BEST CAMPAIGN POSTER
BEST PETITION CIRCULATOR
BEST POLITICAL MOONLIGHTING
BEST IMPLEMENTATION OF A MUNICIPAL PROJECT
BEST PUBLIC EMPLOYEE TO TRUST WITH YOUR MONEY

Best Campaign Poster
They say a picture's worth a thousand words. If only those words were votes, state Supreme Court candidate Jim Rice could have traded his black leather for a black robe. The Lane County public defender finished well behind the top vote-getters, but hell, Rice's campaign photo was so much better than anyone else's that by all rights he should have gotten a few thousand votes on coolness alone.

Petition Circulator
Kathleen George is one of those reviled paid petition circulators who descend on our state every election season to make money off the good intentions of the citizenry. She loves it. Standing in front of the Multnomah County Public Library, the 19-year-old University of Maine student with a buzz cut quickly gathers a small crowd around her as she hawks her petitions. She smiles; she charms; she waves her arms at folks to come on over. "I don't recognize you," she'll say. "I don't think you've signed my petition yet." Few people have the strength to ignore her. George saw an ad in the school paper about earning money in Oregon by being an activist for OSPIRG. She headed west in response but after one day moved over to Progressive Campaigns, which is circulating two initiatives--one on medicinal marijuana and one that would peg lottery dollars for parks. She says she has no problem meeting the 400-signature-per-week quota. We're not surprised.

Best Political Moonlighting
If Metro Exec Mike Burton ever quits his day job, he might consider a career as a radio talk-show host. Burton was one of several local pols and pundits who served as volunteer election-eve analysts on KNEWS May 19. While others, such as media strategists Gregg Clapper and Len Bergstein, seemed intent on scoring political points, Burton provided insightful commentary in his smooth baritone voice. For example, when host Bill Gallagher expressed surprise at Greg Walden's easy victory in the GOP 2nd Congressional District primary, Burton (who served in the Legislature with Walden) explained how Walden's background and personality was well-matched to the sprawling district. Despite giving a couple of speeches each week, Burton says he was a bit nervous. Overall, however, he had a good time. "I'm not looking for a second career," he says, "but these things are fun." Burton says his only previous radio experience came during the Vietnam War, when he was in charge of an Air Force base station in Thailand. "I picked up a few things hanging ound the station," he says, "but they never let me on the air."

Best Implementation of a Municipal Planning Project
We write a lot about city programs that don't work. But for the last five years, Mia Birk and the four other cycling advocates who make up Portland's Bureau of Traffic Management Bicycle Program have succeeded in their mission to make cycling an integral part of life in the Rose City. While use of Portland bridges by automobiles increased 6 percent over the last year, bicycle crossings increased by 80 percent. "We're working to make 10 percent of all trips made in Portland made by bikes," says Birk, chairwoman of the program. Since 1996, the program has added 60 miles of new bikeways, created more than 2,000 new bike parking places and founded four Bike Central Stations for commuters.

Best Public Employee to Trust with Your Money
Want to know what's really in the Port of Portland's budget (such as $675,000 for new furniture)? Trying to make sense of the city's $850 million police and fire pension liability? The Multnomah County Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission may be an obscure branch of government, but it's a great source of straightforward, spin-free information thanks to the watchdog habits of departing director Courtney Wilton, who, when working for the City of Gresham, turned down $18,000 in overtime after some salaried employees won a lawsuit concerning evening hours they worked. The bad news for local taxpayers: Wilton left TSCC June 30 to become finance director for the David Douglas School District.