Jeff Merkley

As first reported this week at wweek.com, three highly placed Democratic sources tell WW that House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) has decided to run in next May's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Merkley's decision to take a run at Republican incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith in November 2008 throws open a leadership contest in the Oregon House. Among the likely Speaker wanna-be's: business-friendly Majority Leader Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone); Speaker Pro Tem Diane Rosenbaum (D-SE Portland), a union stalwart; and Rep. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay), a former school principal who's highly respected in his caucus. Rosenbaum also might decide to run for a state Senate seat being vacated by Kate Brown for a run at Oregon secretary of state. Merkley says he will announce his decision Aug. 1.

When public ownership got taken off the table for Portland General Electric last year, that raised the question of who'd own the utility. Here comes an answer: After PGE's ex-parent Enron finished distributing PGE shares last month to investors, San Mateo, Calif.-based Franklin Templeton mutual funds ended up holding 9.6 percent of the utility, according to a filing with federal regulators. That stake triggers an Oregon law that requires anybody owning more than 5 percent of a utility's stock to notify the state Public Utility Commission of its intentions. Last year, Harbinger Capital Partners, an Alabama-based hedge fund, acquired 7.4 percent of PGE. Franklin Templeton, which manages more than $624 billion in assets, has not yet officially notified the PUC of its intentions, according to PUC spokesman Bob Valdez.

City of Portland employees who don't respond to a new online survey about how they identify themselves racially risk having their supervisors pick their race for them based on a visual inspection. The city is asking its 5,800 employees to fill out the survey because it wants updated info about its workforce's racial makeup after the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission added a new classification to its guidelines. The new classification added in November 2005 is that of "two or more races." Other changes include expanding the "Hispanic" category to "Hispanic or Latino" and splitting the "Asian or Pacific Islander" category into two distinct groups. Survey responses are due July 31. Get 'em in before your boss mislabels you.

An update to the June 27 Rogue of the Week: After nearly a month of online raging about Service Employees International Union Local 503 president Joe DiNicola seeking overtime compensation, a petition calling for DiNicola's resignation has begun circulating on the web. Signature collector Rosalie Pedrazo wouldn't comment on how many signatures have been gathered. The debate surrounds DiNicola's efforts to collect about $110,000 in back pay, something his critics say he is not entitled to. "Imagine his [DiNicola's] surprise," writes Robert Gourley in comment 117 on the original Rogue that appeared in WW, "when members collect enough signatures to call for a Mulligan." DiNicola didn't return calls seeking comment.

Yamhill-Carlton High School grad Nicholas D. Kristof was back in Oregon urging action on his signature issue: the Darfur genocide. On Sunday, July 22, the New York Times columnist urged a packed Portland synagogue to write more letters and sign more petitions. But four years of such campaigns have failed to stop the slaughter in Sudan. What about armed resistance? Kristof tells Murmurs that Darfur rebels are too unreliable to arm, but he wouldn't rule out that option.