Murmurs: DeWitt's Booker Ambitions, Bonamici's Cash Advantage and Allen's Dirt

Better than tax advice from the pizza guy.

deWITT
  1. State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) enters the stretch run for the Nov. 8 Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. David Wu with a big cash advantage over her opponents. The latest reports show Bonamici scored $1,500 from Broadway playwright Neil Simon (her husband’s uncle). More importantly, but less famously, she got $10,000 from Portland publisher Win McCormack and $7,500 from her former boss, trial lawyer Robert Stoll. At last report, Bonamici had $451,000 cash on hand, Labor Commish Brad Avakian had $108,000 and State Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) had $23,000. Check out WW’s endorsements in the primary campaigns here.
  1. ALLENRecent court complaints filed in Seattle promise new dirt on Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen. The lawsuits, filed by the former security director and three security officers for Allen’s investment arm, Vulcan Inc., claim they were pushed out of the firm after they witnessed “unethical or illegal activities” by Allen and his sister, Jody. While the lawsuits include no specifics, the complainants have some credibility: One is a two-decade FBI agent, another is a Navy SEAL. SeattlePI.com first reported the complaints.
  1. Lawyers continue to be the biggest winners in a fight over the inheritance of the late Yogi Bhajan [“Death of a Yogi,” WW, July 6]. Starting in the 1970s, Bhajan’s followers in Oregon and New Mexico founded profitable companies, including Yogi Tea, Golden Temple cereals and Akal Security. The guru’s death in 2004 pitted several factions of followers against one another. Early this month, Bhajan’s widow, Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Puri, won legal control of the Yogi Tea trademark, but not the Golden Temple corporation’s other assets, leaving the future of the Eugene company in doubt. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Leslie Roberts has yet to rule in a separate lawsuit over control of the Sikh Dharma corporate empire.
  1. Portland-based novelist Patrick deWitt’s magical run to the top of the British literary establishment—he was like Harry Potter, if Harry had been a writer and a Canadian—ended Tuesday when he lost the Man Booker Prize to the heavily favored Julian Barnes. DeWitt, 36, who moved to Portland in 2008, invaded the Brit lit scene by being named to the Booker shortlist for his second novel, The Sisters Brothers. A British Columbia native, DeWitt is in London this week attending Booker ceremonies.
  1. It’s an odd mix, the 99 percent at Occupy Portland. Some prefer Ron Paul to Che Guevara. Meet our Occupier of the Day at wweek.com.

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