City Hall: While the Mayor Tweets, His Chief of Staff Travels

Mayor Sam Adams' gusto for globe trotting is well known among City Hall watchers, who can read about the mayor's travels in real-time as Adams sometimes tweets about his trips.

But Adams' chief of staff, Tom Miller, is also a bit of a passport junkie, according to his most recent public calendars.

In October and November alone, Miller took four almost back-to-back trips to Stockholm, Detroit, South Korea and Hong Kong. So what was he up to? According to the mayor's office, Miller was strengthening ties between Portland and those various places.

In Sweden, Miller was with the mayor when Adams signed a deal with the Swedish green building materials firm Fagerdala to open a new office in Portland. Miller also represented the United States "at the request of the Obama Administration" at the European Green Capital conference. The National League of Cities paid for Miller's trip, the mayor's office says.

Next up, was a trip to Detroit, on the Portland Development Commission's dime, to learn about the Michigan city's plans for economic growth.

On Oct. 27, Miller flew to South Korea to meet with Korean officials and the mayor of Daegu to talk about "the relationship between local government and sustainable practices," according to the mayor's office. The Korean Association of Governmental Affairs paid for the trip, which also included a trip to Ulsan, one of Portland's sister cities in South Korea.

Then, on Nov. 2, Miller went to a climate change conference in Hong Kong. The conference focused on efforts by the world's 40 largest cities to reduce carbon emissions. "Portland is not one of the world's 40 largest cities, but it participates ... because member cities consider it a global leader in urban best practices with regard to addressing carbon emissions," the mayor's office writes in an email. The conference paid for Miller's trip.