News  One day after announcing he was bringing Clackamas County Chairwoman Lynn Peterson into his cabinet, Gov. John Kitzhaber revealed today he is reaching into Metro to hire that agency's chief operating officer.The Democratic governor is hiring long-time Metro chief operating officer Michael Jordan to become Oregon's first chief operating officer. Jordan, who's been Metro's COO since 2003, will ...   More

News Clackamas County Chairwoman Lynn Peterson, who had considered running in last year's Democratic primary for governor, is joining the cabinet of Gov. John Kitzhaber.Kitzhaber's office announced this afternoon that Peterson will resign on March 11 as chairwoman of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners to become the Democratic governor's adviser for sustainable communities and transportation policy.Peterson's ...   More

News  President Barack Obama was the lone politician to take the stage at Hillsboro's Intel campus today to advance his education and economic initiatives, while Oregon pols were left to watch on from the crowd."Basically, if we want to win the future, America has got to outbuild, out-innovate, out-educate and out-hustle the rest of the world," Obama told the crowd of about 400 people, plus dozens ...   More

News  As WW reported today, Gov. John Kitzhaber wants to extend and expand a subsidy for film and video production for companies that shoot in Oregon. The governor is proposing to bump the existing credit, which costs $7.5 million annually up to $12.5 million per year. The way the credit works is that taxpayers buy credits—at a discount of five to 10 percent from face value—and use them to offset ...   More

News Last week, The Oregonian reported on details of an Oregon Department of Justice investigation into contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy. That investigation is politically fraught because it involves an ODOE subcontractor, Cylvia Hayes, who is the longtime companion of Gov. John Kitzhaber. The O based its reporting on a copy of the Justice Department investigative file that DOJ had ...   More

News If a candidate's election-night plans are any indication of their campaigns' mindsets, we found recent announcements from Karol Collymore and Loretta Smith particularly interesting. The two women are vying to represent North and Northeast Portland on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. Collymore's friend, Stephen Marc Beaudoin, sent out Facebook invitations last week to "join us in ...   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 ...   More

News It's way too early to call the Oregon governor's race. But since we are sitting around, bored of Wolf Blitzer, we'll offer this bit of analysis: Despite the Republican wave rolling over America, supporters of Democratic candidate John Kitzhaber have reason to be cautiously optimistic. Why? As of 30 minutes ago, almost 100,000 more Democrats than Republicans had voted in Oregon. Assuming most ...   More

News Seven weeks ago, Steve Marks, a longtime aide to Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber, was worried about the strength and financial advantage Republican nominee Chris Dudley was displaying. "I was nervous," Marks said in a sweltering Hilton Hotel ballroom Tuesday evening at Kitzhaber's election night party. Shouting above Bruce Springsteen, Marks added that such concerns were new ...   More