Jack,

This seems like more than splitting hairs to me. She called herself a "co-founder" yet never drew a pay check, seemed to have very little to do with the creation of New Seasons other than a few strategy meetings and a little volunteer work doing press releases.

I think it would be different if she had a record by which people could judge her by, but because she's new to the political scene, the other thing we have to judge her by is her words. Its clear she didn't have the same skin in the game as Chuck and Andy and its clear she may have done a little free work for them, but that's very different than being a "co-founder".

Given how we the public have been lied to repeatedly by our current Mayor, its important than everything all three of the candidates say be properly vetted and scrutinized.

Let's see... Hales, who quit city government, appears to have committed either tax fraud or voter registration fraud... Smith has serious psychological problems, including blowing off court appearances while he was a practicing lawyer... but we should throw Brady under the bus because she oversold her connection to New Seasons? Interesting.

Max Bruum.

It's either he or Brady. Smith and Hales are both poison that we'd never touch.

And I ignorantly mis spelled Max's name--

Max Brumm is the correct spelling.

Sorry Max.

Mary Ellen says: she may have done a little free work for them, but that's very different than being a "co-founder"

I say the same thing every time one of the myriad claims to be a co-founder of the Bus Kids.

None of these candidates are particularly inspiring, so among the three with the best chance, I'm going with the lesser of the evils. If puffing up her New Seasons role is the worst we hear on Brady, she still has my vote. Hales would definitely be in the pocket of the developers (although the same may prove true of Brady, but with Hales it's a given) and Smith would be a complete and abject disaster. Seriously, if it's Smith, I'd rather pay someone to take my house or walk away than see what happens if he's left in charge. The Willy Week is completely in the tank for him, they've glossed over his legal and professional problems the whole way through. Brady >> Hales > Brumm (nice kid, can't win) >>>>>>> Smith

Also, how would she have time to be a co-founder when we she was working full time at Eco Trust? Its one thing to say she helped New Seasons, or did a little advising for them, its another to say she "co-founded" the company.

You know as a lawyer that she's not considered a "co-founder" under the law and doesn't bear any legal liability for New Seasons either, even before her husband sold his stake in the company.

The quip against Smith is a cheap shot. He may be irresponsible and has acknowledged that he has ADD and ADHD, both are far cries from "serious psychological problems".

I think the public has a right to know about all three of the candidates' statements and backgrounds. The issue with Brady is integrity-making a claim that just isn't true. Think about how many politicians in Portland have burned the public with their personal cover ups and lies. Powerful people from Wu to Adams have lied their way into office and abused it once there. Hales and Smith have both had their dirty laundry aired in the public sphere.

she oversold her connection to New Seasons

That connection is what she's running on, period. When she says things like "I know what it’s like to have thousands of people depend on you for a paycheck to support their families", it's not splitting hairs to have a look at that connection.

It wasn't a "quip." Smith is the phoniest politician this town has ever seen. He has real trouble telling the truth and complying with basic codes of conduct. Brady's puffery of her work at New Seasons pales by comparison.

The word "co-founder" has no legal meaning whatsoever. It's sort of like the word "troll." Shareholders have no liability for the acts of their corporations. And you are not worth arguing with.

My priority is to elect a mayor who is not 100% owned by the real estate developers or the Portland Business Alliance.

That's why I'm supporting Jefferson Smith. He will represent all of Portland, not just those of us who are lucky enough to live in the hipster areas.

Max Brumm is a nice kid but he is not going to be mayor.

He will represent all of Portland, not just those of us who are lucky enough to live in the hipster areas.

Please. Just gag me. The guy's the worst self-aggrandizing phony ever, being pushed by the Democratic Party (formerly Goldschmidt) machine. If you can't see that, then you are part of the severe problem we have today in Portlandia.

So if a spouse helps their partner get a business off the ground and gets no real payment and recognition for it they can't be termed a co-founder?

A slight exaggeration of the term "co-founder," probably, but I agree, if that's the worst she's done, she's still the best choice by far.

And, honestly, the article comes off as very nitpicky. This from someone (me) who is as thrilled about all our choices as most of y'all seem to be, and is looking at Brady as the default...unless Mr. Jaquiss can dig up something real and important, I suppose.

Having one party, but "different" individuals hold hostage the mayor's office is not very democratic. One party rule belongs nowhere. We need to get away from the autocratic style of governance and puppet commission and get back to being a democratic republic.

I've had it with street name changes and pet projects when we have serious concerns facing our community.

Dems just want to take more and more of our hard earned money and waste it on what *they* think is important. They need to live within their means and not demand more money from me. I have a budget I live within, they do not.

Just thinking that with the three prime suspects, their natural constituencies, and the way the three will split that vote, this could be the election that Dave Lister could win....

Agree that Max Brumm has less chance of winning than Jimmie Carter had of getting the
Democratic nomination in 1976, but I can not, will not, vote for Brady or Hales.

This WW piece ignores a fundamental part of the story. From Brady's website: "She moved to Portland and went to work at Nature’s Fresh Northwest, a company that was an early pioneer in the natural foods grocery industry. She started at $5 an hour, earning just enough to pay for child care and worked her way up to Human Resources Director and served on the executive management team."

So WW is asking us to believe that she wasn't a big part of the new business when she had that kind of expertise in the same business? It doesn't add up.

I'm so frustrated because I had this line of questioning ready to go when Jefferson Smith's people called my editors at Neighborhood Notes to complain about my "hostility" to him. I was subsequently taken off the Eileen Brady interview so let me make a great point that I was going to make during that:

I was in the food and beverage industry for years at various corporations. It was obvious to me that the way management got around charges of executive sexism, was to put a woman in charge of human resources. It was also common for that woman to be a much better executive and much brighter than her bosses.

I wanted to ask Eileen Brady about this, but since I didn't get the chance, I'll just say it. Based on my viewing of some of her speeches, etc.. she was a great executive in the food industry.

The idea that they wouldn't tap into that for the new stores is ludicrous. The idea that she wasn't given a paycheck strengthens the idea that she co-founded it, and wasn't a mere employee or consultant.

Willamette Week acts like she dropped onto Planet Earth the moment New Seasons began, but a look at her work history at Nature's proves she wasn't just some kind of tangential name using her association for her campaign. If she wrote the employee manual, she was a large part of why the place is a great grocery store.

If this is a little incoherent I had been planning to watch a Blazers game at this time. I would compare the shooting percentage of this article to what Felton has been launching from 3-point range lately. Hopefully, he'll snap out of it tonight against Atlanta.

I think the bigger question here is why isn't this race attracting more candidates that people are excited about? Is it that we've just become cynical about everyone who enters politics, or are more compelling candidates staying out of the race?

She was on OPB's Think Out Loud this morning. She sounds very much like the status quo. Maybe a touch more business friendly but really, how far can a good idea(like stream lining the permitting process) go down at city hall? Otherwise she sounds in synch with the current crew, lock, stock and barrel. Just my take on her...

Lots of company founders never draw paychecks from their companies, relying instead on the value of the stock they own. After his return to Apple in 1997, Apple paid Steve Jobs just $1 a year, and in most years paid him no dollar bonus.

Got this email from Team Jefferson Smith:

Mark your calendars: This is not your average political campaign event.

On January 26th join us for a celebration of Portland’s innovative spirit, culture, and pioneering policies. We’ll take you on a tour with fire dancers, aerialists, jugglers, puppeteers, and a comedian who says he knows what it takes to be a truly Kick Ass Portland Mayor. DJ Prashant will be rocking bhangra tunes late into the night, and he'll kick off the official after-party with a Bollywood dance lesson.

What can I say?
We need to learn how to dance like these folks around the issues...sounds very political!

How come Jefferson Smith dies not appear on the list of candidates for Mayor?

http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?&a=364279&c=55607

Thanks
JK

Good eyes there, Mr. Karlock. Did Jeffie run out of Ritalyn and neglect to file a form or two?

Please let it be so, if only for the entertainment value.

JK: Presumably Smith's name does not appear on the list of candidates because he has yet to file for the primary (candidates have until March 6th to do so). Could be that he's hedging his bets - waiting on late February polling to make sure he's a viable candidate before giving up his House seat - or he could just be continuing the pattern of "scatterbrainedness" that got him into trouble in traffic court and with the State Bar.

Then again, a "scatterbrained" mayor might not be such a bad idea around here. Better than one who is hyper-involved with the bike kids and anti-plastic bag faction and the eliminate-motor-vehicles proponents.

Oh, come on, Nigel. My ex husband started his company when we were married and although I never had a job there (and worked full-time at another company to pay the bills), I had plenty of input similar to this woman's in my then husband's start-up.

Now I would never claim to be a co-founder, per se, but to deny a wife had a major role in helping her then-husband start a company is sexism.

Maybe she should phrase it differently, but I am sure she had influence.

I don't mind her representations about her role at New Seasons. Seems pretty harmless, actually. Nitpicking. Clearly another hit piece by WW.

But, that said, one thing about Brady that does bother me --still bothers me-- is the 2003 bicyclist roadrage/scofflaw incident, and her threatening the cop that he'd better back off and leave her alone because she's got powerful friends at city hall. Says a lot about her I don't like and makes me seriously wonder about her fitness for office.

Some years ago I lived in the o-so-liberal enclave of Mt Tabor, where I was a good Democrat and spent one gorgeous autumn campaigning for John Kerry, which really means registering as many voters as possible from our liberal-but-too-high-or-lazy-or-just-plain-disorganized-to-register
demographic.

We were close to a very nice family whose matron was and is a serious Dem machine precinct leader type. Although we now live in the wilds of North Portland, I still receive updates about Dem machine events through my connection to this friend.

Last week, I got the message I had been dreading. An event for the dreaded J. Smith, gag, "future mayor of Portland."

ADD hyperactive achiever types who have difficulty treading the straight and narrow with traffic and 501C3 laws don't make good administrators. And if there is one thing that is overwhelmingly obvious, it it that Portalnd needs a superlatively organized administrator at the helm. While it is not certain that Brady fits that bill, but it is all too screamingly clear that J. Smith does not.

Brace yourselves, Portland, for another wolf-pack of 20-something bright things "running things" a la "Amy Ruiz is the best possible candidate for sustainability advisor to the mayor" utter BS.

As a banker, over the years I have seen plenty of businesses where the spouse (wife or husband) was not a "legal" owner, but the business heavily relied on that person's expertise in various areas. The fact that the $200,000 original investment apparently came from her funds further convinces me she wielded some level of influence. And as Bill states, her background in the industry would have been very valuable. In fact, perhaps it was that experience that convinced Stan Amy and Chuck Eggert to "let" them invest in New Season - with Brady and her husband providing only an 11% share, the other two probably could have pulled off the new business without Brady's funds. One aspect of the article is interesting - WW did not follow through with any comments on the $200,000 investment turning into an $11 million (pre-tax) gain.