News Back on June 21, mayoral candidate Charlie Hales announced he'd limit contributions for the Nov. 6 general election to $600 and would not take any out of state money. Turns out he was grabbing as many big checks as he could—right up until the time he promised he wouldn't.Currently, candidates are in a 30-day reporting window, which means under elections law they don't have to report contributions ...   More

News If City Hall protester Cameron Whitten survives another five days of his hunger strike, mayoral candidates Charlie Hales and  Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Oregon) will be there.Whitten has announced an "Epic Rally for Housing Justice" this Friday to mark the 50th day of his hunger strike. He's been camped along Southwest 4th Avenue in front of City Hall to demand the city do more for the homeless. Hales ...   More

News The Service Employees International Union Local 49 has endorsed Charlie Hales for mayor, a source near Hales' campaign has told WW.The candidates have largely split the labor endorsements. Hales landed backing from the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Joint Council of Teamsters. his opponent, Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland), has been endorsed by the Portland ...   More

News The coal wars continue in the mayor's race.Former City Commissioner Charlie Hales responded today to a pledge by opponent Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) to seek a city resolution banning coal exports. Hales' statement implies that Smith is scoring cheap political points with an empty gesture. Hales says the city should instead pressure the Oregon congressional delegation to slow a prospective coal ...   More

Elections Numbers may not lie, but they don’t always tell the whole story, either. When former City Commissioner Charlie Hales finished...   More

Murmurs  Did City Commissioner Amanda Fritz violate her campaign-contribution limits? Fritz has based her political career on her independence from undue influence. In her re-election campaign, she   More

News Mayoral candidate Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) joined the liberal wave of opposition to Oregon coal exports last week when he called for a largely symbolic anti-coal resolution by the City of Portland. But if he enters City Hall, Smith can expect some largely symbolic opposition. Steve Novick, who was elected to City Council in the primary, writes in the comments of a WW blog post that he won't ...   More

News Count Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) among the growing anti-coal chorus.The mayoral candidate has been making noises since the May 15 primary about wading into the statewide debate on coal exports by passing a Portland anti-coal resolution similar to the one in Seattle. He's mentioned the issue in stump speeches, but without offering a firm stance. Smith made his anti-coal position official this ...   More

News Politics is a rough business—but it’s light duty compared to lining up against Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) on the basketball court or...   More

News There has not been much campaign finance activity in the mayor's race since one candidate, former City Commissioner Charlie Hales, announced on June 21 that he'd limit contributions to $600 and would not take out-of-state checks.His opponent in the November general election, State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland), often spoke during the primary about the need to limit contributions."Elections should ...   More