[April 30th, 2008]

Carla Piluso

Tattoo she’d get: The Chinese character for “courage” on the inside of her ankle.

After eight years under Multnomah County Commissioner Lonnie Roberts, who was happy to let his staff take charge while he drank coffee with buddies or played computer solitaire in his office (no joke), voters in District 4 have a chance to clear the cobwebs. Roberts can’t run again because of term limits. One candidate would bring new energy and a long record in public safety plus deep roots in East County.

Carla Piluso was a pioneering woman in law enforcement when the Gresham Police Department hired her in 1979, and she rose through the ranks to become one of about 200 female police chiefs nationwide. As an officer, she worked as a hostage negotiator and helped bring more than $750,000 in federal funds to fight domestic violence.

Piluso’s police work makes her an ideal candidate at a time when opening Wapato Jail and funding public safety are among the most pressing issues facing the county. (Alert: Piluso worked for disgraced Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto when he was police chief in Gresham. Today Piluso is critical of his performance, though she wants to keep the sheriff as an elected rather than an appointed post.)

Piluso has served for 12 years on the board of Human Solutions, a nonprofit that works with the homeless. She’s also on the board of the Children’s Justice Alliance and the Salvation Army, posts that show she takes more than a lock-’em-up approach to public safety.

Piluso’s opponents are West Columbia Gorge Chamber of Commerce executive director Diane McKeel, Fairview City Councilman Ken Quinby and construction worker John Winters. None matches Piluso’s combination of experience and enthusiasm for the job.

We reported last week on several incidents when Piluso’s nonprofit work and her candidacy have collided (see “Chief Complaint,” WW, April 23, 2008). But many of those troubles were the result of others’ poor judgment rather than Piluso’s. She’d make a fine addition to a board continuing to struggle with managing the county’s public safety duties.

Video of WW endorsement interview (thanks to Portland Community Media)