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BY BOB YOUNG
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Shameless
self- --Postcard publicizing fund-raiser for Cruz, 31-year-old City Council aide, who's never held elected office. |
So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll
star? Apparently Gov. John Kitzhaber doesn't. X-PAC, the Portland
group for young political activists, is cranking up its young-voter drive.
Next month X-PAC hopes to publish a 'zine version of a Voters'
Pamphlet, put up thousands of posters and place ads in movie theaters,
bathrooms and newspapers--all urging apathetic young voters to go to the
polls. X-PACers aim to culminate their "go-vote" campaign with an Oct.
23 benefit concert at LaLuna, and they've invited guitar-strumming
Gov. Johnny Be Good Kitzhaber to strap on a six-string and plug
in with a special guest band. But there's bad news for X-PAC. First, Kitzhaber
faces a scheduling conflict and may not make the gig, according to his
manager Curtis Robinhold. Second, Kitzhaber has never played electric
guitar. "Not in any meaningful way," says the guv.
Andy Kerr, the timber industry's "most hated man in Oregon," is back in the spotlight, leading a new group dedicated to the end of population and consumption growth. "The political establishment is out of sync with the body politic on this issue," Kerr says. He feels that a sharp candidate could successfully exploit the frustrations of Oregonians who see their taxes rising but their quality of life declining. Kerr isn't running for office, but he will serve as president of the new group, Alternatives to Growth Oregon. ATGO's business plan calls for the group to raise $400,000 in its first year and send a lobbyist to Salem for the 1999 legislative session. ATGO's agenda is to determine Oregon's optimal population, make developers pay their own way and shorten the work week. Kerr hopes to accompish these goals through the media, white papers (such as "Two Children Is an Appropriate Limit") and perhaps litigation or initiative petition. See Molly run--to the center. A woman's right to abortion is a touchy issue in the 1st Congressional District. Two years ago, while vying for the Republican nomination, Molly Bordonaro appeared on a Christian radio show and announced, "My issues come from the heart and the Lord." She added, "I absolutely believe in protecting the right to life....It's not an issue about choice versus non-choice. It's an issue about life versus non-life." Now Bordonaro is moderating--or "refining" her stance, as she says. "My ultimate goal is reducing the number of abortions, and divisive language is not going to get us there," she says. "We need to bring people together. I'm willing to listen, absorb, evolve and build consensus." Self-censorship isn't easy for Molly's opponent, either. At an obscure campaign event earlier this year, the pathologically chatty Democrat David Wu called Microsoft empire-builder Bill Gates "Darth Vader"--a slip that Wu believes cost him the endorsement of high-tech heavyweights now backing Bordonaro. Two weeks ago, when WW asked Wu what Hillary Clinton should say to Monica Lewinsky, he replied: "You should be forced to marry him and spend the rest of your life with him." Despite these potential gaffes, Wu seemed most uncomfortable when WW quizzed him about a hobby listed on his campaign material. After a long windup, Wu concedes that he has, indeed, shot and killed two elk. Portlanders aren't exactly psyched about the City Council race between Tanya Collier and Dan Saltzman. According to a Sept. 21 poll by the Collier campaign, 72 percent of likely voters are undecided about the contest (with the rest slightly favoring Collier). There's good reason for the indifference: The poll asked voters if they were undecided--a question that Portland's most prominent pollster, Tim Hibbitts, says he never asks. Saltzman campaign manager Ellen Huffaker says the poll that matters most is the May 19 primary election that had Saltzman 14 points ahead of Collier.
originally published September 30, 1998
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