Clackistani rebels in harsh spotlight
The Usual Suspects are doing everything they can to make sure that "urban renewal" scam artists retain control of the Clackamas County commission. They've been throwing out all sorts of scary names to try to convince voters that it's really right-wing extremists who are pushing back against the developer cabal that currently runs Portland. Kevin Mannix! Loren Parks, whom they keep calling a "Nevada sexual hypnotist" (which would be a great name for a rock album, by the way). The Koch brothers! The Tea Party! We've also heard Karl Rove's name. So far there's been no mention of Beelzebub, but it's still early.
Now the O has flashed a few more names that could help work the voters into a pro-light-rail frenzy. In this story, the paper points out that a group called the Oregon Transformation Project is bankrolling some of the rebel candidates, and they name some of the names behind that organization. One of them is Rob Kremer, the charter school guy whose decades-long ill will toward the state's unionized public school teachers is returned in kind by the teachers. If you wanted to wave a red cape in front of the public school soccer moms and taunt them into charging, there would be no better photo to show them than Kremer. He doubtlessly sees this as a badge of honor, but his track record in elections is not impressive.
Given that there are four candidates for two of the seats, including the county chair, and three for the other one, runoffs are likely. But in the chair race, which is in theory nonpartisan, there are two Democrats and two Republicans; if the rebels aren't careful, the two pro-rail D's could be the ones advancing to the fall. Let's hope not. We dislike the right-wing social agenda, but on stopping "Portland creep" from taking over Clackistan, the rebels have got it exactly right. No matter who's giving them money, their message is spot on.
| Posted at 8:42 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
Time to break out the clothespin...
Posted by tommyspoon | May 7, 2012 10:11 AM
Clackamas can put itself on track to win its freedom in this election. We need commissioners who will take the fight to Metro. I am rarely this enthusiastic about a candidate.
VOTE Ludlow for Chair!
Posted by panchopdx | May 7, 2012 10:23 AM
The Clackastanis are threatening "progress". Or maybe, "saving the planet"? "The economy"? How about "the children"? Yeah! That always works... let's say they're threatening the very futures of the children. The very children parents evacuated from Portland in the first place in hopes they'd grow up around less political hypocrisy and maybe even graduate from high school.
Sure.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | May 7, 2012 11:00 AM
Sorry, at least the tri-umvirate is somewhat honest about what they want to do.
Every time I've heard Hunt or Lehan asked a simple question like should Clack County pay for MAX or not you get a long-winded nuanced kinda sorta maybe but I don't know right now yet I care about people answer.
I'd be a lot more inclined to vote if they just stood up like adults and said, yes, I want TriMet here. Instead we get these weaseley answers which means once they win, they really don't care about anyone who disagrees with them.
I think dealing with the devil you know is much better than the one you have no clue about. In addition, whne they spend all their ink talking about how bad the other guy is, methinks they are covered for an obvious lack of depth on their parts.
Posted by Steve | May 7, 2012 12:07 PM
Aside from any public (politics) substance, this concerns the superficial imagery. Or subliminal, as from radio (audio) info.
3 candidates of a slate, (rebels!), air an insipid sing-song jingle of unintelligible monotone lyrics. Sounds like:
dah-DUH duh DUH duh DAAAHhhh
It sticks in my mind when I think they say:
re-PUB lick CUNs are BAAADDD
Posted by Tenskwatawa | May 7, 2012 12:24 PM
I support Paul Savas in the Clackamas County Chair race. Yesterday, on his Sunday morning radio show, Rob Kremer did his level best to nail Savas during an interview...presumably to advance the Kremer candidate, John Ludlow. During a call with a listener, Kremer stated (my best recollection) "...there's no better predictor of future performance than past actions..." He was attempting to quash the pro-Savas listener's argument in favor of Savas.
It occurred to me that Mr. Kremer ought to apply his own rule to John Ludlow. Here's someone who has TWICE resigned from a public office and declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy to boot. If this predicts Mr. Ludlow's future performance should he become Chair, Clackamas citizens are in for a very unfortunate experience.
Posted by Dick Jaskiel | May 7, 2012 3:33 PM
After spending many a Sunday morning listening to that idiot, I can pretty much be assured that if Rob Kremer if for it, I'm against it.
Posted by pacnwjay | May 7, 2012 3:47 PM
pacnwjay,
What makes Kremer and idiot?
You can be assured that Mr. Kremer, his PAC, their donors and their candidates are entirely aligned with the rebellion and our host Jack on all of the local light rail/streetcar mafia, infill, Urban Renewal, metro issues discussed here.
So you must not be?
As for this Oregonian story and Ludlow's campaign? Ludlow is the only chair candidate who has not received money from light rail & urban renewal supporters. He is also the only candidate committed to reversing the Creeping.
So you must not be?
Ludlow's support is broad with many key indicators. It's not just the OTP-PAC and their donors supporting the rebellion and Ludlow. Many of Savas’ own neighbors and long time friends left him for Ludlow as well. Ludlow has also earned the support of every chief petitioner for the 3 initiatives except for the 2 who made no endorsement for chair. All three rail vote chief petitioners strongly support Ludlow because he will support and campaign for their Measure 3-401 on the September ballot. The former Oregon AFP chair Jeff Kropf, the attorney who wrote the UR and rail vote initiatives and many others support Ludlow. Along with countless rank and file supporters of Clackistani Rebellion including those involved in battling the planners in Lake Oswego , McLoughlin, Damascus and elsewhere.
All of the Ludlow supporters are grateful his OTP-PAC donors who have stepped up also support the rebellion.
The 63% who repealed the fee, 70% who passed the Urban Renewal measure and the large majority who will pass the rail vote measure want the Creep stopped and the rebellion to succeed. They are likely to vote in large numbers for the candidates they most likely to make that happen.
This Clackistani election is real clear as Jack noted here.
https://bojack.org/2012/05/what_its_all_about_in_clackist.html
referring to this
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2012/05/regional_transportation_cooper.html
Posted by 3-401 Rail Vote | May 7, 2012 5:28 PM
It's too bad the Oregonian helps perpetuate harsh comments, digging up drivel on candidates. It's amazing that the candidates believing in giving citizens the ability to vote on major projects are painted as bad, while Schrader, Lehan, Damon, Hunt, Caton, Bernard, etc. are painted as good. If they are so sure of their agenda, the increased citizen debt is correct, why are they against voting affirming their positions?
Posted by Lee | May 7, 2012 9:25 PM