The Newest Challenger To Dan Saltzman is ...

Jesse Cornett.

There's been no shortage of candidates filing recently to take on city Commissioner Dan Saltzman next year. And Cornett, who's leaving his post as assistant to PSU's president at the end of this year, has been a political candidate before.

One of the founders both of Blue Oregon and the Bus Project, the now-34-year-old Cornett ran unsuccessfully for the state Legislature in 2006. He also considered trying again for a legislative seat this year before deciding against it.

Now living in Lents, Cornett says he's filing the paperwork today to take on Saltzman in the City Hall race instead of Commissioner Nick Fish —who's also up for re-election next year— because Saltzman has been in office for three terms with what Cornett says are "few accomplishments."

Cornett faults Saltzman for losing control of one of the more recent issues the commissioner had to deal with in Saltzman's reversal of his original decision in the case of Officer Christopher Humphreys. Cornett also wrote an op-ed in The Oregonian that also probably made Cornett no friends in the police union.

Cornett says his experience in the city and state, including previous work as a senior policy adviser and legislative aide for former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, makes him the best-qualified candidate to take on Saltzman.

"I didn't see anyone else in the race being a really strong contender," says Cornett, who plans to seek public financing.