Murmurs: Mayor Asks Feds for $2M to Fund Body Cams

MAYOR ASKS FEDS FOR $2M TO FUND BODY CAMS: The Portland City Council will vote Wednesday whether to authorize a grant application requesting $2 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund the purchase of body-worn cameras for police officers. In the fall, the City Council approved $2.6 million in one-time funding to buy about 600 cameras. But now, former Mayor Sam Adams, a top adviser to Mayor Ted Wheeler, tells WW that an undetermined amount of that fall funding will be allocated to offset costs in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Public Defenders’ Office, whose staff will eventually review body-worn camera footage in criminal cases. Money awarded by the feds would pay for the body cameras themselves, Adams says, and the excess would help the city “make good on our promise” to offset costs for the county. The city plans to begin the competitive solicitation process for body-worn cameras this spring, according to budget documents, followed by a program launch in the upcoming fiscal year. Doing so will help the city get back in compliance with its 2014 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. During mediation in the fall, the DOJ included the launch of a body-worn camera program in its list of remedies for Portland to regain compliance with the agreement.

NO BUD ADS ON TV: With three weeks to go before ballots drop in the May primary, Republican gubernatorial candidates Christine Drazan, Bridget Barton, Bob Tiernan, Stan Pulliam and Kerry McQuisten have premiered at least some TV advertising for their campaigns. Notably missing from the list: Dr. Bud Pierce, the Salem oncologist who was the party’s nominee in 2016. Pierce has some of the best name recognition among Republicans and led in early polling. His ability to put his own fortune into the race at the last minute means other campaigns aren’t counting him out, but his absence from TV airwaves has political insiders wondering whether he is making a serious go of it. (Also notable: Reed Christensen, the candidate under indictment for involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, has outspent Pierce on radio ads thus far.) Pierce’s campaign says he is still working full time seeing cancer patients all day, and his work ethic makes him a good fit for the job. Pierce consultant Chuck Adams says, “We have [advertised] in the past and will again in the coming days and weeks leading into election day.”

CITY INSTALLS TRAFFIC CAMERA ON 122ND AVENUE: The city of Portland installed a first-of-its-kind traffic safety camera at a major intersection Tuesday, the start of a new technique to make the city’s most dangerous streets less deadly. The camera, installed at Southeast Stark Street and 122nd Avenue, will issue automatic tickets for speeding and running red lights to drivers traveling east on Stark. (Before now, the city only had cameras that either monitored speeding or running red lights—but not both.) Citations will be issued come May 11. The city plans to install additional devices this year. The installation follows a March change in Oregon law that scrapped a requirement that a sworn police officer review every automated ticket. The law now allows a civilian to review such tickets. City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation, championed the change. She tells WW the cameras are a “cost-effective way to reduce dangerous driving on our streets” and says she’ll continue to push for “more of this technology.”

BETSY JOHNSON GETS KNIGHTED: On April 1, Nike co-founder Phil Knight donated $750,000 to Betsy Johnson’s run for Oregon governor as an unaffiliated candidate. Combined with an earlier contribution in February, that brings Knight’s bankrolling of the Johnson campaign to $1 million. That’s the largest donation of the governor’s race so far, and an indication of Johnson’s appeal to well-heeled donors irritated with Democratic Party policies but skeptical of Republicans’ ability to win an office they haven’t held in almost four decades. Knight, the wealthiest man in Oregon, with a net worth of $56 billion, gave $2.5 million to then-state Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend) for his unsuccessful bid to unseat Gov. Kate Brown in 2018. This week’s donation suggests he’s willing to spend at the same level on a candidate from neither major party. Johnson now has more than $5.1 million on hand, far more than any other candidate. “Without the money and machinery from the two-party system,” she says, “I need all the help I can get to rescue Oregon.”

APPLY NOW FOR GIVE!GUIDE 2022: Each fall, WW presents Give!Guide, a citywide fundraising campaign for local nonprofits of all types and sizes. It runs Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Applications for nonprofits to join the campaign are now available at giveguide.org. The deadline to apply is midnight April 30. Give!Guide has raised $48,055,946 million since its inception in 2004. That includes $7.84 million for 202 nonprofits last year.