Is this bad somehow? I would have thought the commission might direct its staff and underwriters to apply for SEC registration in anticipation of the bonds being authorized, given the urgency involved in pre-empting the will of the voters. Whether the authoriztion, as it was done, was proper seems more problematic.

That's an interesting question. Are bonds in Oregon normally submitted prior to being authorized?

Another question. Why did Jack have to request that form several times? Why aren't the forms just posted on MDAC's web page when submitted? Never mind, that answer is crystal clear.

Clackamas County's Dan Chandler, strategic policy administrator lied.
Chandler said in that public meeting that there has not been any authority, no bond sale scheduled and the newspaper was wrong.

Go here:
http://www.clackamas.us/bcc/business.html
August 22, 2012 special public meeting packet | video

Click on the video button
go to time 4:03:30

Is Mary Macpherson any relation to Lake Oswego's wanna' be Mayor and former state rep and school board chair Greg Macpherson?

oh goody goody I get to use my hardware purchases ( tar, feathers and a pitchfork)

I think the Oregon Courts have previously ruled on lying (paraphrasing the Sam Adams rule), "Politicians are expected to lie."

No, Andrew. That was not normal procedure. The governing body, say a city council or a county commission, authorizes the sale of bonds. THEN staff and bond counsel do the work of preparing a bond sale, getting bond ratings, etc. Takes a couple of months usually.

That means the county commissioners probably violated public meeting laws because at some point BEFORE the authorization vote, staff was directed to do the work. And if the commissioners didn't provide direction, who did?

Oh yes, Jack, someone in the Clakistani rebel camp will seriously pursue those issues.

You gave yourself away.

oh goody goody I get to use my hardware purchases ( tar, feathers and a pitchfork)

A real Portlandian would harvest feathers from the sustainable hen-house.

Someone in this state besides Clackamas citizens should pursue those issues. Like our State Attorney, our legislature, our governor, the Clackamas Co. DA, State Ethics Commission and other concerned citizens of our state who believe in following the law. In fact the US Attorney General should get involved based on the SEC level.

If someone like Bill Sizemore did 1/8th of all this, he'd be in jail for 10 years.

Check out this sentence from this bio (http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Greg_Macpherson) on Lake Oswego mayor candidate and streetcar supporter Macpherson: "Greg is married to Tory Macpherson and is the father of adult twins, Mary and Alex." Spelling is the same....

I'm no lawyer, but I believe that is called a "PERRY MASON MOMENT".

The Clackamas County government is an out of control, shadow government conniving against it's own citizens.

The defenders of this conduct, who want more light rail at any and all costs, have been commenting on news stories with a parade of falsehoods.

It's amazing how haywire these fringe politicians, agencies and their agenda peddlers have gone.

It's the same story in every battlefield throughout the region.

They act like they are the mainstream public when they are not at all. They are the radical government/planner class running amok pulling every stunt to keep the real public at large from interfering with their self interested agenda.

The Clackistanis and their many friends, with every political stripe, are finally putting a stop to it.

With their progress resulting in the kind of backing and court action we are now witnessing there is no going back.

It is real and it's spectacular.

Hey you, county employee? We know you read bojack.

Why don't you abandon ship and save yourself?

Help out the county residents. Whistle blow now.

LO Res -

Most interesting.

Thank you for the lead.

For those interested, the registration filer describes herself on the SNWS website as:

"Mary Macpherson joined SNW in 2005. She specializes in analyzing financing structures for municipal entities including school districts, cities and counties. She performs analyses of bond issue structuring options, levy rate impacts and refunding opportunities. Her work provides issuers with the information necessary to evaluate short-term and long-term capital needs and effectively manage borrowings. She works with all stages of the bond issuance process including the preparation of official statements, credit analysis, rating presentations and credit enhancement strategies, the execution of public offerings, and necessary closing activities.

"Prior to joining SNW, Ms. Macpherson was a legislative analyst working with the League of Oregon Cities in Salem, Oregon. Ms. Macpherson graduated from Vassar College in 2003 with a BA in Urban Studies. She holds a Series 52 securities license.

Contact Mary at: 503.275.8307"

I don't think there is any doubt that she is wanna' be Mayor Macpherson's offspring.

Ain't Clackamas County just a cozy little place, where everybody with a finger in the pie is realted?

Oops, "related". not realted. My typo.

Gack.. Urban studies....

Maybe that's Urban Stunties.

Wow now this is interesting, thanks Jack.
So now we have public meetings law violated, coupled with a little conspiracy to violate several statutes by a registered representative and her firm. Clearly a major ethics violation on Seattle-Northwest-Securities and Mary Macpherson's part.

WoooHoooo ! Let the Perp Walk begin!
Clackamas County Commissioners and Muni peddlers too. We may run out of handcuffs, already out of pitchforks and feathers.

Can anyone spell RICO? Sure you can.

Mary is indeed Greg's daughter.

The rail vote was coming for a long time. But Tri-Met and the county didn't get their act together until the eve of the election. When it dawned on them that they were running late, they behaved in a desperate manner. Now they've got bonds that the court won't let them sell, and that the public wouldn't buy even if the court allowed it. It seems like incompetence more than criminal intent.

Went to a candidates' forum where Greg Macpherson schmoozed and fibbed his way through questions about Metro and rail transit to LO. If his situational ethics have transferred to his offspring, then right is whatever one can get away with, however one can twist the law to their advantage, or whatever can be personally gained from the deal at hand - jobs, power, money, self-importance, whatever. Still can't figure why Greggy is in this. As soon as the forum was over, he grabbed his campaign material and left - did he think no one would want it, or does he not care? Probably both. And as for Mary M., well, whatever works I guess.

Be Angry At The Sun by Robinson Jeffers

Be angry at the sun for setting
If these things anger you. Watch the wheel slope and turn,
They are all bound on the wheel, these people, those warriors.
This republic, Europe, Asia.

Observe them gesticulating,
Observe them going down. The gang serves lies, the passionate
Man plays his part; the cold passion for truth
Hunts in no pack.

You are not Catullus, you know,
To lampoon these crude sketches of Caesar. You are far
From Dante's feet, but even farther from his dirty
Political hatreds.

Let boys want pleasure, and men
Struggle for power, and women perhaps for fame,
And the servile to serve a Leader and the dupes to be duped.
Yours is not theirs.

Whoops, missed the first stanza:

That public men publish falsehoods
Is nothing new. That America must accept
Like the historical republics corruption and empire
Has been known for years.

"It seems like incompetence more than criminal intent."

It could very well be, Jack. Only one way to find out I suppose, a FOIA request on emails between Macpherson and those concerned.

Its funny that Jim Westwood at Stoel represented the Train to Nowhere advocates in Clackamas Circuit; he's a partner at Stoel, as, of course, is Greg Macpherson.

Gotta' laugh, 'cause it hurts too much to cry.

Shouldn't this be a moment where the "Occupy Whatever" forces meet the "Tea Party" in fighting against government corruption by the 1% in government power to waste our people's money?

Mulder -

What "FOIA request"? FOIA is a federal statute applicabnle only to federal agencies.

If you are looking for the Oregon analog, its the Oregon Public Records Act (OPRA), which AG Ellen Rosenblum is effective gutting in her reviews, and sustainings, of state agency refusals to disclose records.

Greg Macpherson isn't in elected public office now, nor is Greg a public employee, though he is seeking election as Lake Oswego's Mayor. Nothing in the PRA can compel any disclosure from him.

Mary Macpherson isn't a public employee. Again. nothing in the PRA can compel any disclosure from her.

It may be that Clackamas County and Tri Met have communications from Mary or Greg which could in theory be reached by an OPRA request, though I'd expect both Clackamas and TriMet to claim exemptions from disclosure.

AS TRiMet is headquartered in Multnomah County, DA mike Schrunk would eventually have to rule on any exemption claim from TriMet. Say waht you will about Schrunk on police prosecution, Schrunk has a very very very good record of compelling government entities to disclose records pursuant to an OPRA request.

With Clackamas County, any such request to compel disclosure would go to the Clackamas DA. I have no idea of the Clackamas County DA's track record on compelling agency disclosures in response to an OPRA request. Any government until which doesn't like a DA's (or for state agencies, AG's)decision on disclosure, can appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court and delay any final decision for years.

Politically, it stinks to high heavens in Lake Oswego. This just goes to show that the legacy builders will stop at nothing to perpetuate their dreams (whatever they may be or how much it will cost).