Murmurs: Bullivant Payout Woes, Cemetary Triumphs and Endorsement Recaps

1. Portland law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey has had its share of trouble recently with lawyers leaving-—losing nearly two dozen this year, and 38 since 2007. Now, Bullivant can’t meet its payments to those cashing out their shares in the firm. A confidential Oct. 18 letter obtained by WW says the firm owes former shareholders $1.6 million. Starting in 2012, the letter says, the firm will stretch out payments over 10 years, not the typical five. Managing shareholder Beth Skillern says Bullivant usually has one or two retirements a year. “When you have 30 shareholders leave, it creates a bigger financial obligation,” she says. Bullivant has about 60 lawyers now. To see the memo, go to wweek.com/bullivant.

1. Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery ranks ninth in National Geographic’s list of Top Ten Cemeteries to Visit, calling the Southeast Portland graveyard “one of the few cemeteries that allows the planting of a tree or garden to commemorate the dearly departed.” NatGeo notes Lone Fir’s pioneers’ graves, crypts of captains of industry, and a planned memorial for Portland’s early Chinese immigrants and patients of Portland’s first mental hospital. As reported on wweek.com recently, Lone Fir is among the cemeteries managed by Metro that have seen vandalism increase this year.

1. Just because you’re paranoid...: Mary Jo Pullen-Hughes by her own estimate called journalists and government offices 75,000 times over the years. The Defense Department investigated her in 2009 after she called the Pentagon claiming to have information about a looming terrorist attack. At the Pentagon’s request, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office charged her with telephone harassment; Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Nelson later acquitted her. Now, Pullen-Hughes has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the cities of Portland, Beaverton and Gresham, whose police allegedly took part in her arrest; Multnomah County for prosecuting and detaining her; and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other Obama administration officials for allegedly violating her free speech rights. She also says the government slandered her with “spurious statements” about her mental health.

1. BONAMICIIMAGE: Steel BrooksBallot time: Republican and Democrat voters in the 1st Congressional District should have received their ballots in the mail for the Nov. 8 special primary elections to replace former U.S. Rep. David Wu, who resigned in August after a sex scandal. WW has endorsed State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) in the Democratic primary and Tualatin businessman Rob Cornilles on the GOP ballot. See our endorsements here.

WWeek 2015