News Most of the Portland media didn't pay special attention to the Oct. 19 mayoral debate at Catlin Gabel School between Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) and former City Commissioner Charlie Hales. But the student journalists at the school newspaper, CatlinSpeak, the debate's host, have done an impressive job in their coverage of the debate, now available on the paper's web site. The 20-person ...   More

News In 2002, then-City Commissioner Charlie Hales quit his job on the City Council midterm to go to work for streetcar marketer HDR Inc. He came under a lot of criticism then for the move. Now that he's running for mayor, his critics have wondered whether Hales has the staying power for the job, given that he quit one elected position before.In our endorsement interview, we asked Hales why he made the ...   More

Dr. Know I can’t vote for Jefferson Smith for mayor because he is a total fuckup. I can’t vote for Charlie Hales because he’s a lying son of a bitch. At this point, any alternative sounds good. Who c   More

News The mayoral campaign of Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) has reduced its television advertising buys by $50,000 with three weeks left until election day, the campaign tells WW.That reduction is a quarter of the $199,562 worth of TV time the campaign purchased on Oct. 1, the day before WW broke the story that Smith was charged with misdemeanor assault for hitting a woman in the face in 1993. Mark ...   More

News Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner says he started his phone call to Jefferson Smith yesterday saying, “I know this is the last thing you want to hear today.”Turner then delivered the news that his union would be pulling its endorsement of Smith in the wake of stories about his 1993 misdemeanor assault charge for punching a woman at a college party. The fire union did the same thing ...   More

News  Two more political supporters withdrew their endorsements of Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) this afternoon, saying they could no longer back his mayoral candidacy after learning of his 1993 misdemeanor assault charge for punching an 18-year-old female student. The two elected officials follow Rep. Carolyn Tomei (D-Milwaukie) and the Portland police and fire unions, which dropped Smith ...   More

News Mayoral candidate Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) did not tell the truth last week when he described a 1993 incident in which he was charged with misdemeanor assault against a female University of Oregon student, according the victim and the police report of the incident.Smith's victim, now 37, tells WW Smith lied when he made statements last week after WW broke the story of the misdemeanor ...   More

News State Treasurer Ted Wheeler earlier this week weighed in on Facebook about the recent reports that mayoral candidate Rep. Jefferson Smith was charged with a misdemeanor assault in 1993 for punching a woman at a college party.In an interview today with WW, Wheeler explained what prompted him to post his message.Prior to his election as state treasurer, Wheeler said, he served as chair of Multnomah ...   More

News The 37-year-old woman opened the front door of her Portland home at 8 am on Oct. 1 to see Jefferson Smith standing in front of her. She knew immediately who...   More

Elections The City of Portland has been a minor player in the proposed $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing—with its wide freeway bridges and light rail to Vancouver, Wash. But the mega-project will pro   More