Wowie wow wow. No surprise, though. Hales is For those disinclined to vote for a write-in: I'd vote for a nut over a mean liar any day.

How about a nut who's a mean liar? This Nut versus Liar story line is spin. I remember when Eileen was painted as the Liar. The only one not getting the same treatment is Jefferson Smith. He's everybody's darling because he's got bigger problems than merely lying so he gets a pass.

Jack, have you ever met either of these guys and actually talked to them? I have and it's pretty clear who inspires confidence and who comes off as a bloviating fool. Start with the worst case scenario: A big earthquake. Would you want Jeffy running around leading us out of that? Maybe he could get some volunteers to fill in the fault lines. I mean the guy's an idiot. Wake up, Portland.

I'd like to know how this story happened. It seems like a planted piece - not generated by some reporter sniffing around for a story.

A sentient liar can do more significant lasting damage than a nutjob, Bill. Plus, a lunatic is easier to counter than an insider liar. Still, I'm inclined to write in LaVonne Griffin-Valade, because I would like my vote to really count. I wouldn't vote for Hales if he were the last singing dancer on the island.

The nut job part of the story is spin too. In my opinion, and not based on any professional assessment, we're most likely dealing with a high IQ psychopathic personality here.

His supporters rush forward to defend him on the driving stuff saying, "Thank goodness nobody was hurt." The real question is why Jefferson Smith didn't care that someone could get hurt?

It could have been anyone of our family members out there on those streets when Jeffy came barreling through. Doesn't the "failure to yield to an emergency vehicle" disturb you? You're talking about dancers on islands - this sounds more like a police chase.

The whole "Nutsy" thing is too tame. "Nutsy" sounds almost cute like "quirky." I believe we are dealing with someone a lot more dangerous than that. Someone who acts violently with impulse control issues, and drives crazy in extended stretches of risky mental behavior. I don't think he has the normal range of human feelings, and I don't care how medicated they have him for the attention deficit disorder stuff.

Portland is in one of its polite little daydreams about this guy. The dude ain't hooked up right.

We should have learned from the Goldschmidt situation. There are times when being a polite little town that doesn't face up to obvious problems, can really hurt.

You're right on, Bill. And think about it: Makes Smith easier to replace than Char-Lie. I'd never vote for Hales. Never. And, I'm not alone in that. Go back to your real home in Vancouver, Char-Lie -- and don't let the streetcar door hit you in the ---.

There are times when being a polite little town that doesn't face up to obvious problems, can really hurt.

Like not stepping up to the plate to recall Sam Adams!
Now accepting to vote for the lesser of the two.
We need to stop thinking in the box here,
and open our minds to a write-in campaign.
What else is going to be revealed about these two before the election?

I'd vote for a write-in candidate, if I thought they had an honest shot at winning. However, I've never heard anybody else mentioning other candidates or seen other ads, so I don't think there's anybody else out there to vote for this time.

So I'm going to vote for the one who seems least-awful to me, and hope that his disjointed and frenetic approach to life gets in the way of him actually accomplishing anything.

ThAT could be Charlie's new slogan: "Vote for Disjointed and Frenetic: I won't DO ANYTHING"

Is Michelle posting from Nutsy's house, or his campaign HQ?

Boy-oh-boy, ol' Homer and his former employer (the streetcar guys) must be really leaning on Charlie to get elected.

Not that it matters, we're screwed either way. Charlie's probably gonna run up the credit card faster then young Jeff, but screwed is screwed.

You guys are screwed. And doing it to yourselves.

I no longer vote in Portland so I don't have to make that miserable choice.

However, I wrote two opinion pieces published by The Oregonian on Hales' candidacy. The first took him to task not only on the residency issue, but also his violation of the voters' trust by quitting mid-term.

The second focused on the failure of South Waterfront, airport light rail and the entire streetcar agenda. Hales responded in his own op-ed that he was amazed I would criticize "the great things about Portland" which he said included light rail, South Waterfront and himself. That's right. In print he called himself one of the great things about Portland.

Bob Caldwell was alive when both pieces ran. I could tell by their presentation (bold quotes and inset photos) that they really wanted to call attention to these pieces. Bob died before the Oregonian made their Hales endorsement and I believe, had he lived, the endorsement would have gone to Brady.

If I were still voting for Portland mayor I would vote for Smith, rather than hold my nose and vote for Hales, in hopes that Saltzman, Fish and Novick will be able to hold him at bay. That perhaps might be the saving grace of our nineteenth century form of government.

Correction:

Thinking back now I am not totally sure that Bob died before the endorsement. I am pretty sure, if he was still alive, he opposed the endorsement.

Interesting to see the comments about refusing to write in a protest vote.

Both candidates are awful.

What do you have to lose by writing in the city auditor?

Do you have some urge to be "part" of the winning team?

Dave Lister,
I reread your Oregonian columns about Hales and this sort of jumped out at me:

Hales: "I think you ought to run for office because you want to accomplish things rather than 'be' something. Secondly, there was an opportunity to help a lot of other cities do what we did, and I had five kids to get through college."

You: "Of all his statements, that one disturbs me most. Hales violated the voters' trust because he saw an opportunity to make a lot of money and knew he couldn't put five kids through college on a city commissioner's salary"

You're a businessman, right? If Hales couldn't provide for his children's education on a city commissioner's salary, and a better offer came along, what the f*uck would you do? Tell the kids they aren't going to college because Dave Lister will be too disturbed by it?

I get the policy differences, but you're overselling this part of it. Are you opposed to doing something for financial reasons? If so, your business must be a real circus.

I also think you overstated the part about resigning as a violation of the voter's trust. That sounds melodramatic. Politicians can resign. It's not illegal. Hell, I wish more of them would resign.

Bill, don't you think the "Please vote for me, I will do X" promise should stand on its own, not be addended with ". . .unless I find a better paying gig"?

If you're saying politicians should keep their campaign promises and not move on to private industry jobs that are based on their former political positions, you couldn't be more correct.

I just think it's ridiculous to draw the line here with this mayoral election when the entire country is run like that. What it says is that we can't elect Charlie Hales because he acted like virtually every politician in America.

The only ones who come off looking ridiculous are these "Mother Theresa wannabes" whining about the lack of morality. Whining about "the tone."

Goldshmidt was raping a 14-year-old and the Oregonian called it an "affair." Portland needs to get over its polite tone and get real.

It's part of what I call "Portland polite" to base things on idealistic notions while overlooking obvious, glaring problems. Jefferson Smith gets thrown out of an amateur athletic league because of violence? No problem. Charlie speaks harshly to a political group and they don't like his tone? Big Portland problem. Could you imagine this in Jack's New Jersey: "Yo, Tony Soprano called me the other day, and I gotta tell you, I thought his tone was a little harsh." It's ridiculous.

I've been in countries that would laugh at the notion of quitting office just to accept money. The pattern you find in a lot of the world is that politicians remain in office and get rich from there. You could even say that Charlie Hales is showing a lack of corruption here. If he wanted to be corrupt he'd put his kids through college with payoffs.

Have you ever looked into how many congressman have charities,,etc...that hire their relatives, and then just funnel the money to their families from contributors that way? Santorum had one of these.

I'm grateful Charlie had to quit to get paid. It's not a sign of corruption - and whining about it just sounds like phony, sanctimonious do-gooders being Portland polite.

Bill,

I appreciate your point of view, but I believe if you are elected to a term you have an obligation to fulfill that term, that's all.

Charlie would have still gotten his cushy streetcar job if he'd waited two years... hell, they'd have probably given him a signing bonus to cover the difference. From what I heard he was completely disengaged for most of that last term... hardly bothering to show up to work. Then he went all over the country making big bucks hawking streetcars and now he wants to waltz back to town and be mayor. Sheesh.

He reminds me of the character in the straw hat in the Simpson's "monorail" episode.

Dave,
I think the charge that we throw at Sarah Palin is that she quit. That's certainly true. Charlie Hales quit midway through his term. It sounds like he burned out on it.
I didn't feel like my trust as a voter had been violated, as you described it in your column. I don't really trust any politicians and I'd be shocked if you do. That's what makes your sentence melodramatic.

I just think Portland has this sort of denial. It showed up with Eileen Brady too. She had a conflict between a couple of things and that became a giant deal. How can she be a founder of New Seasons? It felt forced and phony. I always figured if she founded it she would be worth millions, and oh, it turns out she was.

Meanwhile we were too polite to notice what a shaky schmuck Jefferson Smith is. Somehow that was beneath us as polite Portlanders. We couldn't stand up and say, "This guy's a mess. He didn't even buy the f*ckin' bus. His daddy bought it for him."

So now here we are. If you don't like someone's policies attack them, but don't look at the other stuff as some moral war crime-level flaw, and let the other guy go with a pass.

Your sentence about Charlie wanting to have "a say" in Oregon elections because he voted in Oregon while living in Washington, sounds melodramatic. Did he live in Washington, or not? If he lived there the tax stuff is legal. If he didn't the tax stuff is not legal.

Since you went "Simpsons", I'll go "Mayberry RFD."

Making the voting in Oregon thing such a huge deal reminds me of Aunt Bea tiskin' about some neighbor. I could see Andy Taylor saying, "Ahh, let's not make a big deal out of it."

But if Jefferson Smith drove through Mayberry like he drove around here, Andy would have tossed his ass in jail, and taken the keys away from Otis. Even Gomer could figure that out. I could picture Andy saying, "I'm not going to stand for it. Opie could be out on that street and I'm not going to let Jefferson Smith run over Opie or any other kid in town. He's going to jail 'til he gets some brains."

He sure wouldn't want him for mayor. It's not good when Mayberry is more real than an actual city in America.

"Andy?"
"What is it, Aunt Bea?"
"Well, you know how Charlie got married and moved up the road to Mt. Vernon?"
"Yup?"
"Well, he lives up there and pays taxes up there but I heard from Floyd the barber that he still votes in Mayberry."
"Well, I don't 'spect that'll affect things too much."
"But Andy, it's wrong."
"Yeah, it's wrong, but you got to understand, a fella gets used to a way of life and suddenly he's all married again and living a new life, I can't blame him for holdin' on to his old ways a little. He still has a house here, don't he?"
"Okay, Andy. By the way, that crazy Jefferson Smith drove through town at 95 mph today. Darn near ran over Opie. Barney took out after him but he got away. I'm worried sick about it. How can somebody drive like that when he could hurt somebody? "
"Now you don't worry, Aunt Bea. We're going to catch that young man and stick his ass underneath the jail. Nobody acts like that in my town."

http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19687-block_busters.html

Thanks to Charlie and his "vision" for our city with no regard to negative impacts on the neighborhoods and our livability, now he wants back in to do what? This article sounds like a marketing ploy to indicate he has turned around. We know where he stood and
I doubt that one like he would really change his stripes.
Look if he did get back in, by that time, how many of the apartment complexes without parking will be already started and peppered around our city? He knows this, he is the one who let the code "slip away" that protected our neighborhoods in the first place. Not only slip away but actively chopping away.

Now Smith is careful to walk both sides of the debate.
“We need to have housing for 5,000 to 6,000 new people a year, and that’s a lot of people,” Smith says. “Do we need this many units in this many blocks? My hunch is that whenever this was happening, the folks were saying, ‘Whatever you want to build, let’s build.’ We were a little too lax.”

Who is he kidding, have to have housing for 6,000 new people a year?
People are having to move out because of shenanigans.
Smith seems to be more infill and infill as well.
Just a different kind?
They both seem to be on the same path, more density, more traffic congestion, and
more money for the insiders? Those insiders do not want their benefit track to stop.
Thus we have ended up with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.