Opie's moving again
Who knows what Erik Sten is up to, but whatever it is, he's not coming clean about it with the people who paid for his last campaign for an office that he apparently didn't want -- namely, the taxpayers of Portland.
Why would somebody trigger two sets of transaction costs on a $1.3 million house over a period of less than a year, selling into a down market, unless something screwy is going on? Opie won't say, and so I guess we'll all just have to speculate. As far as I can tell from PortlandMaps, he never sold his Irvington place, either.
Meanwhile, his chief office administrator is reportedly rushing around so that he can put in for more "clean money" to run in the special election coming up to fill the seat that his Big Idea boss is walking away from. When last I heard, there wasn't going to be any clean money for that election absent a rule change, but since nobody really seems to know what the rules are, what the hey. Nick Fish, if you don't put this guy away, you need to move back to Poughkeepsie.
| Posted at 10:43 PM | Permalink |
|
Comments (15)
Jack, I'm fairly new in town so I don't know the stories behind the local politicos. But I've read that this guy Sten has been in city government pretty much his whole adult life. So where's he get the money for all this pricey real estate? City work pays pretty well? Family dough? Frugality?
Posted by Pete Danko | January 29, 2008 10:53 PM
His dad died recently and he apparently came into a bundle. But how he's paying two mortgages, one super-jumbo, on what he makes is anyone's guess.
Posted by Jack Bog | January 29, 2008 10:57 PM
He's probably been treating his own new windfall like he does taxpayer money and he' gotten into trouble.
Posted by Barb | January 29, 2008 11:22 PM
He's up to something.......no one quits before lining up a new gig. His dad wasn't wealthy and erik has a sib.......IF he had money, wouldn't he have fixed the gab in his front teeth? Still seething over the water dept debacle which cost the taxpayers billions
Posted by kitty hogan | January 30, 2008 7:12 AM
Opie had to have the job about 90% lined up, these are politicians and by nature are risk averse. In addition to which, they are cheap as all hell with their own money.
I am sure he'll be something like Charlies Hales' buddy running a consultancy on how to shake down taxpayers for money for non-essential projects.
Speaking of which - Is anyone going to stop Sam's water fee to fix streets grab? Bud Clark did this 20 years ago with a franchise fee until Vera/Sam converted all that money to general fund money.
Posted by STeve | January 30, 2008 7:50 AM
This City is breaking the Phony meter.
Everything about it is phony.
Phony politicians, phony programs and phony results.
The shine of the Pearl and sort of SoWa
brings no luster to the decrepit infrastructure. Roads, schools and basic services.
Of which has the bulk of it's residents having to pay more to cover past and ongoing mistakes.
Posted by Gene | January 30, 2008 8:29 AM
Oh yeah! Conspiracy! Sky is falling! Fraud. Or, rocket scientists, mortgage rates were relatively high in March 2007, and are now really pretty low.
Posted by Jonathan Radmacher | January 30, 2008 9:17 AM
"IF he had money, wouldn't he have fixed the gab (sic)in his front teeth?"
#1 I think it's really low and incredibly superficial to pick on another human being for a physical characteristic that they were born with. (BTW You might think the gap in his teeth is ugly, but I bet his friends and family find it adorable.)
#2 If you're going to make a snarky low blow like that, can't you at least spell correctly?
I think the point that he may be re-financing the loan due to the drop in interest rates is a valid one. Once he quits his job the employment history portion of the loan application may not look so favorable, and he probably wouldn't be eligible for low rates any longer.
Posted by Usual Kevin | January 30, 2008 10:34 AM
The articled linked to says the house is going on the market, not that he is trying to refinance it.
Posted by Mike | January 30, 2008 10:52 AM
Erik wasn't in council this morning, either. You know the meeting when they voted in favor of the HUGE tax car increase?
By the way, Jack, they wouldn't allow public testimony on it.
Explanation on my blog. I've gotta go to work, no time now to put it here.
Posted by Victoria Taft 5-8pm KPAM 860 | January 30, 2008 1:14 PM
Now that the council approved the tax, prepare to be underwhelmed by how far the money goes. It's not going to bring us current on deferred maintenance. We'll be lucky if council doesn't view the tax as a green light to divert other maintenance money to some grandiose project.
Posted by Jim | January 30, 2008 1:40 PM
We'll be lucky if council doesn't view the tax as a green light to divert other maintenance money to some grandiose project.
They dont need "other" money. What do you think this tax was really for?
Arent they a bit short on their financing for the MAX line to Milwaukie? The I-5 bridge? And they just got a new pot of gold penned as being for "road repair, bike lanes, and other transportation projects."
Posted by Jon | January 30, 2008 3:36 PM
Jon, you have it right. Sam is the grandmaster at creating a problem, tax it, then use the money for only his agenda, and not what he sells the tax will remedy.
Posted by Lee | January 30, 2008 9:15 PM
Sten has a $1 million mortgage on the West Hills pad. Even if his dad left him a bundle, he would still have to show around $400K in annual income to qualify. If he used a stated income loan (liar loan) he might have misrepresented his income, an offense that I believe can result in a 30 year prison term. Did anyone watch "the Wire" last week, same thing happened on the TV show and the newspaper and the cops brought the crooked politician down.
Nigel, are you listening?
Posted by John | January 31, 2008 5:40 PM
Hah! No one at WW is listening about Sten. His re-election was, to them, the "defining issue of our lifetimes." Unfortunately, he disappeared immediately after getting re-elected -- some lifetime.
Posted by Jack Bog | January 31, 2008 8:26 PM