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Most Candid Candidate
This year, many candidates moaned about the disadvantages of state-sanctioned
gambling: It's a tax on the poor and an unstable funding source, and
it's immoral. Only Libertarian legislative candidate Jon Zimmer came
clean on why he really doesn't support the lottery: "I don't like the
odds."
Best Response to Silly Oregonian Logic
"The Oregonian suggests that being able to find the restrooms
on Capitol Hill is a good reason to endorse a candidate. I have been
able to find restrooms in such remote areas as Crane, Fields and Spray.
If restroom finding is really a criterion for endorsement by The
Oregonian, I believe I am the clear winner." --Democratic congressional
candidate Kevin Campbell after Oregon's largest paper endorsed his opponent,
Greg Walden, in part because he knew where the bathrooms in the Capitol
were
Best Response to Silly WW question
Portland legislative candidate Cletus Moore on why he's a Republican:
"Why not?"
Scariest Response to a Silly WW Question
Southwest Portland state House candidate Barry Joe Stull on whether
he had ever dreamed of being naked in a public place: "I've performed
naked. I do it every year, playing mandolin at the Country Fair."
Scariest Credentials for Public Office
Southeast Portland state House candidate Andrew Nisbet boasted of
being founder of Dead Heads for Reagan and Nuclear Power.
Most Surprising Music on a Candidate's Stereo
Wyden protégé and seemingly unhip City Council hopeful
Dan Saltzman said he had been listening a lot to Sarah McLachlan and
Sheryl Crow--and he knew the names of the albums. (David Wu said he
had been grooving to the Doors but couldn't name an album, any album,
by the group.)
Odd Couples
1. Far-left state Sen. Kate Brown and way-right state Rep. Bill
Witt joined to announce their support for a new toxics disclosure law.
2. Competing school superintendent candidates Stan Bunn and Margaret
Carter both told WW that Kenny G was their favorite musician.
3. Nerdy Sen. Ron Wyden and Everclear frontman Art Alexakis barnstormed
the state together for a day last week, encouraging young people to
vote.
Best-Named TV Promo for Election Issue
KGW's segment on medical marijuana, titled "Waiting to Inhale."
Best Evidence That the Anti-Pot Crowd Opposing Measure 67
Never Inhaled
Roger Burt, a drug counselor, told us that medical marijuana would
"open the door to hash use." The horror!
Best Evidence Republicans Kick Their Dogs
Humane Oregon, a new group that claims to be the first non-partisan
political action committee in the country to advocate animal rights,
endorsed 42 Oregon candidates. Only one was a Republican--Beaverton
state Rep. Ken Strobeck.
Biggest Waste of Time
Enemies of Multnomah County judicial candidate Mary Overgaard tried
digging up dirt on her college academic record. What did they unearth?
Evidence that Overgaard didn't graduate cum laude from the University
of Nebraska, as she claimed, but "with honors." (It means the same thing,
but the Cornhuskers don't use Latin on their diplomas.)
Second Biggest Waste of Time
Overgaard's opponent Jan Wyers found another exaggerated claim:
Overgaard founded a county task force on domestic violence, not
a state one, as she says in the Voters' Pamphlet.
Best Entrance
Lewis Marcus, an opponent of four local ballot measures, came into
our conference room on his bike--although he has just one leg--wearing
a sweatshirt and a Teamsters cap to debate the group of suits supporting
the $82 million Oregon Convention Center bond.
Worst Attempt at Winning Our Endorsement
During our endorsement interviews over the years we've seen candidates
get teary-eyed (Anitra Rasmussen); provocatively shed their clothing
(Gail Shibley); say they were in politics for the money and chicks (Lucky
Les Wilson); and even threaten to punch our lights out (Ron McCarty).
But until state legislative hopeful Dale Chambers came to our office
this fall, we never had a candidate fall asleep during an interview.
Best Line About Molly Bordonaro's Rumored Fondness for Partying
in High School
"Frankly, it's the most encouraging thing I've heard about her.
I'd rather see her as Courtney Love than Eva Braun."-- Lauren Moughon,
Democratic activist
Best Detail We Didn't Know about Molly Bordonaro
"Bordonaro is a sportswoman who is an active hunter and shooter,"
says the National Rifle Association's endorsement of the 1st Congressional
District candidate.
Best Election Insight
Oregonian columnist David Sarasohn noted that for all
the rhetoric about education and kids, no candidates used their advertisements
and brochures to mention that 20 percent of the nation's children live
in poverty.
First-Time Candidate Best Prepared for a Long Career in Politics
Democratic legislative candidate Andrea Hungerford, 27, wins the
prize with this exchange:
WW: How will you vote on the medical-marijuana ballot measure?
Hungerford: I hate to be indefinite, but I just don't know how I'm
going to vote on that one yet.
WW: Do you support toxics right-to-know legislation?
Hungerford: We can look for guidance from the governor's task force.
WW: Will you let the exclusive remedy provision of 1995's workers'
comp reform expire?
Hungerford: It's hard for me to say at this point, but it's not something
I would shy away from taking a look at.
Worst Attempt at Getting Attention
State Rep. Chris Beck's rambling campaign letters, the most recent
of which was titled "Beck's Sketchings During the Gilded Age of the
1990s (or, Late night thought's [sic] while pondering Mahler's 3rd Symphony
which the Oregon Symphony recently played so well)."
Best Sign of True Conviction
In what has to be the best opening line in an interview, vote-by-mail
opponent Neale Hyatt introduced himself to WW by saying, "To
comply with the terms of my probation, I need to tell you that I am
a convicted felon." Hyatt went on to explain that he committed a felony
to prove that mail balloting is susceptible to fraud.
Best Dissing of Willamette Week
Gov. John Kitzhaber insisted that his press secretary Bob Applegate
stay with us for the guv's endorsement interview, although our policy
has long prohibited aides and handlers from accompanying candidates.
Kitzhaber insisted that we either let Applegate stay or he was leaving.
We blinked.
Best Separated at Birth
Blazers' owner Paul Allen and Washington, D.C., anti-tax activist
Grover Norquist, who was featured in a weird TV ad opposing Measure
59.
Worst Sense of Geography
GOP state Senate candidate Jerry Grisham mailed out a flyer promising
that he'll represent the wishes "of Oregonians, and especially those
of Eastern Oregon." Problem is, Grisham is vying for a seat in Clackamas
County; he borrowed the campaign literature of an Eastern Oregon candidate
and forgot to change the text.
Worst Argument Against Expanding the Convention Center
In the Voters' Pamphlet, critic John Weigant says the measure would
create mostly low-paying jobs. "New families filling such jobs also
increase the schools' remedial teaching load, further lowering our ability
to educate children for good, high-knowledge jobs."
Quickest Conversion
In an Oct. 21 Oregonian story, Metro candidate Liz Callison
said she wouldn't decide how to vote on light rail until she got in
the voting booth. The next day she taped a "Town Hall" segment in which
she spoke against light rail.
Best Sign There Are Few Issues of Great National Importance
For the last two months Democratic Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
ran TV ads touting her efforts to make IRS agents behave more politely.
Best Failed Attempt to Sound Like an Oregon Beer Lover
David Wu told us his favorite alcoholic beverage was Deschutes ESB
(Extra Special Bitter), which the compulsively chatty candidate continued
to say was now called an IPA (India Pale Ale). David: that's like saying
the NRA is now the ACLU.
Best Campaign Web Site
www.jesseventura.org.
Okay, so Jesse "The Body" Ventura is running for governor in Minnesota,
not Oregon. Still, we sure wish we had a former rasslin' star on the
ballot--particularly one who could body-slam John "The Buckle" Kitzhaber
or Bill "The Bandit" Sizemore.
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Willamette Week | originally
published November 4,
1998
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