Endorsements I: Ted Wheeler and Lonnie Roberts

Diane Linn, the incumbent chair of the Multnomah County Commission and long active in elective politics, faces a strong challenge from Ted Wheeler, founder and former owner of an investment management firm who is making his first bid for office.  Ms. Linn's supporters offer no coherent reason to re-elect her, but they do advance three reasons to vote against Mr. Wheeler.  The first is that he is rich, partly from selling his business and partly from choosing his grandfather wisely.  (His grandfather was a founder of Willamette Industries.)  The second is that he is a crypto-Republican (an endangered species in Multnomah County) masquerading as a centrist.  The third is that though he may be a fine fellow, he doesn't have political experience and should start his political career running for something less important than the Multnomah County Commission. 

Whatever the merits of the Linn camp's first two objections may be, the third one doesn't hold water.  Ms. Linn's political experience didn't shine these past four years: she showed a tin ear for the reactions of the public and the other four commissioners.  The furor over the same-sex marriage issue drove out of our memories the flap over the library director.  Do you remember it?  Ms. Linn offered the library job to a well-qualified applicant who had been making more money than the county offered.  Ms. Linn responded by raising the offer by about $20,000, which the applicant accepted.  The problem was that the county commission had set a cap on what it would pay the county librarian, and Ms. Linn's offer was about $20,000 above the cap.

Then we had the snowstorm, and Ms. Linn made the decision to pay the workers who had come in, and the workers who stayed home, and then to give the workers who came in extra pay or a paid day off, also without consulting the county commission. 

I'm not going to rehash the same-sex-marriage fiasco or comment on the questions raised last week about Ms. Linn's appointment books.  It's time for the voters to thank her for her four years of service and elect someone else to the post.  I'm supporting Ted Wheeler to replace her.

For those among us who think that Commissioner Linn did a poor job this term, but who don't want to vote for a rich crypto-Republican on philosophical grounds, I suggest writing in Lonnie Roberts as a sort of protest vote.  Commissioner Roberts stayed serenely out of the bickering of the other four commissioners.  He looks out for the interests of his district and causes no problems for anyone.  We ought to encourage those qualities in our public servant, and a vote for Mr. Roberts is a quiet reminder to Ms. Linn that the commission consists of five, not four, commissioners, and certainly not just one commissioner.

Comments

[Jack Bog]

Go with Fred Smith, the Fred Meyer produce guy. Just blacken the circle; you don't need to remember whether it's spelled Lonnie or Lonny.

[alan]

I'm still pissed at Wheeler for spamming me:
http://bluehole.org/2006/01/dumbfuck-for-county-chair-or-how-to.html

[Bill Hooker]

Commissioner Roberts stayed serenely out of the bickering of the other four commissioners

Are we talking about the same L. Roberts who whined incessantly about being robbed of his chance to stop the idea of gay marriage even being floated?