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[February 15th, 2006] With a school-tax measure apparently off the May city ballot and a proposed repeal of publicly financed elections in danger of not qualifying, state Sen. Ginny Burdick's challenge to City Commissioner Erik Sten looks increasingly like Portland's marquee matchup.
Burdick has already launched her City Council bid, with a new website (www.ginnyburdickforportland.com) and campaign mailings to Portlanders. Befitting a longtime politico and PR consultant with Gard & Gerber, Burdick's communication is slick. To answer the question of whether it's accurate, here's a comparison of what she says and what she's done:
| The Spin | The Truth |
|---|---|
| A self-styled outsider , Burdick refers on her website to Sten as a "10-year incumbent" and says she'll run a "grass roots campaign." | Burdick, 58, is also a 10-year incumbent , representing Southwest Portland and part of northeast Washington County in the Oregon Senate since 1996. Her insider status began a decade earlier when she was the spokeswoman for Neil Goldschmidt's 1986 gubernatorial campaign. After Goldschmidt won, he appointed her to the powerful Land Conservation and Development Commission. Burdick's campaign manager, Ed Grosswiler, nevertheless insists that the 38-year-old Sten is the career pol, having worked full-time at City Hall as an aide and commissioner for 16 years. |
| Burdick touts herself as just as progressive as Sten , a longtime advocate for publicly owned utilities. In her kickoff speech last November, Burdick said, "Public power is a worthy goal, and I wish Oregon were a public-power state like Washington.'' | In the past three years, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric have spent more than $4 million to crush local public-power campaigns. The firm hired to run those opposition campaigns? Gard & Gerber. Grosswiler acknowledges the role of Burdick's employer but notes she voted last year for a Senate bill (ultimately vetoed by the governor) that would have allowed state ownership of PGE. "Ginny's concern with city ownership," he says, "is that Portland made no provision for the other 51 cities in PGE's service territory." |
| 3. Promising to bring fiscal sanity to City Hall , Burdick bashes Sten for wasting millions on the Water Bureau's billing system and pursuing the city's purchase of PGE. She promises to use voters' money "wisely and appropriately—and not to spend it on new ventures unless we get their permission first." | Although Burdick says she's unhappy about voters getting shut out of big decisions, she has advocated at Gard & Gerber for Oregon Health & Science University, the prime beneficiary of the now-$55 million aerial tram (nearly quadruple the initial cost estimates). The council decision to OK the tram never went before voters. Grosswiler says Burdick does not expect every city issue to come before voters. Burdick also served on the city's Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund board from 2001 to 2004. A recent City Club report slammed the 11-member pension board as rife with conflicts of interest. Grosswiler says Burdick did her best on the board but the challenges are beyond one person's ability to make changes. |
| Again donning the fiscal conservative's mantle , Burdick has endorsed repeal of publicly financed city elections (a.k.a. "voter-owned elections"), which she says will divert "even more money from vital city services into City Council campaigns." | In 2000, Burdick supported Measure 6, a statewide ballot initiative that would have provided public campaign financing for all statewide and legislative races. Measure 6 included a formula for statewide public financing virtually identical to the one City Council approved last May. Grosswiler says Burdick's backing of Measure 6 was different because it was presented to state voters, who rejected it. "It's her view that voters should get a chance to speak on the issue," Grosswiler says. |
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