Rank these candidates on your Portland City Ballot for a Progressive Future!
Rank these candidates on your Portland City Ballot for a Progressive Future!
Carmen Rubio
Keith Wilson
DO NOT RANK: René Gonzalez. Having this man as Mayor would damage the soul of this City. My first question to any candidate is, "what are you going to do about Portland Street Response?" Rene has shown time and time again that he is going to actively undermine PSR. This alone is completely disqualifying.
Candace Avalos - A progressive champion with a solid track record! She should be your automatic top rank.
Steph Routh - A great Multdems volunteer who will make a great Portland City Councilor.
David Linn - Another great Multdems volunteer.
Loretta Smith - Chair of the Black Caucus, with which the DPO Gun Owners Caucus has gotten a lot done.
Nat West - Cider aside, he's shown that he knows how to build coalitions and organize. He's going to be an outstanding member of the Council. Give him your top rank.
Michelle DePass - She has a multimodal, multicultural vision for Portland, that I know from experience can work. She deserves to be on the City Council to make that happen
Jonathan Tasini - Another great Multdems volunteer with a great track record on labor.
Angelita Morillo - I remain disappointed that Jo Ann Hardesty did not run for City Council. Angelita worked with Hardesty to address a lot of the City's issues, and this alone qualifies her for City Council. That she has been a ferocious defender of Portland Street Response is icing on the cake. She gets my top rank, although it's a tough choice, because my other two choices are:
Tiffany Koyama Lane - She has deep, wide view of the social problems in Portland and how to address them. Lots of other progressives have endorsed her for this reason, and I share their enthusiasm.
Jesse Cornett - A netroots activist that worked with the Bernie campaign in the past. What he lacks in government experience he makes up for by being mired in the muck for twenty years plus. That puts him in my top three.
DO NOT RANK: Sandeep Bali - Anyone who thinks the problem with our houselessness crisis is that recriminalization isn't authoritarian enough doesn't have Portland values at heart. That's just for starters. Maybe this is petty of me, but someone who doesn't know what Street Roots is or the function it serves in Portland, really shouldn't be calling the shots on policy. This man has no business on City Council, period.
Mitch Green - I love this guy. He's a PhD in Economics and a Veteran who served in Afghanistan. Smart: check. Tough: check. He's also not afraid to stand up for Portland's Progressive values, to the extent that he's willing to piss off transphobic and homophobic voters. Give him your top rank.
Lisa Freeman - Freeman's modus operandi is taking partisans and migrating them into the arts of governance and statecraft. She's done this in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Bosnia, Pakistan, Malaysia, among other places. That skill set is going to be valuable as we transition to the new City Government. She deserves one of your top ranks.
Moses Ross - I don't see eye to eye with Moses all the time, but he's absolutely fearless when it comes to important issues like campaign finance reform. He, like others I'm endorsing here, believes that Portland's progressive values point the way forward. Quoting: "I KNOW that what is currently wrong with Portland can be corrected by all that is right with Portland." Well said.