Double-dippers & dangerous kissers.

[February 22nd, 2006] WINNERS

Developers, start your engines. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld Measure 37, handing a huge win to property-rights advocates . Oregon voters in 2004 approved the measure, which allows landowners to get compensated by governments if they show regulations lowered their property values.

Proclamations from Multnomah County's Democratic Central Committee certainly won't sway many Oregonians outside our liberal enclave. But its endorsement last week of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's two primary challengers—Pete Sorenson (pictured) and Jim Hill —is just as certainly a sign that the two have a big wave of Dem discontent to surf.

"Double-dipping" is alive and well in the state Legislature for 10 lawmakers who got reimbursed twice for expenses, The Oregonian reports. In a legal but eyebrow-raising practice, the 10 used campaign cash for gas mileage even though the state also paid them $91 a day for expenses during last year's session. Among the bigger offenders: House Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) and state Sen. Ginny Burdick, a Portland Democrat running for City Council.

LOSERS

Metro might need a watchdog for its watchdog, Auditor Alexis Dow. Last Friday's Portland Tribune documents how Dow, running for re-election to her $76,000-a-year auditor's job, earns tens of thousands from outside employment and uses public money to stay in upscale hotels and pick up gifts for her employees. And now she's got an actual challenger, Multnomah County Auditor Suzanne Flynn.

We're sorta OK with the Trail Blazers losing as long as they're choirboys off the court. But now comes news that Blazers point guard Sebastian Telfair, one of the supposed keys to the franchise's future, is in trouble for bringing a loaded gun on the team plane. Perhaps Telfair wants to be more of a "shooting" guard?

A short kiss, a long goodbye. Because of Oregon's three-strikes-and-you're-out law, ex-exterminator Nicholas Paul Meyrovich got sentenced to life in prison the day after Valentine's Day for kissing a customer on the neck. The appeals court had no sympathy for the repeat sex offender and called him a poster child for the three-strikes law.