News Ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber, running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary for his old job, isn't the only one getting political donations from Nike. The company also swooshed into Portland politics last week when it gave $2,000 apiece to two candidates who each have little-financed challengers in the May primary. The recipients of the Nike contributions are City Commissioner Nick Fish and Multnomah ...   More

News Stonemason Spencer Burton didn't qualify for public financing in his race for City Commissioner Dan Saltzman's seat. But that's not stopping Burton from spreading his of-the-people message across Portland. I ran into Burton yesterday at Kenny & Zuke's in Northwest Portland as Burton was distributing the first of 10,000 newspapers he printed for $1,000 to communicate his platform to Portland ...   More

News Before nightfall of his first day as Portland's new self-appointed police commissioner, Mayor Sam Adams got his first challenge in the form of a fatal police shooting — the third in less than five months this year. Many details about this shooting will emerge in the coming days as they did with the deaths of Aaron Campbell and Jackie Collins. New police chief Mike Reese —appointed ...   More

News We're just staggering back to life here at WW after a post-election soiree at nearby Joe's Cellar that lasted into the wee hours. But I'd hate to deprive anybody about the insightful analysis we shared over a few pitchers, so here are some highlights as we pored over the local and state numbers: 1) There was general surprise that Washington County Commissioner Andy Duyck won the county chairman's ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams is expected to release a "recalibrated" 2010-11 budget very soon. Meantime, Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Amanda Fritz are pushing ahead with a compromise on next year's sewer rates, an as-yet unresolved element of the mayor's proposed budget. This year, as part of a regularly scheduled rate review, the Bureau of Environmental Services asked the mayor to increase ratepayers' ...   More

News The Albina Ministerial Alliance held a news conference this morning in Northeast Portland's Allen Temple C.M.E. Church to catch up on a busy week of big news dealing with police. The AMA's Coalition for Peace and Justice was formed to push for police reform after the Jan. 29 shooting of Aaron Campbell. In the last week, much has occurred to draw the AMA's attention. First came the announcement ...   More

News Cops say Mike Reese has wasted no time as Portland's new top cop before purging the chief's office of several high-profile figures. Three sources close to the police bureau tell WW that Leslie Stevens and John Eckhart have been told they'll no longer be employed on the 15th floor of the Justice Center. Two of those sources say Brian Martinek also is out. Stevens is head of the bureau's Office ...   More

News The photo above shows Karol Collymore checking the preliminary results of the primary vote. After initial results came in showing Collymore with 34 percent of the vote and in first place in an eight-candidate field in the race for Multnomah County commission, Collymore wasn't quite ready for an interview. "I'm going to wait for my legs to work again," said Collymore, who now advances to the ...   More

News Sixteen months after accepting the job Mayor Sam Adams originally didn't want, Commissioner Dan Saltzman responded this afternoon to the mayor's abrupt decision to strip Saltzman of his job as police commissioner and to fire Chief Rosie Sizer. Saltzman called Adams' decision an example of the mayor's vengeful and headline-driven style of governance. "I've experienced vindictiveness by the mayor," ...   More

News The Merc reported today on an interesting 2009 decision by Commissioner Dan Saltzman regarding the City of Portland's Children's Levy. Saltzman sits on the levy's allocation committee, which decides who gets grants from a taxpayer-supported initiative that Saltzman often touts as a personal accomplishment. And last year, the allocation committee awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant to CARES ...   More