IMAGE: Jonathan Hill

Its members do not wear funny hats, exchange sly handshakes or pay dues. But a secret group of men calling itself “The Junto” is an increasingly important audience for politicians seeking to shape public policy in Portland and the state.

The three-year-old group, a cross between Yale’s fabled Skull and Bones secret society and the Elks, has 42 members. All of them are men and most are Democrats. It is the brainchild of Jim Zehren, a partner at the city’s largest law firm, Stoel Rives. But its sphere of influence is far wider.

Among those Zehren has tapped to join are leaders in legal, real estate, environmental and political fields—such as Jonathan Ater, a founding partner of the Ater Wynne law firm and an architect of the new hospital provider tax; Bob Stacey, retiring director of the enviro group 1000 Friends of Oregon; former Secretary of State Phil Keisling; pollster Adam Davis; developer John Russell; Greg Macpherson, the state representative who gave up his seat in an unsuccessful 2008 bid for attorney general; and many others (see a list of members below).

“We’re just a bunch of guys who like to get together and talk,” Zehren says.

Zehren may downplay the clout of his membership. But former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s decision to spend a recent evening with the Junto illustrates the unknown cabal’s political power.

The notoriously private Kitzhaber, who was governor from 1995 to 2003, made a presentation to the Junto on Aug. 6 at the Ballaboosta Room, a private dining room at Mama Mia’s restaurant downtown. As he wrestled with the decision to seek a third gubernatorial term, Kitzhaber gave prepared remarks and answered questions from members as if he were already campaigning.

Kitzhaber was just the latest in a growing line of important political figures to go before the Junto.

Last year, the group invited then-mayoral candidates Sho Dozono and Sam Adams to address the club’s gatherings, which take place on the first Thursday of every other month at Mama Mia’s. “Frankly, we were astounded they said yes,” Zehren recalls.

Members discussed the candidates’ relative merits but did not issue any kind of a group decision about whom they would support.

Adams then returned after winning election in May 2008, and emboldened, the group began inviting other political leaders.

In January 2009, just before the legislative session began, House Majority Leader Mary Nolan (D-Portland), Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin (D-Tigard) and Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s chief of staff Chip Terhune met with Junto members.

Two Junto members—Macpherson and Steve Griffith, a former Portland School Board member who ran unsuccessfully for Macpherson’s legislative seat in 2008—prepared a series of 10 highly detailed questions for legislative leaders, touching on land use, tax policy, the environment and Democratic consolidation of power.

“Now that the governorship, Senate, and House are now firmly in the control of one party, to what extent will they pursue a single agenda,” read one question Macpherson and Griffith prepared. “With the federal government now under the control of that same party, will Oregon pursue its own solution on national issues, or defer to federal action?”

Zehren says he began convening meetings of the Junto about three years ago. (It was then called “The Raccoon Club,” a reference to a group in the television show The Honeymooners. )

He says the group grew out of his years of civic engagement, including a recent stint as president of the Portland City Club. “In these various groups and committees, I met a lot of people,” Zehren says. “I would get to know and like them, and the committee would end and I’d lose contact.”

Zehren says in addition to “The Raccoon Club,” he also called his group “12 Men, No Drum,” a reference to men’s drumming circles. But then he read about Benjamin Franklin, who in 1727 Philadelphia brought together 12 men interested in “mutual improvement” under the name “The Junto.” Zehren adopted the name Franklin gave his group.

Former U.S. Senate candidate Steve Novick, a Junto member, says nobody should be concerned about the group.

“It’s the equivalent of a book club,” he says. “Except we don’t read books.”

The Junto

Adam Davis
Angus Duncan
Bill Blosser
Bob Stacey
Brian Campbell
Chet Orloff
Chris Kopca
Dave Ellis
Dick Benner
Don Williams
Donald A Washburn
Doug Walta, MD
Ed McNamara
Gil Kelley
Greg Macpherson
J. Richard Forester
Jack Hoffman
Jim Rue
Jim Winkler
Joe Cortright
John C. Kelly
John Russell
John Spencer
John Svicarovich
Larry Frank
Len Bergstein
Michael C. Houck
Paddy Tillett
Phil Keisling
R. Scott Montgomery
Randy Gragg
Rick Holt
Robert Liberty
Robert M. Boyl
Rudy Barton
Steve Griffith
Steve Novick
Steven R. Schell
Thane Tienson
Thomas D. Kelly