Portland's "government relations director," a guy named Dan Bates, has a new gig. He's opening a new local office for a national influence-peddler firm.

The Portland lobbyist post is not a job that holds people for too long these days. I remember when a previous occupant of that chair wound up on an expense account report for a Valentine's Day dinner with The Don -- a night in Bend that she claimed she wasn't there. Lobby on, everybody!