OPB referenced this article this morning during one of their local breaks, but were too gutless to call out commissioners by name. They only stated "one commissioner has taken more than 5 weeks of vacation and another almost seven". Really!?

Didn't Hales check-out a few months early when he was on the council? It took at least that long for the press to notice. I can't wait to see how much vacation he racks up this time around.

I'm no fan of politicians, especially the Sam the Scam and the Bobbleheads, but this is a big nothing story.

I'm not sure what a "vacation day" is for a politician.

I think all of the times that Sam is pulled out of the bar at 2 am to deal with a gang shooting. Or the time he had to cut short his holiday vacation to put on this Elmer Fudd hat and comfort the city through a snowstorm the didn't happen. Or the time he had to miss out on Obama's inauguration to deny/admit/whatever his mentoring/pederasty with Beau Breedlove.

For the other commissioners, I think of all the Saturday or Sunday mornings where they're stuck eating rubber pancakes at the ribbon cutting for the East Portland Social Justice and Equity Center.

From the article: "True, the jobs aren't limited to weekdays or bankers' hours. But that's also what the officials signed up for."

So, uh, what did they "sign up for" exactly? Did they sign up for a job that has no restrictions on vacation, or did they "sign up for" a job that requires work on "off" hours? Maybe both?

Also, I assume these officials are taking "paid" vacations? The comments assume the same, but why doesn't the article state that?

I'd give Brad an A+ for spinning a non-story to rile up the anti-government base, but a D- on his sloppy journalism.

A lot of people work late, work weekends and have duties outside of normal working hours and ALSO have restrictions on their "vacation" days. It's often called a "professional" or "managerial" position.

The idea that there is no restriction because these people are SO busy and dedicated is an insult to the many other busy and dedicated people in the private sector who have an allotment of vacation/personal days no matter how generous.

Give them a set number and then they can either take them or not. What makes them above the rest of the working word?

"What makes them above the rest of the working word?"

So small business owners, almost 22,000,000 "workers" in America, have restrictions on vacation days? I'll have to let my bosses know...

Hey, you'd probably be shocked by a Mult County commissioner's workload also.

Am I the only one who is reminded of how, when surgeons go on strike at a hospital, the death rate at said hospital goes down? I agree with Jack: they probably cause less damage if they're always on vacation than if they were back, doing their "jobs".

There is only one thing that is worse than some slacker government worker who is vacationing on the public dime, wasting taxpayer dollars.

And that is when the slacker government worker actually comes into the office and creates all kinda worse problems by wasting even more taxpayer dollars on their stupid pet projects.

I say let them vacation until their term in office is over. Just imagine is SandRand did that, how much better off Portland would be.

Did the Oregonian count the times that Sam goes out of town for "meetings," but ends up so sotted that he never shows up?

To satisfy "Ted" rather than "working" I should have referred to the rest of the EMPLOYED world - such as our counselors and mayor. They are obviously neither business owners nor self-employed.

To satisfy 'Ted' * * *."

You forgot to explain why self-"employed" people get a pass, but high-level local government officials don't. So, I am marking "not satisfied" in the box next to your comment.

I don't care about what kind of perqs they can get -- I'm amazed at the cluelessness about how the majority of their constituents live.