"Raymond's not here right now"

Peterson.

Amidst all the noise of the elections, which ended spectacularly badly here in Portland, the freshman city manager, Raymond Lee, has been filling some of the many available chairs in his bloated empire. He gets six deputy city administrators, count 'em, and also a "chief of staff" and a "chief strategy and change management officer" to help with his duties. This is how the guy operates. When he left his previous gig as city manager in Greeley, Colorado, they cut $700,000 a year out of the manager's office budget, and still they struggle with financial difficulties.

Two of the Portland deputy administrator positions were recently filled, and those appointments are so odd that they deserve a post of their own, which will take a while longer to compile. But today let's focus on Lee's new "chief of staff." If you haven't heard, you might not believe it, but it's none other than that quintessential political hack journeywoman, Lynn Peterson.

Since she arrived on the political scene in our area in 2003, Peterson has bounced around through a long series of government jobs, none of which has lasted much longer than a coffee break. She started on the Lake Oswego City Council, then became the Clackamas County chair, then quit that gig to become then-Governor John "Pants" Kitzhaber's transportation advisor. From there she moved on to a few years as the Washington State transportation secretary, but the Republicans in Olympia kicked her out of there, and her next stop was as the elected president of Portland’s weird Metro government.

Then she was running for Congress, but that fizzled. Then she abruptly resigned from Metro to take on the much lowlier job of interim city manager in Lake O. She put her name in for the permanent city manager job there, but then she pulled out of that process due to unexplained "changed personal circumstances." Now she's going to be running the Portland city manager's office for Lee.

I can't imagine it's going to be an easy gig. I suspect that Peterson will be called upon to do all sorts of work that one might have thought Lee was getting paid to do. She'll be holding down the fort when Raymond is away, and that promises to be often, given his generous vacation time, his nonprofit board chairmanship out of state, his earnest ambitions to earn a "black belt" in the bureaucratic arts, and the apparent fact that his wife and kids live in Dallas, Texas.

Initial reaction to Peterson's arrival at Portland City Hall has not been universally positive. Not to mention the general orneriness of the strking workers on the picket lines outside.

You might want to go on Kalshi to see what the over/under is on Peterson's time working for Lee. If it's more than 15 months, I'd "buy shares" in the under. 

Meanwhile, when you look to see who got the job in Lake Oswego that Peterson said she wanted, you have to laugh. The new city manager down there, Denzel Maxwell, is like a Mini-Me of Raymond Lee! Masters degree from Texas Tech, worked in San Antonio, and most recently assistant city manager in Fort Collins, Colorado. 

Maxwell.

You have to wonder how many more of these guys are coming.

Anyway, keep an eye on Peterson. Her time in city government promises to be mighty interesting. Grandpa Keith Wilson sure has set the stage for some comedy gold.