[May 14th, 2008]

WINNERS

1 Local Republicans are unlikely to find much to smile about in next week’s elections. But the party’s symbol, the mighty pachydermius Multnomius , may be in for a treat. Metro, which runs the Oregon Zoo, OK’d a November bond measure request that asks voters for a $125 million upgrade to the zoo, including a big new chunk of real estate for elephant recreation.

2 Portland mayoral candidate Sho Dozono got a rare chance to gloat when his top opponent, Commissioner Sam Adams, ditched a controversial $5.5 million plan to turn the old Sauvie Island Bridge into a bike bridge over I-405 at Northwest Flanders Street. Adams blamed rising gas prices for the reversal. Dozono credited himself.

3 One Republican so flush with cash he can buy TV ads despite no serious competition in the primary: U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith. The incumbent’s ads target Jeff Merkley, one of the Dems running in his party’s primary to take on Smith—setting D’s to debate whether Smith is targeting the candidate he most fears or just the one who provides the most sport.

4 As first reported last week on WWire, former Hillsboro Boys & Girls Club counselor Veronica Rodriguez caught a break when the Oregon Supreme Court announced it will hear her case. A judge sentenced Rodriguez to 16 months when a jury found her guilty of sex abuse for holding the back of a 13-year-old boy’s head to her clothed chest (see “A Brush with Measure 11,” WW, Feb. 20, 2008). But the state Court of Appeals ordered Rodriguez to serve five additional years of a Measure 11 mandatory minimum. Now Rodriguez—not to mention common sense—gets another chance.

LOSERS

1 Mayor Tom Potter has tired of homeless protesters camping outside City Hall, but not as fast as[b] city employees who work on the ground floor. That’s where The Oregonian reports the sidewalk surfers left feces (not in a proper receptacle), needles (not for knitting) and semen (missing OHSU’s RiverPlace fertility clinic by several blocks), thanks to Potter’s earlier decision to keep City Hall restrooms open 24-7. (See WWire for the latest coverage of the protest.)

2 TIMBERRRR! Just not the good kind for 160-year-old Pope & Talbot Inc. The Oregon forest-products company learned last week it must liquidate its mills as part of its bankruptcy—bad news that throws 180 Oregonians outta work.

3 Hillary Clinton came to Portland again May 9 for a photo op at OHSU’s children’s hospital. Sure, the sick kids who huddled under blankets for two hours in the cold morning air were glad to see her—but couldn’t the campaign have taken the show indoors?