Sten's Final Four

[April 2nd, 2008]

On Friday, April 4—the eve of the NCAA Final Four—City Commissioner Erik Sten will have his goodbye party after 17 years in City Hall.

First elected in 1996 after working for then-Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury, Sten announced his resignation in January (See “Sten Calls It Quits,” WW, Jan. 2). He’ll leave behind a $93,000-a-year-job, an open seat and a record of upset victories—like set-asides for affordable-housing development—and tilting-at-windmills failures such as his PGE takeover bid.

With Sten gone, the fate of several of his signature programs is in doubt. So, in the spirit of the Final Four, we’ve filled out brackets on whether those legacies will survive Sten’s departure, and predict what it means for the rest of us.

Voter-Owned Elections

Sten was key in developing the city’s controversial public campaign financing system, which will cost nearly $900,000 for six Council candidates through the May 20 primary election. The system will go to a public vote in 2010.

The Oregonian Editorial Board

The O’s staff opiners love to bash Sten and public-campaign financing.

Winner: The feel-good, if scandal-plagued, public-financing program probably has more fans than the grumpy status qu-O.

“Satellite” Urban Renewal

Last month, Sten got a 5-0 Council vote to transfer $19 million from a tony urban-renewal zone that includes the Pearl District to a newly drawn “satellite” area—East Portland’s overcrowded, low-tax-base David Douglas school district.

Portland Business Alliance

The PBA opposed Sten’s plan on the grounds that it undermined urban renewal boundaries’ intent to use property taxes inside those districts to fund improvements only in those districts (see “PDX’s Robin Hood Tale,” WW, Sept. 26, 2007). Double-teaming with the PBA, Mayor Tom Potter’s office had the city attorney pick Sten’s plan apart in a legal memo.

Winner: With some free agents recruited from the League of Women Voters (who are naturally suspicious of urban renewal), the PBA will probably help ensure that David Douglas is the last satellite district. And any wannabe legal challengers to the David Douglas dollars would be sure to cite the city attorney’s memo—which didn’t say Sten’s plan was illegal, but did show how it could be challenged.

Downtown Homeless Center

Old Town and Chinatown residents rebelled at a Sten proposal that might’ve drawn more transients to their ’hood. So, Sten agreed to move a long-sought “day access center” to a block near the Greyhound station on Northwest Irving Street. Old Town remains a fallback option. But the deal won’t be done until Sten leaves office.

John Beardsley

With seconds on the buzzer, Beardsley, a developer near the planned shelter site, offered a deal that would relocate the shelter to still another site. His gambit failed—but he might do better in a rematch, without Sten on defense.

Winner: Beardsley moves too slow. The homeless go by Greyhound.

Jim Middaugh

Sten’s chief of staff wants his boss’ job on the Council. Middaugh is running with public financing, and the support of Sten and some bike-pedaling greenies.

Nick Fish

The labor lawyer, talk-show host and now-three-time Council candidate is Middaugh’s toughest competition. He’s got name recognition and some big union endorsements.

Winner: Too close to call. But as of this writing, Fish has a narrow edge in the unscientific counting at candidatesgonewild.com among voters deciding who will be on stage at Candidates Gone Wild on April 28. So we’ll advance Fish.

PREDICTION: All of which makes for a Final Four of politicians who want your money to get elected, capitalists who also want taxpayer money, a public shower for the people who need them most, and a man whose name suggests cold-bloodedness (maybe). Our bookie is hopelessly confused.