Murmurs: Here's The News—Don't Tell The Auditor.

1. An emotional neighborhood battle from 17 years ago is surfacing in a contentious fight for a Portland Public Schools board seat. In 1998, PPS board candidate Amy Kohnstamm joined Arlington Heights homeowners to oppose siting a Holocaust memorial in Washington Park. Neighbors worried about crowds and traffic; they lost. Portland lawyer Lisa Kaner sent an April 28 email to memorial supporters reminding them of Kohnstamm’s stance. “While I believe we must forgive those who opposed the Memorial, my willingness to forgive them does not mean that they are suitable to serve on our public school board,” Kaner wrote. Kaner declined to comment to WW. Kohnstamm says the issue doesn’t belong in a school board race and called Kaner’s email a “sad effort to manufacture controversy.”

1. Welcome to City Hall! Now go away. That’s the message Mayor Charlie Hales’ chief of staff, Gail Shibley, has sent City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero. Breaking a long-standing practice, Shibley in December stopped inviting the auditor’s deputy, Sarah Landis, to weekly meetings with commissioners’ chiefs of staff—a crucial forum where deals are shaped. Hales spokesman Dana Haynes says it’s an internal meeting just for chiefs of staff. Hull Caballero—whose office watchdogs the City Council—wants the weekly invitation reinstated. “It’s an avenue for communication,” she says.

1. Metro’s controversial Oregon Convention Center headquarters hotel is now a wedge issue for Republicans—against other Republicans. Former GOP state Rep. Jeff Kropf, who runs Capitol Watch PAC, sent an April 28 letter to Republican legislators attacking Rep. Vic Gilliam (R-Silverton), who recently joined House Democrats in backing a bill to allow the hotel to proceed without voter approval. Kropf—who foresees a fight as Democratic Gov. Kate Brown seeks Republican support for higher gas taxes—says his criticism of Gilliam is a warning to GOP lawmakers not to be “Democrat lite.” “We’re trying to send a signal to Republicans,” Kropf says. “To get back into power, we’ve got to go to war against Democrats.” Gilliam, whose independence drew a GOP opponent in 2014, defends his vote, saying the hotel will boost tourism.

1. TheOregonian’s chairman, N. Christian Anderson III, is going south. Anderson announced May 5 he will become editor and publisher of The Register-Guard in Eugene. Named The O’s publisher in 2009, Anderson took over a paper in serious financial trouble.  He cut home delivery to four days a week, laid off nearly a quarter of the newsroom staff, imposed Web production quotas for reporters and introduced the paper’s tabloid format—moves Anderson called necessary and many readers found disheartening. He takes over for R-G editor and publisher Tony Baker, whose family owns the paper. The O’s editorial pages under Anderson won a Pulitzer and also shifted to the right politically. The R-G’s editorials, among the state’s more left-leaning, will now be under his control.

WWeek 2015