News  Last Friday, when we covered Mayor Sam Adams' decision to delay once again a hearing on Portland rejoining the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, Commissioner Randy Leonard told us he could not support City Hall's latest proposal.But last week, Leonard declined to go public with the reasons why he says he made that decision. He cited the ongoing negotiations between City Hall and the FBI.In today's ...   More

News When City Council voted 4-1 yesterday to approve a funding plan to pay for computer upgrades at the Bureau of Development Services, Commissioner Amanda Fritz was the lone "no" vote. No surprise there—it's a position she's found herself in before, but the plan and its back story combine for a more interesting tale.The computer upgrading plan—to borrow $6.6 million secured by the city's general fund—comes ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams announced today he had reassigned oversight of two city bureaus, the Office of Cable and Franchise Management and the Bureau of Development Services, to Commissioner Dan Saltzman.The move continues a City Hall tradition that Saltzman knows well. Since first taking office in 1999, Saltzman has taken the helm at many troubled bureaus. The Bureau of Development Services is only the latest. ...   More

News As Portland city commissioners beef up their efforts to manage technology projects in the wake of a devastating November audit of Portland's new software program, city bureaus continue to struggle with that updated technology.Yesterday, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the formation of a new Citizen Information Technology Oversight Committee. The brainchild of Commissioner Dan Saltzman, ...   More

News Delivering his first State of the County speech to the City Club of Portland, Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen left us with these five impressions:1. As usual at City Club events, the audience of mostly progressive and aging Portlanders left the most pressing question of the moment unasked. No one followed up previous media inquiries by putting Cogen on the spot with questions about his political ...   More

News While we await this afternoon's initial court appearance by the suspect in the alleged Pioneer Courthouse Square bomb plot, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman is urging the rest of the council to take immediate action to rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Saltzman issued a release this afternoon saying the arrest of Mohamed Osman Mohamud at the downtown holiday tree lighting Nov. 26 ...   More

News A week after the Portland School Board voted to refer a $548 million construction bond to the May ballot, fundraising for a long-dormant political action committee for schools has picked up considerably. In recent days, big-money donations have poured into the "Portlanders for Schools" committee, which supported the successful 2006 local-option levy for Portland Public Schools. Advocates resurrected ...   More

Election 2010 ...   More

News City Commissioner Dan Saltzman walked into last week's hearing at City Hall on Portland's controversial stadium-building deal with Merritt Paulson prepared to offer a new amendment calling for a 120-day "time out" on Mayor Sam Adams' rushed deal. Instead, out of "deference to the mayor," Saltzman says he withheld the amendment on the city's deal with Paulson, owner of the Timbers soccer team ...   More

News This morning's Oregonian story about the relationship in 2005 between Mayor Sam Adams and then 17-year-old legislative intern Beau Breedlove advances the story in three important ways: 1. The O got Adams' cell-phone records, which show a level of communication that was earlier, more frequent and more driven by Adams (rather than Breedlove) than has previously been reported. 2. The O found, ...   More