Last Tuesday evening, The Urban League of Portland held two separate candidate forums, one for City candidates and one for County. Entitled “Accountability and Equity,” the questions asked tried to draw out substantive answers aimed at the concerns of activists and leaders in communities served by the Urban League. It was a nice thought, but electoral politics frequently leads to disappointment.

Because of the large number of candidates in both forums — eight in each — I won’t cover the Q&A in detail. Here are some high points and points of interest. No one forum can determine who is the best fit for an office, but, near the end of the campaign, the Urban League event was informative — if not as substantial as organizers might have hoped.

Standouts: Maria Rubio, Jeff Cogen

Maria Rubio, seeking the Multnomah County seat previously held by Jeff Cogen, came across as the most energetic, informed and thoughtful of the candidates of the evening. She is also the candidate who has grown most during the campaign: Her answers are more direct and informed than when I first interviewed her two months ago. She spoke of the fear that occurs when communities change, as is happening in East County, with its in-migration of impoverished people of color. The County, she said, needs to take the lead in establishing a dialog that would remove the barriers between neighbors. When County government works with members of the community, it needs to be on an on-going basis, not through ad hoc committees, stated Rubio. She wants the community involved in making the decisions about the difficult budget cuts ahead — not just advising on these.

“They have the knowledge and experience,” she said, “to make difficult decisions.”

Cogen, selected by his four peers on the Board of Commissioners to replace Ted Wheeler as Chair, is seeking a full four-year term. In the short period he has been on the job, he has found his game. Like Wheeler, he’s not an imposing presence, but when he speaks about his goals and hopes, his confidence is evident and compelling.

“County government is important,” he said, “because it defines who we are as a community”. He emphasized the importance of the County doing the right things, chief among these building trust.  A focus on social inequities makes a difference, he said, in everything we do. “Equity is an underlying value” in all of the County’s work. He plans to move the Office of Diversity and Equity into the Chair’s office to elevate its status and (wonk alert) hire a full-time director and full-time data analyst so the County cannot let issues of equity slide. More than providing services, he added, developing the “growth of wealth” in minority communities is key to ending inequity.

Oddly disappointing: Karol Collymore, Jesse Cornett

There was nothing wrong with either candidate’s presentations on the evening. They had good answers to the questions and kept on message, but both were low-key to the point of seeming tired. Part of this was the questioning which was, to a degree, aimed at some of the lesser-known candidates. Jesse Cornett’s usually pretty quiet-spoken, but tonight seemed even more so. Karol Collymore may have been tired; she read her opening and closing statements without her usual vim. It’s been a long campaign, and both candidates have worked as hard as anyone. I don’t blame them for not sparkling at every appearance.

You had to be there: Ed Garren, Spencer Burton

Ed Garren was a way of playing to crowds that makes him almost endearing, until you’ve witnessed the act a few times. He has no modesty in his presentation, in large part because he seems to believe he is a vital and important person in the great issues of the day. He had no problem associating himself with Rosa Parks, while refusing to provide direct answers to questions because he’s busy making sure people know the Man will never shut him up. He certainly did not shut up Tuesday night, speaking far more than any other candidate.

Spencer Burton does not offer the usual qualifications for City Council: He is a stonemason, and his proposals tend towards new-agey homilies rather than specific policies. He does offer insights that should be taken to heart by those of a more wonky disposition. He’s got a rough-hewn wisdom, appropriate for a stonemason and former organic farmer was he also a farmer. He urged us to build the city we imagined it could be: A very Zen approach. Sustainability is based on “localization” (his word) — keeping jobs and money local. His jobs and economic proposal lacked specifics but the basic idea was sound: Make sure people work, and spend their money, in their own neighborhoods and communities. His closing spoke more eloquently, if a bit oddly, of the role of those who are not part of the ordained structure: The best things rise up through the cracks in the pavement. Burton may not get many votes but he should earn respect for having some excellent insights and some good, fundamental proposals.

Taking a hit: Dan Saltzman

One of two incumbent City Councilors up for re-election, Dan Saltzman has been dealing with charges that he failed to disclose his personal relationship with a staff member of an organization to which the Children’s Levy, which he chairs, allocated $600,000. That issue was not raised during the debate, allowing Saltzman to tout himself as an engineer who fixes problems. He did address the Police Bureau, albeit in general terms, promising to restore trust, accountability and transparency — but without saying how. In his closing, he warned people they would hear bad things in the coming weeks about how he funneled money to such-and-such, raising the expectation that more charges were going to be leveled against him (as of Friday, they have not). After the forum, I asked him if he understood that the issue was not if money exchanged hands but his refusal to simply acknowledge a potential conflict of interest, as required by the City’s Code of Ethics, and he adamantly denied having done anything wrong.

Holding the line: Nick Fish

Nick Fish is not facing a credible challenge in his race for a full four-year term, and he was able to address the United League’s concerns directly. He said that Portland police officers need to understand the different cultures among the communities of color, and that hiring practices have to be addressed — especially the need to hire cops who better reflect the city’s composition. He urged a city-wide effort, transparent and national in scope, to replace Police Chief Rosie Sizer when the time came. He spoke of being raised in New York City where diversity was valued as a way for people to learn to get along and find strength in one another. The diverse perspectives of Portland’s new immigrant populations was welcome.

The big toss-up: Chuck Currie, Tom Markgraf, Paul Van Orden, Loretta Smith

Every person running for the County Commission seat representing North and Northeast person is a strong candidate. Each brings a different background, and each has a genuine concern for the area. Rubio was strongest on the night, as Collymore was most disappointing, but, as has been noted repeatedly for the past two months, there are no bad choices among them. Each gave answers that demostrated an understanding of the breadth of the problems facing Portland’s communities of color. Markgraf raised the issue of violence against women and that the County needs to ask everyone, when they seek services, if they feel safe in their own home. Smith, with her background in working to secure funding for local government from the Feds, said that minority contracts need be expanded. Currie, a paster and long-time advocate for the poor and homeless, vowed to use the office in the same way he used his pulpit — and to expand the traditional scope of a Commissioner’s job. Van Orden said that as head of the City’s Noise Control Office, he understood how things like racing at PIR spell our had an inequitable impact on some communities, and that his approach was to seek community-based answers to problems.

Bottom line: a tough choice faces voters, but this is an election where the voters would not lose.

(Gary Hansen did not attend the forum.)

Too bad: Walt Nichols

Walt Nichols’ campaign, as noted above, is not credible, not because he’s not suited for office but because he’s unable to mount an effective campaign. He did not seek public financing and cannot come anywhere near Fish’s ability to fundraise. And perhaps he doesn’t want to. At the forum, he spoke impressively. He stated directly that he did not believe either Fish or Saltzman understood the issues behind the rise in gang violence. He pushed to retain the Safe Streets program and to work with community groups, churches and families to fight budget cuts that would threaten such programs. He also said the current City Council lacked the integrity to take on the police unions.

Overall, the forum had too many participants in too short a time to delve properly into the issues. Attendance was low and seemed to involve the usual advocates and leaders — who, of course, can take what they saw further into the community. More people needed to see the event first-hand, but this is a down year for enthusiasm (apart from the Tea Partiers, and this was not their kind of event). On the County side, whichever candidate can mount the strongest get-out-the-vote campaign stands the best chance. Cogen and Fish face token opposition (disappointingly so in Fish’s case, not because he is bad but because a properly financed campaign from Nichols might have been a great on-going forum to discuss City issues). Saltzman is in jeopardy, both because Cornett has the funds to challenge him (thanks to being the only candidate to qualify for public financing) and because he’s been tainted with some of the most toxic issues facing the City: PGE Park, using water rate money for bike paths, and, of course, the Police Bureau — and now an ethics charge he has chosen to stonewall. 

TA Barnhart is a progressive blogger who writes at T.A. Barnhart.net and Blue Oregon.  He comes to the Sentinel courtesy of the Oregon News Incubator.

[ED NOTE: Photo of Jeff Pendergaph with Former Black History Month Honoree Paul Knauls taken at the Urban League has nothing to do with this story...but is more fun to look at than current candidates]