 illustration by BEN KILLEN ROSENBERG |
BY BOB YOUNG
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Salacious --Footnote 31 from
Starr Report, which was omitted from most published
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Democrat David Wu is locked
in the toughest congressional race in Oregon, but he didn't get much help
from Al Gore during the vice president's Saturday visit to the
Portland area. The veep attended a fund-raiser for Democrat Brian Baird
in Vancouver and another one for state House candidates in Portland, but
he didn't stump for Wu. Wu's spokesman says the campaign staff didn't
expect help from Gore because it had already been promised a Sept. 25
visit by Hillary Clinton. When the veep's staff finally offered
to do an afternoon appearance with Wu on Saturday, Wu was already booked
for a gig in California.
Wu isn't getting much help from high-tech honchos, either. He likes to tout his credentials as a high-tech lawyer in Washington County, the capital of Oregon's Silicon Forest. But this week, Intel's top Oregon manager, Jim Johnson, endorsed Wu's Republican opponent, Molly Bordonaro. So did a bunch of other high-tech execs, including Jerry Meyer at Tektronix, Matt Chapman at CFI Proservices and Casey Powell at Sequent, plus lesser-known officials at Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. In a letter to others in the industry, Johnson says: "[Bordonaro] supports NAFTA, GATT, normal trade relation status with China, and fast-track authority for the President....Additionally Molly's approach toward improving education...is the right one for our community." Pollster Tim Hibbitts calls the endorsements a "minor coup" but stresses that Bordonaro shouldn't expect Intel's 11,000 workers to vote for her just because Johnson likes her. "I think the race is going to be very close, two to three points either way," says Hibbitts. Indeed, last week a KPTV poll found Wu was ahead by six points. Should he stay or should he go? Constituent calls to congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio are running against President Bill Clinton. As of Tuesday morning, the tally from DeFazio's office was 240 calls for impeachment or resignation and just 81 in support of the president. Blumenauer reported 457 calls that wanted Clinton out and 335 supporting the president. "It's probably better for Democrats in the coming election and better for the country [if he resigns]," DeFazio says. Sounding a similar note, Blumenauer says he won't rush to judgment though he has personally lost respect for the president. He adds, "it's hard to imagine" that Clinton can retain the confidence of people and his ability to govern. Neither Bill is very popular with state House candidates. As the Starr Report was breaking on Friday, we asked Democrats if they wanted to be seen with Clinton and asked Republicans the same about GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Sizemore (remember him?). Of the 11 candidates, only six wanted to be associated with either Bill. The toughest on Sizemore was state Sen. Tom Hartung of Portland. "This was the first time in my life I did not vote for a Republican in the primary," Hartung says. "I do not want him, do not need him, and the party can't afford him." Déjà Boo-Boo: Tanya Collier's city council campaign again failed to get in the Voters' Pamphlet. This time it was the local Voters' Pamphlet; in the spring it was the state pamphlet. It's a confusing situation for sure: The local pamphlet is stapled inside the state one, so almost all candidates--even candidates like Erik Sten who don't face opposition--buy space in both. Collier's campaign manager, Carol Kelsey, takes the blame. "It was an error on my part," she says. Pollster Hibbitts stresses that Collier was already 14 points behind rival Dan Saltzman in the May primary. "I'm not saying it's a fatal blow," explains Hibbitts, "but it's not helpful in a tough race." Some Collier supporters are discouraged by the news. "It seems silly to me," says City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury. More bad news: Ex-senator Mark Hatfield pulled out of a scheduled photo shoot with Collier, Kafoury and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse last week.
originally published September 16, 1998
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