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It wasn't exactly a secret.
Even before Portland voters elected Charlie Hales mayor in 2012, evidence of his thin skin and hot temper appeared on Portlanders' mobile devices. When the Portland Association of Teachers union endorsed rival Jefferson Smith, for example, Hales lashed out via text message, writing to a teacher that "I don't think I have ever seen such disloyalty."
Very little has changed, it seems.
WW published a series of text-message exchanges between Hales and his former chief of staff, Josh Alpert, in Wednesday's print edition of the newspaper. That series discussed Hales' demands that Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury issue a public apology to Hales.
Her offense? Offering a spicy quote to The Oregonian about the mayor's "ego" in a May story about the closing of a temporary Southwest Portland homeless shelter. Spoiler alert: Hales didn't get his apology.
The text messages—first obtained by KXL radio through a public records request—cover May 16-23, the week WW first reported the news that former police chief Larry O'Dea had accidentally shot a friend on a camping trip in Eastern Oregon in April.
The seven-day period also covered election night in the May primary, when state Treasurer Ted Wheeler won the Portland mayor's race outright.
In a text message that night to his spokeswoman, Sara Hottman, Hales expresses his frustration with emojis, including toilets and a thumbs down. 
Two days later, Commissioner Steve Novick writes to Hales saying he needs to talk to the mayor. Novick never reveals in his texts why he needs to talk to Hales urgently. In fact, he says he needs to talk to the mayor because he can't put the topic in writing. (Novick tells WW today that the topic was a "non-policy personal issue that has since been resolved.")
Hales then complains to Alpert that Novick, who has just been forced into a November runoff, is pestering him to talk by phone. 
Hales puts Novick off, saying he is too tired because he's just spent several hours at a neighborhood meeting to discuss the Southwest Portland homeless shelter.
Novick doesn't get the hint. He follows up in the morning—much to the dismay of the mayor, who complains again to his chief of staff. In the process the mayor takes a swipe at Novick, dubbing him Novice.
Alpert later replies to the "Novice" joke. "And ha—prescient!," he writes.
Later that day, the mayor's office responds to inquiries from WW into O'Dea's shooting by offering support to the chief.
Hales played cool, unaware or indifferent to the heat coming his way.
O'Dea was forced to retire June 27 after questions arose about his truthfulness about the incident. Hales blamed a "trial by media."
Willamette Week