Logo
Housing Connections
ISSUE #34.24 • NEWS •
Rogue of the Week

Dave Frohnmayer


UO president is hiding the ball.

Social bookmarking | Permalink
Email | Print | Rate It! | 13 comments
Recently in "Rogue of the Week"

July 2nd, 2008
Legacy Good Samaritan | Please, go by streetcar20 comments

June 25th, 2008
Bill O’Reilly | Pledge allegiance to the gasbag.34 comments

June 18th, 2008
Paul Schuberg and Mike Reiner | Safety inspection? Get a warrant.11 comments

June 11th, 2008
Ed Kame’enui | Read this and weep.16 comments

June 4th, 2008
Harlem Globetrotters | Who’s swatting an Obama artist.18 comments

May 28th, 2008
Employee Freedom Action Committee | The calculus of desperation3 comments

May 21st, 2008
Hillary Clinton | The calculus of desperation8 comments

May 14th, 2008
Women’s Voices, Women’s Vote | An Orwellian approach to universal suffrage.1 comment

May 7th, 2008
Elaine Franklin | Thy name is mud-slinging.3 comments

April 30th, 2008
Oregon Employment Division | Deep in the heart of taxes.0 comments


MORE THAN A TECHNICAL FOUL: Frohnmayer.
IMAGE: WW Photo Illustration
BY WW EDITORIAL STAFF | 503-243-2122

[April 23rd, 2008]

Before he became the University of Oregon’s president, Dave Frohnmayer spearheaded an effort as a legislator to revamp Oregon’s public-records law in 1979. As attorney general in the 1980s, he was a strong advocate for that law and shedding light on how public money gets spent.

But Frohnmayer seems more devoted these days to hiding records from the public, including plans to build a $200 million basketball arena with public financing. We’re calling foul and naming Frohnmayer this week’s Rogue.

First came Frohnmayer’s refusal to turn over records sought by The Oregonian on revenue from UO’s sports-marketing contracts. Attorney General Hardy Myers upheld that refusal, ruling such contracts are protected trade secrets.

Frohnmayer’s latest snub to openness is a delay in fulfilling another request from The O. This time the daily wants records on how the school chose the contractors to build its new hoops palace. The arena will be built with $200 million in state-supported bonds, backed by a $100 million pledge from Nike President Phil Knight.















icon Story continues below

advertisement
OMSI
advertisement

Those records haven’t yet been turned over and may never be. That’s because the UO Foundation formed a nonprofit group headed by Howard Slusher, Knight’s consigliere, to choose the contractors. And such groups aren’t subject to public-records laws, as Frohnmayer knows very well, since he helped write the law.

Frohnmayer says he approved forming the nonprofit, but not to conceal records. And he denies turning his back on his dedication to openness.

“The law is what it is,” he says. “The reason a private foundation is being used for these purposes, frankly, is that it saves a ton of money. And that matters.”

Looks like a rim shot to us.

Rate This Story
4.35 average/20 votes

Comment on this article

anon  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 9:02am

Thanks for writing this.

The rumor is that Knight and Kilkenny have been making large donations to Frohnmayer's Fanconi foundation, and that Knight's donations to UO pay part of his salary. He is their animal, bought and paid for.

The whole business stinks and meanwhile UO is slowly sliding downhill. Frohnmayer could care less about academics, just about whether or not his friends get their basketball arena. What a sad thing to have to say about UO's President.

iwmpb  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 9:37am

1) Phil Knight is the FORMER president of Nike. He is currently the Chairman of the board.

2) Anon- You're absolutely correct, Phil doesn't care at all about academics . . . He hasn't built a new library, or a new law school or . . . oh wait, I think he and Penny HAVE done that!

Richard Ellmyer  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 11:13am

For at least the last SEVEN YEARS the Housing Authority of Portland, with a presumed client base of 33,000 and an annual budget of around $90,000,000 , has refused to account for:

A. The total number of its clients

B. The location by neighborhood of its clients

C. The income levels as required by means test to qualify for HAP housing

D. The ages of HAP clients

E. The gender of HAP clients

F. The last time any individual HAP client record was updated

Without presenting any legal argument on which to base his decision, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk dismissed a request for HAP's public housing statistical data with what is arguably the shortest legal decision on record, namely, "I disagree." This is clear evidence of Schrunk's disinterest, disrespect and disdain for the Oregon Public Records Law and the citizens that exercise their right to use it.

Citizens interested in holding HAP accountable for its public spending and public policies will find no help from the Multnomah County District Attorney's office. However, sending the following email to Ted Wheeler will help.

To: Ted Wheeler

CC: Richard Ellmyer

Subject: HAP Candidacy

Dear Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler:

The interests of Multnomah county are served when authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland is regularly placed on the public table for consideration by elected policy makers and the citizens of Multnomah county.

The interests of Multnomah county are served by a policy of equitable distribution of public housing throughout all of Multnomah county's neighborhoods.

Richard Ellmyer has demonstrated seven years of commitment to these policies. I encourage the Multnomah county commission to recommend him to the Portland city council for the position of HAP commissioner representing the interests of Multnomah county.

Sincerely,

Multnomah county voter

Richard Ellmyer

Community activist leading the campaign to stop all potentially new public housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) in the Portsmouth neighborhood, especially the following:

1. Hacienda CDC public housing project on N. Newell Street (PDC ignores ICURAAC request to stop funding.)

2. The former John Ball School site (Portland Hope Meadows Corporation and commissioner Saltzman refuse to make available accurate and complete public data on funders and board members.)

3. The recently closed Clarendon School site (Temporarily defined by PPS as a "swing space.")

Standards for Equitable Distribution of Public Housing Resolution author and project champion

Writer/Publisher - HAP Watchers commentary - Published on the Internet (www.goodgrowthnw.org) and distributed to thousands of readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County. To Subscribe: HAP-Watchers-on@goodgrowthnw.org

President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 30% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

 
Jefe  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 10:45pm

What the frack does that have to do with anything?

Are the Mods asleep again???

Don Borkowski  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 11:24am

Let's take a look at one of the peripheral players in this story--Howard Slusher. Slusher is the one-time sports agent that conned a one-time Blazer first-round draft pick named Rich Laurel into holding out for more money. Rich Laurel played for half a year and was never heard from again. Slusher is a crook, and anyone who trusts him deserves the worst.

ous board member  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 11:54am

I don't really blame Uncle Phil - he's done a lot for UO. He got pissed at Frohnmayer when Dave signed UO up with a flaky sweatshop labor group that was attacking Nike, back in 2000.

Dave managed to convince Phil that the Faculty had pressured him into this, so Phil cut off his academic donations - which had been very generous. Meanwhile he kept donating to Dave and his charity. He's promised Dave more he finally steps down as UO president. Meanwhile, Knight - or maybe Slusher - seems to love to make Frohnmayer jump through all sots of embarassing hoops, to get the money.

It's all pretty funny, and while Frohnmayer is doing quite well out of it financially, UO is not. The OUS board has an obligation to investigate the conflict of interest, but that's never going to happen. Everyone is just hoping that Knight will eventually get bored with toying with Frohnmayer, once he's completely destroyed his reputation, and then go back to his good old generous ways with UO.

Zachary Vishanoff  writes on Apr 23rd, 2008 1:42pm

It's going to get even more interesting than just this secrecy thing-it is just the tip of a larger iceberg-Nikes plan to upgrade and rebrand Eugene into a Nike sportscity. Sounds like a wild conspiracy theory? Get the book and read it and then we can argue over the details of whether I'm 90%or 100% correct.The name of the book(about Nike city takeover tactics)is Who's Afraid of Niketown?

Zachary Vishanoff  writes on Apr 24th, 2008 12:45pm

I forgot to mention in Eugene soon there will be a very important hearing on a Fairmount neighborhood funded appeal of the U.O.(you owe)Nike basketball palace land use laws. The appeal hearing will be at the City Hall(7th and Pearl street) in Eugene at 5p.m. on May 7th. The records on the dispute are available now at the planning department in Eugene.

Whashevski  writes on Apr 24th, 2008 5:12pm

Is this the same Dave that knew about Goldschmidt commiting statutory rape when Dave was Atty General?

He seems quite comfortable as a slimey cretin.

Klaatu  writes on Apr 25th, 2008 7:21pm

@200 million dollars, that is obscene..that money could send alot of kids to college, fill the food banks forever, build hundreds of low cost housing units, provide free medical and dental care to Portlanders without insurance, the list goes on and on...its disgusting to spend that money on a sports arena that will not provide living wage jobs, insurance, or anything else...people need

Zachary Vishanoff  writes on Apr 27th, 2008 5:17pm

Please consider a Willamette Week Eugene office our community desperately needs real journalism here. Our Eugene weekly is mostly focused on food ,racial stereotyping and rock n roll bands so our university president has morphed into a corporate activist gone wild determined to transform the UO(you owe) into a massive,private Nike junk testing(R&D) facility.

heckler  writes on Apr 29th, 2008 9:19am

Is this the same Dave that knew about Goldschmidt commiting statutory rape when Dave was Atty General? He seems quite comfortable as a slimey cretin.

---

He didn't just know about it, he used it to bully Goldschmidt out of the 1990 governor's race. There's one thing I never understood. Frohnmayer's press secretary Donna Zajonc said "May the best family win." This was code for "if you stay in, I'll out you about the statutory rape." At the time, Dave's own family was reeling from the fact that two of his daughters had been diagnosed with a rare, fatal genetic disorder. Katie died in 1991 and Kirsten died in 1997.

Why didn't Goldschmidt respond to Zajonc by saying "Thanks for the endorsement, sugar!"?

heckler  writes on Apr 29th, 2008 11:41am

www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites...

Comment on the "Dave Frohnmayer" article


Club Calabash
Ad

Ad
Stereotypes
Ad

Sponsored Links: WW Personals
Musician's Market
Snowboard Jackets


Recently in Willamette Week
July 5th 2008Manhunter | Almost every state lets bounty hunters chase down its most wanted. Why doesn’t Oregon?
July 5th 2008Get Wet: WW’s Summer Guide 2008 | The rain is finally over. Now let’s get wet!
July 5th 2008New Kids In The Flock | Gresham’s twin teenage sensations go about their Father’s business. And it’s making them superstars.
July 5th 2008The Price is WHAT? | Second-guessing City Hall—it’s more fun than Monopoly!
July 5th 2008Welcome to Googleville | America’s newest information superhighway begins On Oregon’s Silicon Prairie.
July 5th 2008Fleeced | While students across Oregon celebrate graduation, many are facing a gnawing problem—they’re getting sheared by huge debt.
July 5th 2008A Bridge Over The River Why? | Local pols say global warming is a dire threat. But they want to spend $4.2 billion on a project that makes driving easier.
July 5th 2008Higher Ed | Reed College is exceptional for more than academics. It’s one of America’s most permissive colleges for experimenting with drugs.
July 5th 2008Best New Band 2008 | Portland music insiders take our local scene to the chopping block—and come out with 10 new faves.
July 5th 2008For The Love of Politics | WW’s endorsement page-turner has all the candidates worth falling for this election.