alert reader forwards a breathless e-mail message from Portland mayoral candidate "Camas" Charile Hales, in which he proclaims:

I will jump start the Portland economy, with concrete actions like Community Credit Portland, a loan guarantee program funded by the City of Portland. Through this program, the City of Portland will be the first in the nation to make its money available to support local Portland businesses so they can get back to hiring.
I will create opportunities for our schoolchildren, by bringing together businesses, local community colleges, and organizations such as Portland Youth Builders and Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. to create more opportunities for training and apprenticeships, preparing our youth for the jobs of the coming century.

I know I can do it, because I did it as a Senior VP at an engineering firm, helping to set up an apprenticeship programs at Portland schools so that students had the engineering and planning skills to supply my business' rapidly expanding workforce.

That's it? Man, Charlie, you're going to need to do better than that.

It's illegal for the city to lend its credit to private companies. Doing so violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the state constitution.

And a handful of apprenticeships? Charlie, the teenagers all over the east side are now literally shooting and stabbing each other day and night. Do you ever get real? And how much of your company's "rapidly expanding workforce" came from local government pork spending?

Portlanders who liked Vera Katz as mayor will love Camas Charlie.

Comments (11)

CoP afraid of violating the spirit of a law?

Posted by Mr. Grumpy | January 13, 2012 9:39 AM

CoP afraid of violating the letter of a law?

Posted by John Rettig | January 13, 2012 9:58 AM

Illegal details of his plan noted, but consider the true genius of his plan: He wants to lend back to small business the money the city taxes from them in the first place! Mr Camas is a burgeoning mafioso.

Posted by wpricetax | January 13, 2012 10:34 AM

Vera's a weirdo. I don't think Hales is.

Posted by dg | January 13, 2012 10:35 AM

Thanks Jack. I WILL not vote for Charlie. But who?

Posted by dean | January 13, 2012 12:48 PM

As near as I can tell, all of the candidates except the kid are Creepy clones.

Posted by Max | January 13, 2012 12:52 PM

Hale has basically just advertised that he is for sale. Anyone who wants to join the "friends and family" program just needs to use the new magic buzzwords and Charlie will hand them some taxpayer money. Unspoken of course is the requirement that with that taxpayer money comes a requirement to help with the log rolling.

Posted by Andy | January 13, 2012 1:19 PM

That was quite the trio we had, Katz, Hales and Adams who was there the entire time with them.

We need to look back to see what they did to our once beloved City of Roses. We need to work to see that the agenda does not continue, maybe we can salvage what is left of our city and neighborhoods.

In my opinion, Charlie wants back in to do more "redo" until it is no longer our Portland, but completing more of "his" vision, and more pet projects. Four more years of Charlie?? Don't think so! He did enough damage by rezoning some neighborhoods, pushing all kinds of “code language improvement???” changes as Planning Commissioner and as much as he likes to claim he did good as Parks Commissioner, really?? Does he have a disconnect in his mind of what he had done with parks that caused hundreds in our city to rise up against his actions?
He sold Johnswood Park for housing.
How did he get the name Chainsaw Charlie?
Charlie, the Parks Commissioner had red x's painted on 75 fir and cedar trees ready to be chopped in Pier Park, a park in St. Johns. Fortunately, they were saved by others who had more regard for the park than he did. Want more, ask those in SW Community why they were so upset with Hales, ask those in East Portland where he essentially done dealed their neighborhood park away. Done dealer Charlie is a good name for him too...too clever a fox we don't need in the hen house.

Posted by clinamen | January 13, 2012 2:21 PM

His prior governmental experience disqualifies Hales...

Posted by tankfixer | January 13, 2012 6:38 PM

Want more from East Portland, I can tell you because I was there.
He doesn’t give a rip, he didn’t then and I doubt that he would now.

His handling of the siting of that SE Community Center
was sweeping aside a committee’s choice of property for the center,
a committee who carefully selected the site which he totally ignored.

Posted by Starbuck | January 14, 2012 1:08 PM

Gee, Hales shoved the SW Community Center and Pool down the throats of the users of Gabriel Park who wanted that park left the way it was but I guess the in-filling developers thought it would be a selling point to their tacky, tracky units. And SW was instrumental in killing a ballot measure to approve bonds for parks right after that happened. Hales doesn't listen to average citizens in any part of the city. It's all about his developer and construction contractor buddies.

Posted by LucsAdvo | January 15, 2012 9:09 PM

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Friday, January 13, 2012

Hales promises illegal loan guarantees, anemic apprenticeships

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