I doubt that any kind of transition would be easy for people who had held the reins of power for over a decade. We have a smart and dedicated Council that came into office with their own ideas about being fiscally conservative. We voted them in to do a job, and they are committed to making sense out of the #%+* that was left behind. Despite what those on the "other" side may now believe, there will be room for everyone to be on boards and commissions, unlike the past. We are, after all, one city.

If the greenies liberate the lake, you'll band together like the Allies in World War II.

Nolo, I agree transitions can be difficult. But the answer to who leaked the info was probably already known. So the purpose of asking it must have been to provoke or to needle. Not really necessary, and it was the time to step above it all. Acknowledge it really didn't matter at this point and just move on. Then be prepared to be challenged on most issues as they work to make their changes.

"You're not the boss of me."

Wow! I just heard my little sister's voice from over forty years ago. Clear as a bell.

Gibby, I couldn't agree with you more.

Jack, I doubt it. The Lake Corp lawyers will do it instead! ; 0)

Streetcar/Urban Renewal/ Homer loving/ voter hating Councilor Donna Jordan, the leaker, arbitrarily decided she can decide for herself whether or not to respect memos marked "confidential" or to send them to the media in trying to smear her peers.

Although Donna was lucky she was not up for re-election this last November she'll be one bitter gal for the next two years as much of her former majority's work gets undone. Then she'll be done as well.

It's a new day, honey.

If anyone wonders what went wrong for Donna and company
here's a good example.
http://bojack.org/2011/04/homer_williams_scam_script_pla.html

Her arrogant disdain for the public, lazy neglect for knowing the facts and thorough disregard for public money continues on full display every time she opens her mouth.

Her leaking and trying to fabricate controversy is the juvenile in her behaving badly.

Just let the Council work it out. It hasn't been a month.

Clackastan News - thanks for the trip down memory lane with that link. We barely dodged a bullet. Hope there's no ricochet.

Jordan - or rather "landslide" Jordan - is the last bitter clinger to elected office in LO. Her days in office should be numbered. She has treated the citizenry with nothing but contempt.

...voter hating Councilor Donna Jordan...

That's quite an accusation. But anonymous demagoguery in blog comments is easy.

I always thought the Tea-Party Clackistanis were advocating government transparency. It'd be interesting to hear the Clackastani argument about how "Confidential" memos shuttling back and forth between City Councilors furthers transparency and accountability to the voters.

Oh how special.
Spoken like a true Hammerstad-Hoffman operative. Distortion and smearing as usual.

Labeling the new LO majority as some "tea party" thing? Too funny.
The takeover that threw out your friends was by a diverse group of citizens including many democrats. Even the interim city manager Tom Coffee is a liberal Democrat.
But they all happen to be common sense people who will bring fiscal responsibility back into city hall.

Donna's condescending reputation is legendary. She has publicly stated her dislike of the voting public referring to them as incapable if understanding and voting on the complex issues she has mastered. No only Donna and friends can grasp the streetcar, Foothills and Urban Renewal schemes. This from a councilor who
failed miserably to study the very policies she was so certain must be forced upon the citizenry.

Her leak and attempted smear of Studebacher is disgusting and your added pretense of some impropriety follows suit.

It's entirely routine for every city council to have many discussions that are confidential. You and yours have falsely attributed this simple interim replacement of the city manager as some secret and untoward thing.
It was not.

The new majority is a breath of fresh from the previous council who behaved so badly.

The new 5-2 will be fun to watch as decisions will be made that are thoughtful, responsible and give the public what they genuinely want.

Clackistan,

You infer too much. I live in The Gorge. I know little (and care less) about the politics in LO. However, it seemed ironic that someone self-identifying as a Clackistani was expressing such moral outrage over a so-called "confidential" City govt document being made public. And I admit to being rubbed the wrong way when people pretend at making "thoughtful" arguments while at the same time labeling an elected official "voter hating". Presumably, someone voted for this person, no?

The insurgency in Clackamas County, as I recall from reading this site and others, staked a claim on the idea that transparency is good and secrecy is bad. A quick Google found the following in the OregonLive voter guide:

How will you improve transparency in Clackamas County government?
Tootie Smith: With the current government there is no transparency especially when current commissioners, except one, initiates secret loan deals...

I was just wondering if this is something more than "secrets are okay if the people I like keep them". I find it fascinating when these so-called insurgent groups actually come to power, find themselves actually having to govern, and end up doing many of the same things they were railing against in the first place.

5th,

You got one thing right. You "know little" about any of this.
But somehow you care enough to post while knowing little?

You seem to have some fictitious image of what a Clackistani is as well? It appears to follow your "tea party" presumption.

FYI- The Clackistani name was first launched here by the liberal democrat host as a label for all the
rebels helping Clackamas County push back against the mystery train/urban renewal madness and to throw the bums out.
Just like in Lake Oswego and other CC cities it involves a healthy mix of every political stripe.

I wasn't "expressing such moral outrage" either.

The memo was not "so-called". It was in fact a routine confidential memo as everyone involved has acknowledged, including the leaker herself.
She has also admitted the topic had been discussed publicly so there was no in appropriate "secret" process at all.
Just one sour grapes & vindictive city councilor who took it upon herself to send a confidential memo (with a false spin) to the press in hopes of causing trouble.

If you had witnessed Councilor Jordan's anti-public behavior and packed crowd reaction to her you would know her disdain for the public is very real.

Naturally she acted much kinder when she ran for office. Like so many other in her club they rarely tell the voters who they really are or what their intentions are.
I'll wager she will not even try to get re-elected.

Now what about this "insurgency" in Clackamas County? Is that supposed to be another dig at the good people in Clackamas County?

Sure the Clackamas County voters are demanding better government.

The secret process to borrow $22 million to pay Tri-Met for an unwanted light rail project 4 days before a public light rail vote was despicable and cost two commissioners their re-election.

There has been no "secrets" by the new commissioners or new city councilors.

It's absurd that you refer to them as "so-called insurgent groups".
I've never once read anyone ever call them that.

And they are not ending up doing any of the same things at all.

Sorry, you're just wrong on all counts. Or confused?