[October 17th, 2007]

Winners

1 U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) need not spend the eye-popping $4 million he’s squirreled away on research against his opponent-to-be. Thanks to the eat-your-own climate of the blogosphere, plenty of warts for Senate D hopefuls Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick are available at blueoregon.com/2007/10/smearing-jeff-m.html. With friends like these....

p>2 The Multnomah Athletic Club got a little more exclusive after the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld fallen financier Andy Wiederhorn’s expulsion. The MAC booted Wiederhorn after a felony conviction; he challenged the decision, claiming the club included plenty of other felons. Where else are white-collar criminals supposed to buff up for the pen?

3Gay-rights advocates celebrate for a second week. Days after falling short of enough signatures to get a reversal of a new domestic partnership law on the ballot, gay-rights opponents also failed to collect enough signatures to refer a new anti-discrimination law to voters. The moral? There aren’t enough gay-bashers left who know how to write their names.

Losers

1 The state asked Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto to give up his badge or face allegations he’s told a laundry list of lies. The real loser if the G-Man’s bumbling reign ends? Cops reporters without a steady stream of sheriff screw-ups to chronicle.

2Conspiracy theorists predicted the TOPOFF 4 Homeland Security drill will “go live” this week, leaving Portland either under martial law or a pile of radioactive rubble. If you’re reading this, it didn’t happen. But we hear Y2K is coming back. (Check WWire at wweek.com daily through Friday, Oct. 19, for your TOPOFF coverage.)

3 Another local corporate headquarters bites the dust. Tektronix , the company widely credited with pioneering Oregon’s Silicon Forest and for birthing numerous other local high-tech firms, will become a subsidiary of Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp.

4 LumberJax , we hardly knew ye Two years after the pro lacrosse team came to town, word came Tuesday that the entire National Lacrosse League was shutting down for the 2008 season because of a labor dispute. (Go to wweek.com for more.)