News Washington is setting up its southern neighbors to hold the funding bag when money for the Columbia River Crossing falls short, incoming Metro Councilor Bob Stacey says.In a four-page memo to his soon-to-be fellow council members obtained by WW, Stacey blasts funding plans for the controversial $3.5 billion megaproject to replace Interstate 5's bridges, add light rail to Vancouver and expand freeways ...   More

News Before the line of well-wishers began giving him hugs, before any results were announced, Portland Mayor-elect Charlie Hales had scheduled a meeting with outgoing Mayor Sam Adams. "I'll be meeting with the mayor tomorrow at 1:30," Hales told WW shortly before 8 pm at his election-night party at Holocene.Minutes later, the first wave of election results showing Hales' decisive victory over Rep. Jefferson ...   More

News  Mayoral candidate Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) still has plenty of liberal friends. Today, one is vouching for him.Bob Stacey, a newly-elected Metro Councilor and a former director of environmental group 1000 Friends of Oregon, endorsed Smith this morning. "Jefferson is a very exciting leader," Stacey tells WW. The longtime conservation activist, who led ballot-measure battles to preserve ...   More

News Bob Stacey and Sam Chase have won seats on the Metro council.Stacey leads his opponent, Jonathan Levine, 85 percent to 15 percent, for Metro Council Seat 6. The seat was vacated by councilor Robert Liberty in 2011; former Gov. Barbara Roberts was appointed to fill out the term. In the Metro District 5 race, Chase was leading his four opponents with 58 percent of the vote. They’re vying to replace ...   More

News Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder won't have to pay a fine for a false statement in his 2010 Voters' Pamphlet statement.That's because Burkholder prevailed recently in his arguments before an administrative law judge that the statement appeared without his knowledge.The issue arose during the 2010 primary election for the Metro council president's position. During that race, in which Burkholder ultimately ...   More

News  Bob Stacey, the former 1000 Friends of Oregon executive director, this morning notified supporters and reporters that he's dropping out of the field of candidates vying to replace resigned Metro councilor Robert Liberty. Stacey's announcement comes six days after his one-time boss, former Gov. Barbara Roberts announced she also would seek to replace Liberty. Here's the brief email sent out by ...   More

News Here's a late-breaker: Former Gov. Barbara Roberts is among the eight applicants looking to fill the vacancy on the Metro Council.That's an intriguing wild card in the mix to replace Councilor Robert Liberty, who stepped down last month to take a job at the University of Oregon. Roberts is a Democrat who was governor from 1991 until 1995, and remains a go-to ex-pol when it comes to candidates for other ...   More

News When the Oregon election results come out tonight, one of the biggest winners will be someone who's not even on the ballot. Mark Wiener, the political consultant of choice for Democrats and those who want to raise taxes, has collected big bucks this election cycle to provide strategy to the following people and organizations: 1) Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber; 2) The ...   More

News After combining to raise more than $1 million in their bids to be the next president of Metro, Bob Stacey and Tom Hughes will learn tonight who's the winner. And what are Stacey (top photo) and Hughes (bottom photo) trying to win? The chance to be president of the only elected regional government in the country—a government whose purview covers about 1.5 million people in Multnomah, ...   More

News Awaiting the results in the close race for Metro president tonight with candidate Bob Stacey were about 200 nervous supporters in the dimly lit, normally laid-back Rontoms bar on East Burnside Street. At 8:30 pm, KGW reported that Stacey took 57 percent of the vote in Multnomah County, which pleased Stacey—the former executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon. "This is really wonderful ...   More