As every day's events unfold, it's like a political joke version of "The Aristocrats!"

The Portland Association of Teachers must have said, "Give us back our money for our bond measure." "Teachers Voice in Politics (260) Portland, OR" gave $10,001 (One dollar more than the police union.) They were the second largest political donation behind the fire union which gave $30610.19 spread over six donations.

On 03/10/2012 The teachers gave gave $2500, then on 05/10/2012 $2501, then for the general election on 07/31/2012 $5000.

It must be that last check they felt they could get back. "Sorry, I spent the rest already."

So now it looks like he's "generous" to the unaware observer.

http://swoolley.org/files/donationanalysis.html has the breakdown on all their donations, but the animation image hasn't regenerated yet after I had to fix a bug. Hales data somehow introduced a tab character in their spreadsheet that broke the conversion to tab-delimited. Fixed the importer to filter that out though so that should update tonight when the cron job picks it up around 1am when the nightly update happens.

My skeptical side says this is Smith's typical self-preservation politics mixed with PPS' consistent greed. PPS will tell the teachers to toe the line and vote Jeffy, in return the Smith campaign will give them cash and canvassers. Typical

It won't be anywhere near enough. And any teacher who's ever been bullied or beaten will vote for Hales, no matter what the union overlords command.

Forgive me if I seem a little cynical about this man, but every time his followers drop to their knees and begin gushing about what a marvelous deed he has done, I just automatically assume it's B.S. There have been several references made to defining Jefferson Smith so how's this? A fabricator of fables. A man who churns out a good will symphony, hitting all the same notes: Jefferson is good. He is caring and he just wants to serve others.

It's performance theater driven by this strange kind of personal energy that some would call charisma. It has been present throughout history: The noble man who comes forward and says, "Let's do this for a good cause." Then somewhere along the line the "good cause" becomes putting them in power.

I am so disappointed in his followers. They seem to encapsulate the sheep-like trait that could be enough to end our species. I have seen this bliss before. I have seen it right here in Oregon with the followers of the Bagwan Rashneesh - this earnest joy when someone has found a noble leader to believe in and cherish. You can present a mountain of evidence that this glorious leader is a twisted loser, but they just refuse to see it. They are proud of how dumb they are. They revel in it.

One suspicious thing here was during the great endorsement unloading. Do you remember what the teachers union president Gwen Sullivan said?

"We have not had any conversations about not sticking with Smith. We have not thought that the Smith campaign has handled everything the right way, but we know Jefferson has been a strong advocate for schools. And that part hasn't wavered."

That was around 2 weeks ago. No conversations about not sticking with Smith? Doesn't that have the scent of BS to it? I mean everybody in town was talking about this, but they didn't have any conversations about dumping him? If that is true, then why not? Isn't that your job to at least talk about important stuff like this? It sounds like one of those times where someone overcorrects to deflect from something else they're trying to hide. It may be true but it doesn't sound credible to me. To me the truth would have sounded more like, "We talked about it. We take violence against women very seriously so of course we talked about it, but we've decided to stick with Smith despite everything." That would have at least sounded true. But no conversations at all? Give me a break.

I wonder if she's trying to deflect from a deal here?

I imagine the Smith campaign was in scramble mode in those days. The fire and police unions were bailing on him. Another one followed a couple of days later. The campaign had to be wondering if this was going to be a stampede.

And wouldn't you expect the teachers union of all people to stand up against a man committing violence on a woman, and then going to her house 19 years later and scaring her again?

Maybe what really happened was that Jefferson got on the phone to Gwen and said, "Just stick with me, and in return I'll have my people support your efforts when they go out canvassing neighborhoods. Don't worry, nobody will put it together. We'll wait a couple of weeks to - let's say - October 23rd, and then I'll announce it. My people will wet themselves talking about how wonderful I am, and in exchange I'll keep your endorsement." This is a theory, but it doesn't it make more sense?

I repeat: I'm not saying this is true, but I've seen this man in action, and I believe he's more than capable of doing something twisted and then trying to sell it as noble. There's another name for when Jefferson does this: You could call it his life.

Remember, he was supposedly doing something right when he went to the woman's house at 8 a.m....you know...to protect her privacy. That also had the ring of BS to it.

Way too much time, effort, energy, money and spin has been wasted on Nutsy Jeffy.
He needs to check into "the Betty" for a minimum 90 day stay.
He needs anger management classes.
He needs to take his meds.
He needs to move away from Portlandia, and the sooner the better!

YES ON 26-144 or Nutsy will punch you.

I wonder if anyone told the volunteers to skip a certain house during their canvassing.

I wouldn't vote for him to save my life but the hostility is a bit much.

Seeing Smith's character is like combining the main characters of The Master movie-Hoffman and Phoenix. I thought of Smith many times while watching the disturbing movie.

The more you know, the more hostile you get.

This is very simple. Smith just had a massive meltdown and every move he makes (press conference, visiting the victim's house, blaming the media, etc..) makes it even worse. He now realizes that his reputation is in tatters and there is no possibility to win the campaign. So he comes up with this new scheme. This is all about Jefferson trying to make himself look good and begin the road to redemption (at least in his own mind.) This is another petty political move but definitely a smarter one because it just moved the story away from his 'finger tapping' ways.

But there's more dirt. Mark Wiener has it. And if Smith runs again, his next opponent will pay for it. Nutsy really needs to move back to L.A. or the East Coast and sell himself as a youth organizer. Although with the majorly receding hairline, it's going to be a hard sell.

Nutsy really needs to move back to L.A.
That gives us streetcar Charlie.

I will never forgive him for his contribution to the destruction of my hometown. And he did it for his personal gain - money in his pocket and power, leading to a job infesting other cities with worthless streetcars.

He may have better temper control, but not better standards as his residence problem shows. In fact Jefferson is probably more honest!

The basic problem is that no credible candidate stepped up to run for mayor. (In "credible", I include the ability to raise money.)

Thanks
JK

Portland Native,
I completely agree with you. I see having to respond to Jefferson Smith as a huge waste of time. I would have preferred he had not run, so we could concentrate on other things. I'm not enjoying this at all, but he made it happen by trying to become mayor of Portland. Sometimes you have to respond, even if it diminishes the quality of your own life for awhile.

One of the main reasons I resented Sam Adams was that on the day we finally got rid of the Bush administration, he showed up at a microphone and started us on his Beau Breedlove saga. Remember? That was Inauguration Day when we said goodbye to Bush and Cheney after 8 long years, and I always thought it was cruel of Sam not to wait one more day to let us enjoy that. I still do.

Sometimes in life you have to enjoy the potential of what could happen next. Hope and change, remember? Maybe later you'll be disappointed so enjoying the potential is all you really get.

I have written comedy as a freelancer for nearly 20 years. This very day I have a chance to write a line for an event with the President of the United States in attendance. It is not likely they will use my line, but I did have a joke about the Bush/Cheney administration on once with George W. there. I have had politicians forced to react to my lines on "Meet the Press."
I had one incident - not political - where a line I wrote was treated as breaking news on the New York Times website.

There is a potential here - a tantalizing potential. Somewhere out there in the comedy universe floats an unwritten line that could bounce around the world, and who knows? Maybe make a difference. I have seen it happen before. Now, I know it's a long shot, but at least, selfishly, I would like to enjoy that. Just as I would have liked to enjoy the potential of the last Inauguration Day without Sam interfering with his shenanigans.

But am I sitting here trying to write that line? No, I'm responding to the latest political ploy by Jefferson Smith, and being called an "obsessive creep" by his followers, when I just want him and them to go away. Do whatever you want but don't try and take over Portland. It's fair to feel this way, isn't it?

In conclusion, it's very probable that my political leanings would be reflected in that line I should be writing. I write for both sides, but it helps to tap into what you believe. It's just easier. For example, have you heard anything about Mitt Romney and the Cayman Islands? I was part of that.

So the fact that I am not writing a line right now, can be seen as a help to the Mitt Romney campaign. That means Jefferson Smith and his followers could be helping to get Mitt Romney elected. I know that's a stretch but it is not out of the question. So think of that, Smith progressives. You're actually helping Mitt Romney this morning.

However, either way, I should be enjoying this. These gigs don't last forever, and you only get a few days like today.

You only get a few days in life like the end of the Bush/Cheney administration so I resented Sam for bringing us down on Inauguration Day last time. Remember, Aretha Franklin and the hat? I wanted to focus on stuff like that instead of Beau Breedlove.

So, in a similar way, I resent Jefferson Smith for diminishing the quality of my life this year and especially this morning. That part is not a long shot. That part is 100% true.

Bill, thank you for helping to make sure President Obama is not re-elected.

Let's just ignore Nutsy now. Psychos are immune to ridicule, and many feed off of it, emboldened by the attention. Good night, nuts.