So have we now come full-circle with the soccer stadium deal and Paulson being enriched in all directions?

I'd love to cut the legs off Wall Street as much as anyone, but is there actually a credible alternative? Could these bonds be placed in London or Hong Kong or Chicago, or by electronic exchange? It would be great to steer our local bond offerings away from Wall Street -- maybe even nurture some Portland- or at least West Coast-based financial firms in the process -- but maybe there's no realistic alternative to the devil we know, at least for the time being.

Good find Jack. This provides guidance as to why Leonard and Paulson are so cozy. Run a lot of rate-payer financed bonds through the Water Bureau making a windfall profit for his buddies, and it can buy a lot of "goodwill". That's the "Leonard way".

One of the all time greatest quotes around here.

Randy Leonard,
"I'm not going to alienate myself by taking a principled stance."

That is also why some banks support light rail.

Four of them contributed $10,000 or more to support light rail the last time it was on the ballot.
see: portlandfacts.com/transit/whowantsrail.htm

That is a nice list of people getting rich off of building useless light rail.

Thanks
JK

http://wweek.com/editorial/3503/11892/
November 26th, 2008]
Until Merritt Paulson came along, City Commissioner Randy Leonard had never been to Manhattan.

Good lengthy article with much information and the following appears later in the article:

On Oct. 27, Leonard accompanied Paulson to MLS headquarters in New York City to clarify expansion requirements. Although Leonard has traveled to Europe and Asia, it was his first trip to Manhattan.

He and Paulson met in a Starbucks near MLS headquarters an hour before meeting Commissioner Garber.

As Leonard entered Starbucks, Oregonian columnist Steve Duin called.

“We talked about the [Police Chief] Rosie Sizer situation for 40 of the 60 minutes I had set aside for Merritt,” Leonard recalls. “My phone quit working and I had to borrow Merritt’s phone to finish the conversation.”

Upstairs, Leonard says, the trip grew more productive. Garber got right to the point about what MLS required.

“He told Merritt, ‘Either you or the city has to guarantee that the modifications to the stadium will be done,’” Leonard recalls.

Garber said that MLS will trim its list of six applicants down to four cities in December. The finalists must then come up with firm stadium proposals by March 31.

The big question, of course, is money. Paulson says he will pay for an MLS soccer franchise but only if the city will pay to renovate PGE Park and build him a new stadium for his baseball team—estimated at $85 million.

That is, indisputably, a plucky request.

Well, I guess the PWB is going to create more debt on this Wednesday's agenda.
Jack you should be interested in this as the ordinance is to authorize an exemption to the competitive bidding process:

Office of Management and Finance – Internal Business Services
856 Authorize an exemption to the competitive bidding process to Procurement Services pursuant to ORS 279C and PCC 5.34 and provide payment for construction of the Kelly Butte Reservoir Project (Ordinance) 10 minutes requested
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=50265&a=303683