O.O.O.

We get another doozy of a story today about Metro, Portland's extra special superfluous layer of government. Not only is one of the council members faxing it in from Spain, but the president of the council, who makes north of $200,000 a year plus that sweet, sweet PERS, has developed quite a habit of not showing up for the council meetings at all. And when said president, Lynn Peterson, does pop in, it's sometimes an hour late.

But don't worry, taxpayers, this sorry state of affairs won't continue. Part of why Peterson's been missing is that she's been interviewing for a position as "interim" city manager at Lake Oswego City Hall. She's expected to get the nod for that job tomorrow. Next thing you know, she'll be power lunching with Raymond Lee at the Chart House. Boy, won't they have a laugh or two. "I almost built a hockey rink in a cow pasture!" "I ran for Congress once." "Check, please!"

Can we please get rid of Metro and farm its functions back out to the already bloated city and county bureaucracies? Tom Mc Call died. Neil Goldschmidt, too. Tualatin, Tigard, Hillsboro, they've all been built out. Let's just declare victory and move on.