Portland mayoral candidate Charlie Hales, facing continuing questioning about whether he lived in Washington to pay less taxes, and shouldn't have voted in Oregon -- or lived in Oregon, and shouldn't have claimed Washington residency for tax purposes -- today unveiled a compromise plan. Hales told a group of reporters that from now on, he plans to vote and pay taxes only in Idaho.

"Look, I'm not moving anywhere, and I still plan to be Portland's next mayor," the beleaguered candidate said, as his political advisor, Mark Wiener, looked on approvingly. "This is just a practical solution to address these issues once and for all, so we can get back to the business of politics."

Why Idaho? "We wanted a compromise, and since Idaho borders both states, we thought it was a good choice." Asked if he was up to date on the ballot measures in his new state, Hales smiled and said, "Not completely, but I am looking hard at HJR 2, the ballot measure that adds the right to hunt and fish to the state constitution."

Hales's comments were made on a walking tour of the St. Johns neighborhood in north Portland, where he shook hands with supporters and regaled undecided voters with a list of accomplishments, many of them his own. Some of the neighbors whose doorbells he rang seem unimpressed. "Are you wearing a wire?" asked Hazel Stumpf, a longtime St. Johns resident, through her screened and barred front door. "Am I going to be in Willamette Week?"