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Fritz Slated to Oversee Public Campaign Finance
City Commissioner Amanda Fritz is poised to oversee the city's public campaign finance program. The Portland City Council last December approved the program to bring back city funding for council candidates—a revival championed by Fritz, who first won election with a publicly financed campaign in 2008. Fritz no longer controls the bureau that runs the program, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement. But Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who now oversees ONI, plans to give responsibility for the program back to Fritz. The program will be run separately from any bureau, much like the Portland Children's Levy, and will rotate between commissioners to avoid having them oversee an election they are running in, says Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon.
Portland Public Schools Mishandled a Probe of Sexual Harassment Claims
Portland Public Schools botched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Adam Kennybrew, the former Roosevelt High School head football coach. "The Kennybrew investigation was poorly planned and executed," Lisa Greenfield, an outside attorney hired by PPS, found after reviewing the district's response to complaints about the coach. The allegations against Kennebrew included that he "made numerous inappropriate comments, sent sexually explicit, inappropriate communications, and solicited and initiated unwanted physical contact" with female staff at Roosevelt, according to an Oct. 8 memo prepared by Greenfield. The district says it is considering making changes in how it conducts such investigations.
Convicted Malheur Occupier Files to Run for Congress
One of the anti-government militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 is running for Congress in Arizona. Jon Ritzheimer was sentenced last month to 12 months and one day in federal prison for his leadership role in the armed takeover of the Eastern Oregon bird sanctuary. (During the occupation, Ritzheimer achieved special notoriety for his YouTube video telling his family, "I want to die a free man" and "Daddy swore an oath.") This week, he filed paperwork to run in the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona), who resigned following revelations he had asked staffers to be surrogate mothers of his children.
Give!Guide Tops $1.5 Million
WW's annual Give!Guide is live and accepting donations at giveguide.org. Giving has exceeded $1.5 million. This week's G!G Happy Hour on Dec. 14 at White Owl Social Club boasts a DJ set from local music maven Natasha Kmeto, plus a chance to win a Poler knapsack, a Poler hat or a $50 gift card to Hotlips Pizza.