He hit the ground running
It didn't take Tom "Waylon" Hughes long to make us less than proud that we voted for him for president of Portland's oddball Metro regional government. We thought he campaigned as a change agent, but he immediately signed on to the twisted Metro agenda of streetcars, cr-apartments, and boondoggles like the zombie Convention Center hotel.
Today we learn that he's also jumped right in with the globetrotting on dubious "trade missions" around the world. In a year and a half, he's been out of town on business for 50 days -- by our math, that's about two and a half working months:
In 2011, Hughes went on a trip to Germany, organized by the Portland Business Alliance, aimed at recruiting and retaining businesses and to study energy production from waste materials. That same year, he joined Gov. Kitzhaber's trade mission to South Korea and China.And his two trips to Japan were with Business Oregon, the state's economic development agency, to meet with corporate officials at Panasonic Eco Solutions, Mitsubishi, Asahi Glass and Sanyo. Metro records say this year’s trip was in honor of Oregon-Japan Friendship Week.
Hughes says his travel helps the region's smaller cities, such as Oregon City and Milwaukie, that "don't have the kind of economic development component in their government that you would find in Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro or Gresham, for example." (Records show that companies Hughes visited overseas include Daimler and Adidas, which have U.S. headquarters in Portland; and SolarWorld, whose U.S. headquarters is in Hillsboro.)
"The travel I've done, quite frankly, has been pretty hard work," Hughes says. "Flying isn't all that fun. There are a lot of parts of travel that aren't that fun."
Poor Hughes. Suffering his way through Germany beer gardens, and he's doing it all for Milwaukie.
| Posted at 3:01 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (8)
Was he there during the German Oktoberfest?
Posted by clinamen | August 15, 2012 3:22 PM
"don't have the kind of economic development component in their government that you would find in Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro or Gresham,"
Hint: Local economic development does not come from government halfway around the globe.
Posted by Leaving now | August 15, 2012 3:46 PM
Disappointing. I had hoped for better when I voted for him. It's hard to believe that we can't field anyone better than him, Charlie, Bus-Boy, Novik, Nolan....
Posted by Max | August 15, 2012 3:58 PM
Hardship pay is the least we could offer this poor wandering soul. (In my experience, when someone has a to-do list that includes foreign travel, that seems always to float to the top. And it's not just a public sector phenomenon.)
Posted by Allan L. | August 15, 2012 4:18 PM
It's hard to believe that we can't field anyone better...
We can. It is just a well greased mode of operation here that prevents others from being seriously invited to participate equally in important debates or even considered in the media other than a one-liner.
Somehow, I don't think that will change with our new Office of Equity. I think those in charge of our city like things just the way they are.
On the other hand, I have been to a few candidate debates, and it is pathetic how few people attend, is it apathy or do people know the scene here and just don't want to waste their time on it anymore?
Posted by clinamen | August 15, 2012 4:34 PM
"The travel I've done, quite frankly, has been pretty hard work"
Sam already used that excuse Tom. How about some book reports?
Posted by Steve | August 15, 2012 5:21 PM
If travel to Germany was so tough, I'd be willing to do it. Put in a few good words for Oregon. "You know, we bought your light rail cars, those Siemens cars in Portland. And everyone loves them and talks about them. Everyone wears Adidas, and soccer is king. Whaddya say, invest in us?"
And spend the rest of the time getting drunk off German beer and sleeping off the hangover on an ICE.
Posted by Erik H. | August 15, 2012 7:58 PM
And the quantified economic results from these trips are???
Posted by TR | August 16, 2012 12:20 AM