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The group text is the new social media. It’s a tempting place to vent, and an easy way to lose your job. Such, perhaps, was the lesson supplied by the saga of Shea Flaherty Betin, who resigned as the director of Prosper Portland last month rather than accept a demotion. Mayor Keith Wilson told Flaherty Betin to step down after reviewing messages that showed Prosper staff exchanging criticisms of City Council members (“Last Straw,” WW, June 16). Those messages were exchanged as Councilors Jamie Dunphy and Mitch Green sought to reduce the economic development agency’s funding—and the elected officials weren’t pleased at being derided behind their backs. Here’s what our readers had to say:
cheese7777777, via Reddit: “My dad gave me advice when I started my first job: ‘Don’t complain, don’t explain.’ I was too young to understand it at the time. Would have saved me a lot of grief if I had followed that advice!”
Henry Rearden, via wweek.com: “Considering the alleged posts on this Prosper Portland group chat crossed acceptable boundaries, why then was the termination limited to just the person in charge? Yes, one would expect a true leader to tell subordinates when a line was about to be crossed, à la the Rubicon. But, seriously, these are all expected to be mature professionals, and they clearly were acting more like schoolyard bullies. These actions were at the least severely career limiting. Perhaps Prosper Portland head count will magically shrink by 15 to 25 over the next several months?”
trpljmp, via wweek.com: “Public employees denigrating elected officials in any format besides backyard BBQs is clearly inappropriate. That Prosper folks felt comfortable doing so online is a clear sign that they see themselves as akin to the downtown property owners who believe their needs supersede those of the public.”
9x9design, via Reddit: “To me, it’s another example of city councilors—like Green and Dunphy—not having their eye on the ball, and not just focusing on priorities. I don’t know enough about Prosper Portland to comment on their track record. But from the council perspective, just focus on your actions. Don’t worry about petty commentary in a Microsoft Teams chat. These councilors are in the spotlight now, and people are going to have opinions. Even city staffers. Gasp!
“And though I’m rooting for Wilson, I can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a way to navigate this without turning it into a public spectacle. Some of this distraction is on him.”
jayfinanderson, via Reddit: “It’s all in context. Number one, it’s public officials, in the midst of an extremely difficult and contentious budget cycle. No decision they make is going to make everyone happy, and if there is any hint of impropriety in the process, it’s going to make the difficult process probably unmanageable. We absolutely must demand that our local government is being absolutely above board when it comes to how millions of our tax dollars are spent. If they are this loose in a recorded, potentially public way, what else is just being ‘let go’?”
Successful-Book4200, via Reddit: “I’d love to see the text threads of the councilors and their staff!”
ANOTHER APOLOGY REQUESTED
I just read a letter you published from Sam Sachs, urging [Portland Association of Teachers president] Angela Bonilla to apologize for the anti-Israel curriculum for which she advocates [Dialogue, June 11]. I, too, would like to get in line for an apology from Angela Bonilla.
In a letter to Councilor Dan Ryan, Bonilla stated, “I share with my students and members that when I make a mistake or create harm publicly, my responsibility is to repair that harm publicly.”
My family was harmed by the monthslong teacher strike. The strike was unnecessarily prolonged. It harmed my mental health, triggering a stress response, due to finding myself and my children in another school closure. It harmed the education of my children, who unnecessarily missed days of school, which were made up in name only.
I, too, ask Bonilla to follow her own advice and repair the harm that she caused my family, and the families of 40,000 children.
Kara Shane Colley
Southwest Portland
Letters to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to:
P.O. Box 10770
Portland, OR 97296
Email: amesh@wweek.com