News Column

Who wants to be the mayor anyway?

Sources Say

The Portland Tribune, Nov 14, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The job of Portland mayor was not on the Nov. 7 ballot, and yet the outcome affects that race in 2008.

First, voters panned Measure 45’s term limits for state lawmakers, meaning two Portland politicos, Sen. Kate Brown and Rep. Jeff Merkley, won’t be termed out – likely removing them from mayoral speculation.

Second, the Democrats retook the U.S. House of Representatives – meaning newly powerful Congressman Earl Blumenauer may find it easier to shrug off pressure to run against U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

Blumenauer staying put would mean one less opening for ambitious types like city Commissioner Sam Adams, who’s refused to rule out a run for the mayor’s job. Mayor Tom Potter, now 66, has spoken of a January campaign fundraiser. But Sources Say suspects City Hall politics has him longing for another retirement.

Senator-elect floats his Saxton theory

At Ron Saxton’s election-night party at the Hilton Portland last week, the kids were popping campaign balloons long before the failed gubernatorial candidate’s 9:30 p.m. concession speech.

Legislative candidate Larry George, however, saw the air going out of Saxton’s campaign well before that. Despite last-minute reports of Saxton’s campaign gaining momentum, George, a Republican who won his bid for the state Senate, told Sources Say he saw a dramatic shift in the polling numbers in late October.

It started, he said, right after the news broke that Saxton had been part owner of a farm and said he wasn’t sure if it had employed illegal immigrants – this after Saxton had supported harsh penalties for employers who hired illegal immigrants.

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