Schmidt's creak
The flood of election porn has begun here in Portland, and yesterday the mailman delivered the season's first glossy obscenity. Not surprisingly, it's a howler from the most desperate of all the candidates on the ballot:
This one may take the prize for the election's most misleading, as it makes our feckless district attorney out to be some sort of born-again law-and-order type.
Is he kidding? Until he took a poll and saw that that his chances for re-election were in the tank, he was a vocal defender of the decriminalization of hard street drugs. Not to mention how he let downtown Portland be trashed by anarchists for close to a year, with next to nobody being prosecuted for any of it. But now suddenly he's got religion. Look out criminals, he's coming for you! Twenty lashes with a wet noodle!
Mikey's mailer is obvious baloney, and long past its best-by date.
Meanwhile, I note another oddity in his mail pitch, and it seems to be part of a trend. Although his race is nonpartisan, Mikey reminds us no less than three times that he's a member of a certain political party.
We've seen this before, and not too long ago. Rene Gonzalez put a "D" next to his name on his webpage when he was running for Portland City Council, another nonpartisan position. Apparently, these guys' doing such things doesn't break any laws, although it definitely seems to violate the spirit of a nonpartisan election. What next, will the judges be doing it, too?
In Gonzalez's case, I'm sure it was to dispel any notion that his relatively conservative views came from his being a Trumpy. But in this year's d.a. race, it's just the opposite. Nobody would mistake Mikey for a Republican; the idea is to imply that his opponent, Nathan Vasquez, is a Republican. It worked to kill off Betsy Johnson's campaign for governor. (And with thinly veiled help from the Weed, I might add.) The Schmidtters are borrowing that move from the Kotek playbook to create a poison impression of their opponent.
For the record, by all accounts Vasquez is a former Republican, who wisely defected from that dubious party when Orange Caligula took it over. But party affiliations are supposed to be irrelevant. Call me crazy, but I like prosecutors who live up to the spirit of the law as well as its letter.
And besides, there oughta be a letter of a law against candidates in nonpartisan races touting their party affiliations in their campaign literature. Somebody should ask all the old dudes running for Oregon Secretary of State what they think of Mikey's ploy. See which of them can tell you what the rules are, and say something intelligent about what they should be.
Mike is the modern day Joe Friday. We should all be blessed by his commitment to law and order. What a guy!
ReplyDeleteWith his anticipated help from the Ford Foundation and Soros he might make it.
ReplyDeleteWell we had JoAnne with the bullhorn who almost got re-elected, why not Mikey with the bullsh!t?
ReplyDeleteThere’s a reason that the 90 fentanyl “emergency” declaration lined up precisely with election timelines. His friends were trying to help him out.
ReplyDeleteSorry, bojack, you and George Washington lost this battle a long time ago. If it’s an elected position, it’s going to be a partisan race, whether we pretend otherwise or not. And certainly what the candidates choose to tell voters about themselves is core political speech that can’t be limited in this day of Citizens United.
ReplyDeleteThe better question is why we elect prosecutors at all — it should definitely be a nonpartisan role in both theory and practice, but getting to that ideal pretty much means it ought to be a technocratic position, like the wastewater treatment manager and county manager roles.
"County manager"? In Multnomah County, it's Serena Freakin' Cruz. Bad example of someone with skills rather than connections.
DeleteI think you're wrong about me and George, too. If a judge started plastering "Democrat" on her campaign litrerature, I believe there'd be a problem with that. Schmidt is a lawyer, running to be the top law enforcement officer in the county; his speech can and should be restricted just as the judges' is.
Judicial elections are a bad idea and they’re pretty fictional in Oregon anyway - there is a carefully choreographed resignation to allow appointment by the Gov of a replacement who gets to run a “retain” campaign. Barring measurable and observable melanin enrichment, the seated judges get reelected.
Deletehow is ranting "orange caligula" any different from ole Schmidt hollering "fetty princes". have you ever thought that the majority of people you have taught and reported to voted for Schmidt. I think the word you should holler more is shaudenfraude
ReplyDeleteI assume that the flyer says "Democrat" so many times because it went out to registered Democrats. (I got one.)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Schmidt campaign purchased a list of registered Dems from the DPO?
I just finished watching the KGW debate (5/2/24) and, I have to say, Mikey brought his A-game. Vasquez was a bit more subdued but did well as well. Were I a resident of Lower Slobovia and got a vote in this race, I would prob vote for Mikey.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that's not the case... I've seen the damage Mikey has done first hand. Vote VASQUEZ!