Portland City Council: 4 candidate interviews

Last week, I interviewed four of the five challengers to Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s seat (position 30. The group is diverse, in a Portland kind of way: a woman with a long record in City Hall, a community activist, a policy wonk and an artisan. Three of the four have campaigns that should garner them the 1,000 $5 contributions needed to qualify for public financing, so it looks like we’re going to have an exciting primary campaign that could, given Saltzman’s uninspiriting record and the on-going resentment of incumbents, drive two of these challengers to the general election run-off.

(I chose not to interview the fifth challenger, Ed Garren, because I do not consider him a serious contendor. And after his public hissyfit over the group appearance (below), he demonstrated he lacks the character to be a public leader: Where the situation required a quiet and private response, Garren threw the kind of tantrum seen when a toddler is refused a purchase by a parent in the store.)

In order of my scheduled interviews:

To think of Mary Volm as a PR flak would be a mistake, a mistake I admitted to her after our interview. In her twenty-plus years as a spokesperson for Portland city government, Volm has learned City Hall in a way few do. She’s worked with every mayor since Bud Clark, has spoken on behalf of virtually every bureau, and, while not directly responsible for formulating policy, has been witness to the public and private processes that create laws and policy. Of all the candidates, Volm comes the closest to be an insider — although her support for the recall of Mayor Sam Adams puts that designation in an odd light. After an hour-and-a-half talking City of Portland, I found myself half-wishing that “City Spokesperson” was an elected office — or that I’d been paying more to City business over the years so I could recall hearing her speak in her official capacity.

Plain and simple, Jason Renaud is running for Police Commissioner. While he believes the mayor should never relinquish that responsibility, since Mayor Adams has chosen to do so, he wants to replace Saltzman who has, Renaud asserts, failed in the role. Renaud, who has been involved as a volunteer with mental health issues for years, points unsurprisingly to the James Chasse and other related Chris Humprhies issues as opportunities to have done right by both the public and the cops on the street — opportunities that were blown very badly by the current Commissioner. He wants to build a two-way relationship of trust between the cops and the city, both the government and the citizens.

Initially, I was not going to interview Spencer Burton but after reading about his idea to arrange joint appearances by the candidates — a chance for people to meet and greet, listen to live music and contribute to the various campaigns — I decided this kind of initiative in the spirit of democracy was worthy of the respect of being included with the other interviewees. Burton’s the least experienced of the group, but his enthusiasm for politics and for tapping into the energy, skills and ideas that are abundant in Portland are almost enough to make up for his lack of qualifications. Almost.

Jesse Cornett has the most direct skill set for the position even though he is the youngest of the four. He’s worked in the Secretary of State’s office and, until recently, at Portland State University; he’s both applied law and policy and worked in the drafting of and advocacy for law. He also was a founder of both the Bus Project and Blue Oregon, two of the state’s leading avenues for progressive grassroots activism. The combination of wonkiness and progressive creds is characteristic of many of the state’s young leaders.

Of the four, only Burton is not ready for the job. He is someone with the kind of energy, enthusiasm and intelligence to be an active participant in building a better future for the city. One thing we discussed, beginning with his initial idea and then bouncing more off each other, is a program of micro-loans to encourage the owners of the many vacant lots around town — several large ones not far from the Grand Central Bakery on N Fremont where we talked — to utilize the lots productively as community food gardens. The ability to have good ideas, not to mention the desire to be part of making a positive contribution to the community, is not necessarily enough to warrant a vote. Elected office is not the right role for everyone (Exhibit 1, yours truly); at this point, that’s my assessment of Burton. While I cannot endorse his candidacy for this position, I hope to see him find the right role for applying his gifts. Elected office is only avenue to political activism.

Renaud is digging himself a bit of a hole with his focus on the police, especially if Adams decides that agrees with him and the mayor is the right one to oversee that bureau. Park of this is strategy for qualifying for public financing: Rather than present a broad platform that might confuse people, he chose to tackle the toughest issue. Once he has qualified for public financing, he will address the other issues that would require his attention on Council. I don’t know if his enthusiasm would be as strong for the water bureau, although his work with the mental health community, which includes working with both the City, Multnomah County and others, demonstrates a broad ability to tackle a range of issues that impact the most vulnerable Portlanders. His anger at the City’s failure to deal with homelessness is as strong as that regarding the inept handling of police issues. His experience as a national fundraiser for Compassion & Care seems to be a good professional base for being an effective commissioner — certainly more than the incumbent he challenges.

My knowledge of Volm prior to talking with her was limited to Facebook and Twitter, and as we only interacted directly a very few times, that wasn’t much. My pre-interview assessment of her as superficial was quickly erased; I was impressed by the depth and range of her knowledge and, more importantly, her understanding of the dynamics of being an effective member of City government. My biggest concern is that this breadth of interest — like me, she has no end of desire to know a lot about a lot of things — might conflict with the need to manage a bureau, something she also believes she can do. This is a question I hope to see gain more light as the primary progresses. Despite her long tenure within City Hall, I would not call her an insider, especially given her advocacy for the recall effort. She did state that she believes she could work professionally with Sam Adams, a claim the voters are going to have to assess for themselves.

I’ve known Cornett a bit from both Blue Oregon and the Bus, but only slightly. I was glad to finally get the chance to talk with him in depth, to get to know him better. While I’m still not sure who I’d vote for between Renaud and Volm, I do know that, for me, Cornett is my choice to replace Saltzman. He is, as I noted above, in the same lineage as many of the outstanding young leaders around the state; this may be his moment to join their ranks. He understands the technical aspects of government, he’s fluent in the language of policy and law, but he also understands the new progressive climate that is driving Oregon politics. Of the candidates for this position, Cornett, I believe, will be able to both manage his assigned bureau duties effectively and to find ways to bring citizens into the process.

I enjoyed talking with all four candidates, and I learned important things from each of them. I did not come away from our talks with the assessment that Jesse Cornett is a better candidate than Mary Volm or Jason Renaud; it’s that, for me, he is the kind of candidate I see as a better fit for the future of Portland and the state. Should voters choose to elect Volm or Renaud, I will not be unhappy; should one of those two be a general election finalist opposite Saltzman, I will gladly support them. In fact, as I’ve re-read the transcripts of the interviews, I’m glad Cornett entered the race because if I had to choose between Volm and Renaud, it would be tough. I really hope voters put one of them in the General Election against Cornett. All three have much to offer the City, as does Spencer Burton; for the purposes of my own time and energy however, Jesse Cornett is the best fit.

Please get to know all four of these great citizens. They all are valuable members of our community, they all have a great deal to offer, and two of them should, I hope, be the finalists in the general election this November. But first they all need to get 1,000 $5 contributions to qualify for public funding. Please help them do that.

Here are links to their campaigns, along with the full interviews (those are being added as I get them done; sorry for the delay):

Spencer Burton

Jesse Cornett

Jason Renaud
full interview

Mary Volm
full interview