After listening to a rousing one-hour presentation at City Hall devoted to the arts in Portland, Mayor Sam Adams this morning turned his attention to one troubling piece of public art in the city: the photo of former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt that still hangs in the entryway to the mayor's office. While Portland's mayor from 1973 to 1979, Goldschmidt sexually abused a minor named Elizabeth Dunham. Dun...   More

News As U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) fights for his political life, a favorite topic of conversation in political circles is trying to identify whom the Democratic Party might support to challenge him in a primary next year. Some of the most often mentioned names are Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian; state  Sen. Suzanne Bomamici (D-Beaverton) and former state Rep. Gre...   More

News  Oregon legislative leaders have decided to remove the portrait of former. Gov. Neil Goldschmidt from the Capitol. The decision comes in response to a request last month from two ex-lawmakers, former state Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) and ex-Rep. Tim Knopp (R-Bend). The ex-lawmakers made their request after the January death of Elizabeth Dunham, the woman whom Goldschmidt sexually abused star...   More

News  There may be no person in Oregon who has followed Neil Goldschmidt's career more closely than than the former governor's speechwriter, Fred Leonhardt. If Goldschmidt or a member of his vast network ever said or did anything, there's a good chance Leonhardt can provide a citation or a couple of sources who can confirm what happened. In the wake of Elizabeth Dunham's January death, Leonhardt p...   More

News WW has been working on a story since the Jan. 16 death of Elizabeth Dunham, whom former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt sexually abused starting when she was a young teenager. The full article will run in our upcoming Feb. 2 edition, but here is the beginning of that story. The article chronicles Dunham's undeniably tragic tale and details how she spent the rest of her life struggling to deal with something...   More

News One of Ted Kulongoski's campaign pledges when he ran for governor in 2002 was to reform higher education in Oregon. After Kulongoski took office in 2003, he nominated former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt-a friend,mentor and fellow Democrat-to chair the State Board of Higher Ed and lead the reform effort. Within six months, Goldschmidt resigned from the position in the wake of revelations by Will...   More

News In this clip from our interview with Ted Kulongoski, the departing governor candidly explains what the loss of Neil Goldschmidt from the corridors of power meant to him personally. Goldschmidt retired from the public sphere when WW published in 2004 revelations about his sex abuse of a young girl. The interview will appear in Wednesday's print edition of WW. Here are links to three earl...   More

News In this clip from our interview with departing Governor Ted Kulongoski,(A fuller version of the interview appears in this week's print version of the paper), he discusses his ambivalence about running for reelection in 2006 because of the loss of Neil Goldschmidt as an advisor. Goldschmidt retreated from public service after the former governor and Portland mayor was found to have abused a gi...   More

News Marion County is a little far afield for us here at WW. But in the spirit of more local scandals involving former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto, current Portland Mayor Sam Adams and their national counterparts in South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and U.S. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), we can report that Marion County Sherif...   More

News Former U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) served with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) for more than 25 years in the U.S. Senate. So we asked Packwood this morning about his memories of Kennedy. Packwood shared two recollections. On the political side, Packwood lauded Kennedy for his ability to compromise, or as Packwood put it, Kennedy "could understand the necessity of taking half-loaves."...   More