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VETERAN POLITICO LEN BERGSTEIN DIES: Longtime political consultant, lobbyist and KGW commentator Len Bergstein died at his Portland home Monday night. He was 76. Known for his wit as well as his wisdom, Bergstein, originally from New York, moved to Oregon in 1972, and his career in politics ended only with his final breath. He worked for and with a long list of the state’s leading politicians, including as a staffer for Gov. Bob Straub and Portland Mayor and Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and adviser to Oregon Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts, Multnomah County Commissioner Gladys McCoy, City Commissioner Charles Jordan and Mayor Vera Katz. Tributes poured in from the likes of Albina Vision Trust chair Rukaiyah Adams, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and former Gov. Ted Kulongoski. “Len and I came to Oregon around the same time and have been friends for over 50 years,” Kulongoski says. “He was a wise counselor and I enjoyed his company very much. I feel like a part of me is missing.”
PEARL DISTRICT STARBUCKS CLOSES OVER SAFETY CONCERNS: A Starbucks coffee shop in the Pearl District will close permanently Oct. 21 due to safety concerns. That makes it the fourth location in Portland to shutter in the past three months, all citing safety issues. The other closures include a Starbucks downtown, another in Gateway, and a third in Hollywood. “We continue to equip our partners with the training, policies and information they need to address the societal challenges that cross our store thresholds every day,” Starbucks spokesman Andrew Tull said in a statement. “But when these efforts aren’t enough to ensure the safety of our partners, we will make the decision to close a store.” Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell met with downtown Starbucks managers in late April, according to his calendar, less than three months prior to one store’s closure.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY COURTHOUSE IS SHORT-STAFFED: The shortage of police officers and criminal defense lawyers has been making frequent headlines in Portland in recent months. But it’s not just cops and public defenders feeling the pinch of a tight job market. There are 43 open positions at the Multnomah County Circuit Court, trial court administrator Barbara Marcille tells WW. That’s a job vacancy rate of 12%. “The court has an exceptionally high number of vacancies, it is taking longer to fill vacant positions, and too often new employees are leaving after being with the court for a short period,” Marcille wrote for Multnomah Lawyer last month. She blames a “competitive employment market and the expense of commuting and parking.” The results of the short staffing? Phone and email response times are longer. And the court is swapping around clerks because there’s not enough on staff to dedicate to every judge. “It becomes very challenging to manage all our scheduled proceedings,” Marcille says.
OREGON’S TOP JUDGE RETIRES: Oregon Chief Justice Martha Walters announced plans Oct. 18 to retire at the end of the year. She’s the second Oregon Supreme Court justice to do so in the past month, giving Gov. Kate Brown another high-profile opportunity to shape the direction of the state’s judicial system before her term ends in January. Walters’ role as chief justice will be assumed by Associate Justice Meagan Flynn, a 55-year-old Portlander who was promoted by a unanimous vote of her colleagues. She will begin her six-year term facing a slew of crises—including a revolt by public defenders who, underpaid and overworked, are frequently refusing to take additional clients. Walters had clashed with Steve Singer, the brash reformer brought in late last year to direct the state agency responsible for public defenders, and ultimately orchestrated his ouster in August.
SIGNATURE INVESTIGATION PROCEEDS: Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s Elections Division has concluded its investigation of irregularities in the gathering of signatures to qualify unaffiliated candidate for governor Betsy Johnson for the ballot. Johnson turned in more than double the required signatures in August, and those signatures had an unusually high validity rate of nearly 80%. But elections officials found irregularities in 74 signature sheets and opened a criminal investigation into the firm contracted to collect them, Initiative & Referendum Campaign Management Services. Now, according to Ben Morris, Fagan’s spokesman, officials have turned over the results of that investigation to the Oregon Department of Justice. DOJ says it’s probing one sheet. IRCMS didn’t respond to a request for comment.