Skip to main contentEverything started so well at Portland International Raceway this afternoon.
The rain stopped about 20 minutes before FEMA Administrator David Paulison, Portland Mayor Tom Potter, and Governor Ted Kulongoski were scheduled to speak about Day One of TOPOFF 4.
A rainbow even appeared briefly behind the covered stand where they would be speaking.
All the reports were good: Paulison spoke of how impressed he was by Oregon's officials and the communications he'd seen between departments. Potter and Kulongoski echoed those comments, and, though everyone looked a bit tired, there were pats on the back all around.
Then, this little bit of reality happened:
[youtube 2erCt7l2E9k]
Whoa! Gov. Kulongoski's exit from the stage was the quickest I'd seen anyone move in today's TOPOFF exercise!
Of course, the reality intrusion deals with reports that Kulongoski is being accused of knowing about ex-Gov. Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl and failing to report it. The current gov had been ducking questions about it all day, claiming to be too busy with the terror drill to talk about it, and finally Pat Dorris of KGW couldn't hold it in any longer.
One other thing: during Kulongoski's prepared remarks at the podium, he talked about how (in the TOPOFF exercise) "something serious" was going to happen to him as part of the exercise, and he was going to have to "trigger the succession clause of the constitution." Weird? See for yourself:
[youtube XFP5c7Djd5g]
WWeek 2015