On being occasionally "frustrated" or "angry".... 1. I take my job seriously. 2. I don't like losing, do you know anyone who does? It's particularly hard when I think that important values and issues are at stake. 3. I get impatient, sometimes the system works slowly, sometimes I don't understand my colleagues' positions on issues or their positions seem inconsistent with prior decisions, and sometimes I think the County makes decisions that don't seem rational or aren't the best public policy. 4. I get frustrated when we spend millions of dollars more than we have to. I know that money doesn't grow on trees, taxpayers worked hard for it, we owe it to them to spend it wisely. 5. There is a lot of hard work to be done in Multnomah County. People are dying of drug overdoses, children are growing up in poverty, bridges are decaying...sometimes I get frustrated when we can't focus on the issues that ought to be at the core of the County's work. For example, was the smoking ordinance the most important public health issue we faced as a County? Alcohol and drug addiction, AIDS, Hepatitis C, access physical and mental health care, these all seem more important to me. With all of this "frustration" how can I like my job? I love my job, even when it looks to others like I don't. Whether I'm on the winning or the losing side of an issue, I still have a seat at the table. That's what democracy is all about. Debate makes for better policy, if we all agreed with each other all of the time, then ideas, policies, and expenditures would remain unchallenged. The best days are the days that I know that I make a difference -- it doesn't matter whether it's a big or a small difference, or if it's because I fought for those who haven't always been represented or if it's because I was part of a decision that ought to make our community a better place to live -- all of it feels great. On my apology to Diane... I was wrong to attack Commissioner Linn personally. Everyone on the Board works hard and believes that she is striving to make our County better, even if she disagrees with me. I am going to work hard to make sure that I don't let my political disagreements with my colleagues become personal. I will, however, continue to be an aggressive advocate for people, ideas and issues that I think are important and must be heard at the table. On smoking.... My vote against the ordinance was a reasoned one. Even so, I am quickly learning that politics are about the art of compromise, not of principles, but of knowing when to draw the line and when to choose not to. In retrospect, the smoking ordinance was probably not the law where I needed to draw the line. I do agree with the purpose of the ordinance, I just don't agree that it will accomplish it's goal and I would prefer to get there differently. I also didn't think that the law merited such a high priority from the Commission. But the law didn't require me to compromise my principles, it merely required the compromise of philosophical approaches. The law wasn't important to me, but it was very important to two of my colleagues. I guess it was a good lesson for me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published January 12, 1999