A pair to draw to
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| Torres, Arnold. |
Portland government is in the tank, but there's hope on the ballot for voters in City Council Districts 3 and 4, covering the west side, a lot of inner southeast, and a little of inner northeast. They'll be voting for all of their council members very soon.
They've got some good candidates. In District 3, there's Kellie Torres, and in District 4, there's Eli Arnold. Despite the messed-up districting and vote-counting systems in the new city charter, those two both have a shot. And both would be a darn sight better than many of the council members we have now.
If Arnold could beat out that awful Mitch Green, and if Torres could take a seat currently occupied by either Angelita Morillo or Tiffany Koyama Lane (who is basically Morillo's second vote), the city might be going somewhere better than its current malaise.
Yes, there should be room for a few far-lefties on the council, but it shouldn't be half of the members. It's time to play the game under the new charter so that we get fair representation, which we don't have at the moment.
It's not going to be easy. There are 12 candidates in District 4, and 21 in District 3, and so it's easy to get lost in the circus. That's what the socialista incumbents want, and their backers are quite organized. Normal people need to have their act together, too.
Keep the focus, folks. In District 3, the new face is Torres, and in District 4, it's Arnold. The incumbents worth keeping are Steve Novick in District 3 (ick, but better than the alternative), and Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman in District 4.
And as pollyanna as it sounds, talk to your friends and neighbors about this. Remind them not to rank, at all, the three crazies. Leave their circles blank.
So far, none of the other hopefuls – the people not mentioned in this post – seem to stand much of a chance. But my endorsements for the council two years ago went 0 for 12, which was so futile as to be a sort of achievement.
Readers who are knowledgeable, I'm interested in what you think about this go-'round. Ballots will be in the mail two weeks from tomorrow.
Why the hell do we need two commissioners per district- so you never know who to blame?
ReplyDeleteIt's three Councilors per District.
DeleteBecause, Candy Avalos & the rest of her charter commission acolytes decided that RCV and 3 councilors per district would enshrine the current council representation for life.
DeleteAdded payroll for friends and staff. The graft never ended.
DeleteWell...Torres, "Would expand public-private partnerships, philanthropy and sponsorships; proposes a reimagined Tom McCall Waterfront Bowl."*
ReplyDeleteHer current job is, she, "manages external affairs and partnerships for PP&R". She has previously managed non-profits.
We already have a *huge* problem with public money going down the black-hole of private "non-profits", I see her as just more of the problem, not a solution.
*https://www.portlandciviclab.org/voters-guide/portland-district-3/kellie-torres
Well, you have to choose. You prefer Morillo and Koyama Lane?
DeleteAnd how's that working for you, to vote for whoever might be the better-of-two bad candidates running for a seat-?
DeleteI stopped that sh!t for-good after the Dem Party ignored us & put Hillary on the ballot in 2016.
FYI, I vote in every election, am an activist & communicate with electeds & Party, and am loud & clear about what it's going to take to get my vote.
There's lots of work for all of us to do, to get better candidates on our ballots. But in the meantime, I'm not settling.
Likewise, not seeing Torres as part of the solution, just more of the same. Her campaign website bullets are DSA-lite. Nothing but tax dollars going to the usual BS. And she comes out of our highly mismanaged parks department. Better than Morillo and Koyama Lane? Probably. It would be hard to be worse than Morillo. That's not a high bar. But as for real change, Torres is not it.
DeleteAnd that's how we got Trump and three Supreme Court appointees, who overturned Roe v. Wade. I guess you showed them!
DeleteThe Party putting Hillary on the ballot is what got us Trump.
DeleteWasn't it the 4 Israeli wars from bush sr and bush jr continued by Obama and Biden, thats not ALSO what got us Trump? lol, or falling wages since Nafta or really Carter, but nah....Trump.
DeleteYour petulance is duty noted. MAGA thanks you.
DeleteI think the voters in flyover country who got fed up with the coastal elites elected Trump.
DeleteOh yes, things weren't going so well for many Americans under the usual revolving-slate of Democrats, the Party making it clear we're just going to continue being stuck with more of the same, and we're in a system where the 2 Parties have complete control, so...
DeleteMost people want to vote for someone who has a viable shot at winning, so in a national election, if they feel unrepresented by one Party, they're going to go-with what seems to be the only other choice (I'm not pulling that out of a hat, exit polls & other research showed voters doing exactly-that).
Again, you have a choice. Vote for candidates who will, despite your hard feelings, assure the right for a woman to choose, protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, etc., OR not vote and let MAGA have its way.
DeleteOh my goodness. It's not about "hard feelings", don't project your-own self-involved reaction to things onto others.
DeleteFrom the view over here in Multnomah Village, based on school events and PTA meetings, soccer games, murmurs in the pub:
ReplyDeleteClark is a lock. She's got the brand name recognition and we love a stern white lady over here.
Zimmerman picked up something of a rep of being an a-hole, and not in a good, give em hell kinda way. Kinda mixed signals on him now in the district. Not much in the way of signs in yards and one measly email flier. Hmm.
Green has a cadre of people that want him out (and likely didn't vote for him previously) and dedicated supporters who look at the current events with him as smears. There's enough dissatisfaction with the council in generea that I think he's the Peacock that's vulnerable. The 'Cauc-no-matter-who' syndrome isn't as virulent in D4.
Eli has a bunch of momentum now and he's kinda everywhere you look, but it seems like he might bump Zimmerman at this point? A lotta ballots are gonna contain Green in some of the rankings, so this is gonna be a weird one I think.
As Jack noted, DO NOT RANK Green.
DeleteAdding to previous. The DSA people have a great ground game, but people now (hopefully) know more about the pros and cons of each candidate.
DeleteZimmerman does not represent my district, however his team has responded to every email I sent during the Budget season. I live in District 1 and not one councilor has responded to any of my emails from District 1- not one.
ReplyDeleteZimmerman always responds. It appears he understands he serves the entire city of Portland. That's a good thing. FYI
...and don't pay any attention to the city's (taxpayer financed) Instagram campaign that obfuscates rank choice voting as harmless. It's BS.
ReplyDeleteAs for Eli Arnold - It seems doubtful that, in Portland, a PPB officer (particularly one who was on the riot squad in 2020) can win for Council.
ReplyDeleteHe might always be a political non-starter here because of that.
And honestly, his "deep dive" on his website, on homelessness, just shows more of the same - get people off the streets, get them mental health care & treatment, etc. without explaining funding or any details about how-exactly he will get us from-here-to-there.
I see what his appeal is, but with no political experience, the potential for divisiveness because of his above-mentioned history, and only the same vague descriptions of how he'll be the one to bring changes, would he really have any impact, on the Council-?
(Not trying to start an argument, just asking folks' opinions)
The perfect is the enemy of the good. It's between Green and Arnold. The choice is beyond obvious.
DeleteOh please dear whomever- no more Mitch Green. Save D4.
DeleteMany pp were on the “riot circuit” in 2020 b/c the protests turned ugly after 10 pm and were hijacked by radical violence. Consequently, the protests turned riots caused a lot of damage to everyone in Portland. Mormons citizens who needed police and sometimes emt help suffered because PPB/emts had to triage extra help to handle the street violence and fires. People just forget Occupy Portland, 2020 BLM protests-> choas/riots, PSU Gaza protest, many others just caused a lot of problems and destruction for the whole citizenry. Furthermore, Eli Arnold was never involved in any high profile lawsuits and even if he was, those get adjucated in the criminal and civil system and/or reviewed by IRB. Other people ran in D4 that have experience in dealing with mental ill, homeless, destitute individuals, finding housing or treatment regimens like Chad Lykins and Thomas Dodson, MD who finished behind Eli Arnold in votes in 2024. Lets just hope that people have wised up to the nonsense of Mitch Green, whose a DSA die hard, and has not been helpful in advancing what’s best for D4 residents and the COP in general.
DeleteAbove, thought I typed normal cotizens…came out Mormon! ?
Delete