News  Karol Collymore, who ran an unsuccessful campaign to join the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners last year, is stepping down from her job as an aide to Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen.Collymore could not immediately be reached for comment. Her last day in her $67,000 $68,750-a-year job as a senior policy adviser to Cogen is Thursday, March 31."Karol has been with my office since 2007 and ...   More

News Portlanders for Schools, the campaign fund for both Portland Public Schools' $548 million construction bond and its $57 million-a-year operating levy, recently crossed the half-million mark in fund-raising.To date, the group has raised just over $577,ooo for the two tax-increase measures on the May ballot.Among the top donors in recent weeks: Walsh Construction gave $12,500, for a total now of $25,000; ...   More

News Followers of Karol Collymore's Twitter account know that she has not been shy about tweeting socially while on the job as an aide to Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen.Consider a couple of recent tweets from Collymore, who ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners.There was this tweet Collymore sent around 1:10 pm on Wednesday, March 2.Or this tweet from ...   More

Multnomah County Multnomah County’s drive to sell some prime downtown Portland real estate has pitted two of the city’s wealthiest and most influential families in competition to    More

Politics In his first “State of the County” speech, Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen recently described his government’s financial woes.    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 Observers at Multnomah County headquarters this morning witnessed a remarkable scene, as officials who have been feuding publicly for months over funding a new Sellwood Bridge met to congratulate one another over finally reaching an agreement.For a few minutes, the players managed to bury their mutual mistrust and make nice in a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination.First to deliver his lines was ...   More

News Anyone handicapping the 2012 Portland mayor's race—as we did in our print edition this week—should note one down-ballot result from the just-concluded 2010 election that could play a crucial role in one potential candidate's decision to run. Multnomah County voters soundly defeated Measure 26-110, with 62 percent voting against it. If that proposed change to the county charter had ...   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

News Here's an easy way to help folks get through the winter cold. Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen and Commissioners Loretta Smith, Diane McKeel and Judy Shiprack announced a winter food and warm clothing drive today, benefiting the Oregon Food Bank and Children's Community Clinic. To donate through Feb. 4, bring non-perishable food and warm clothing to the 10 drop-off locations around Portland, ...   More