Murmurs: When a Quarter Mil of Your Money Isn't Enough.

1. While Oregon education czar Rudy Crew is pushing a reform agenda in Salem, he’s hoping to moonlight so he can add to his $280,000-a-year state salary (see “Wrecking Crew,” WW, Jan. 16, 2013). According to recently released documents from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, Crew in February asked for guidance about his working on the side for the Jasper Group, a New York recruiting firm. Crew’s state contract allows him to do outside work. Ethics Commission director Ron Bersin advised Crew he could take the work if it had no connection to his day job. “You would need to be rigorous in the complete separation of these activities from your position as Oregon’s chief education officer,” Bersin wrote to Crew.

1. The Kerns neighborhood in inner Northeast is the first to request a “mini” permit-parking area under a program the City Council passed last summer. The district (which must be approved by neighborhood residents) would require parking permits around Benson Polytechnic High School, where many commuters stash their cars before boarding MAX in the Lloyd District. “There’s a lot of problems with people park-and-riding,” says Brendon Haggerty of the Kerns Neighborhood Association. “Or hide-and-riding, if you know what I mean.”

1. Josh Kardon, former longtime chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), has a new lobbying client—Exxon Mobil Corporation. The oil giant wants access to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, of which Wyden is the new chairman. Kardon, who works for the Capitol Hill Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., declined to comment about taking on Exxon Mobil as a client.
2. As lawmakers consider sweeping changes to the state’s mandatory sentencing laws, Oregonians favor leaving Measure 11 standards alone. Gov. John Kitzhaber has been pushing for changes (see “The Hard Truth About Oregon’s Prisons,” WW, March 13, 2013). But Crime Victims United of Oregon, opposed to Measure 11 changes, released new polling showing 72 percent of Oregonians favor keeping sentencing standards as they are. “Public safety and strong sentencing are priorities for voters,” says Crime Victims United director Steve Doell. “This polling shows legislators are out of step with that.”

1. At Reed College, The Man sometimes wears a skirt. With Renn Fayre, the infamous three-day student celebration starting May 3, about six community safety officers (aka campus cops) have been fitted for kilts, according to The Quest, Reed’s student newspaper. Reed spokesman Kevin Myers tells WW the optional kilts are for special occasions. No word if undergarments are standard issue.

WWeek 2015