Murmurs: Extra Mayoral With a Side of Pulitzer

Charlie Hales faces election complaint.

Charlie Hales
By WW Editorial Staff
  1. An elections-law complaint against former City Commissioner Charlie Hales threatens his campaign for mayor. Portlander Seth Woolley, a Green Party activist, filed complaints late Tuesday with the city auditor, Multnomah County and the state Elections Division based on facts reported by WW over the past year. The complaint alleges Hales wasn’t a legal voter in Oregon when he filed to run for mayor—a requirement in the city charter. Hales last registered to vote in Oregon in 2008 after purchasing a Portland home. But from 2004 all the way through 2009, Hales was a resident of Washington, not Oregon, according to his tax returns. Records show Hales continued voting in Oregon during those years even though state law appears to prohibit it (see “State of Charlie,” WW, April 18, 2012). Woolley says Hales’ voter registration is invalid and he was therefore ineligible to enter the mayor’s race and should not be on the ballot. “It’s a ridiculous complaint,” Hales says. “I received my ballot at my Portland address in the most recent election because the State of Oregon lists me as a registered voter at that address. You can’t take away anybody’s right to vote in Oregon because they used to live in California or Washington or anywhere else.”
  1. Hales and chief foes Eileen Brady and Jefferson Smith face off in their first live televised debate, hosted by WW and KATU. Watch it Sunday, April 22, at 7 pm, or attend in person at David Douglas Performing Arts Center, 1400 SE 130th Ave. Get free tickets at KATU, 2153 NE Sandy Blvd., or WW, 2220 NW Quimby St.
  1. The big local news from this year’s David Foster Wallace-snubbing Pulitzer announcements: Seattle may have all the prize-winning reportage, but Portland has the best cartoonists. This year’s Pulitzer winner for editorial cartooning went to Matt Wuerker, a Portlander who only recently moved to Washington, D.C. Wuerker won for his work for Politico. He drew editorial cartoons for WW starting in the 1980s. The Oregonian’s Jack Ohman—long overdue for the big prize—was a finalist, as was Matt Bors, whose syndicated work appears in the Portland Mercury.
  1. Timothy Hutton lives outside the law. Jody Stahancyk is a divorce lawyer. Now they are the last candidates standing in WW’s Mayoral Madness. Hutton, an Oscar winner and Leverage star, easily dispatched Columbia Sportswear chief Gert Boyle despite her feisty endorsement interview and Hutton’s failure to show. Stahancyk sidelined University of Portland soccer star Micaela Capelle. The end is near. The time to choose the winner is now. Voting starts today at wweek.com. 

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