Lisa Naito, Maria Rojo de Steffey, Serena Cruz Walsh

[December 20th, 2006] To paraphrase the immortal words of Britney Spears, "Oops, they did it again." Thankfully, in this instance we're talking about flummery, not flashing.

At the final Multnomah County commission meeting last week for Chairwoman Diane Linn (a Rogue of the Year alum in 2004), Linn's three critics on the board, a.k.a. "The Mean Girls," sent her off with a Roguish bang most notable for its mawkish mendacity.

After Linn banged her gavel for the final time, these four women, who'd barely spoken to each other since Linn apologized for the way the county handled allowing same-sex couples to marry, exchanged embraces.

Commissioner Lisa Naito was the first to hug Linn goodbye. Commissioners Maria Rojo de Steffey and Serena Cruz Walsh thanked Linn and praised her service.

"You didn't get the recognition you deserved," said Cruz Walsh, also at her last meeting because term limits meant she couldn't run again this year.

"You've done tremendous work for [SUN schools]," Rojo de Steffey told Linn, referring to a popular after-school program that Linn championed.

It could be that after spending the past few years feuding, the solemnity of the departures allowed the three women, who had once been powerfully united with Linn, to bury the hatchet somewhere other than in Linn's forehead.

But if it was the case that the Mean Girls were ready to put aside their long-running personal disputes, they should have kissed and made up months ago instead of continuing the petty battles long after Linn lost her re-election bid in May to Ted Wheeler.

Otherwise, Linn and Multnomah County citizens got treated to an embarrassing display of Roguish hypocrisy that Wheeler would do well to remember when he takes office next month.