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The city of Portland has a lot riding on the session of the Oregon Legislature that begins later this month. Mayor Ted Wheeler is asking lawmakers to send state troopers to Portland to arrest drunken drivers, change laws to more easily commit mentally ill people to a hospital, and pony up $26 million for the mayor’s six sanctioned homeless encampments.
But the people who make those requests have left.
Just one week ahead of the start of the legislative session in Salem, the city is soon to be down three of its five state lobbyists.
Sources familiar with the matter confirm that city lobbyists Eric Noll, Ricardo Lujan-Valerio and Dominique Rossi are either no longer with the city or have announced their impending departure.
That means the city is left with two state lobbyists ahead of the Jan. 17 legislative session.
State Rep. Travis Nelson (D-Portland) tells WW that’s a significant loss when the city is asking lawmakers to soothe the issues plaguing Portland.
“It’s concerning that the city would be entering this session without its normal complement of governmental affairs staff with everything that’s going on with the city right now,” Nelson says.
While motive for two of those departures—Noll’s and Lujan-Valerio’s—is unclear, sources familiar with the matter say it had to do in part with tensions over the city’s legislative agenda and difficulties communicating with the mayor’s team. (Rossi left for another job.)
Bobby Lee, chief of staff for Wheeler, said he was “not aware” of any rifts between lobbyists and the mayor’s office due to the city’s legislative requests.
“City Hall is a marketplace of ideas, and there are going to be disagreements,” Lee tells WW, “but that’s our every day.”
Lobbyists for the city work under the Office of Government Relations, which oversees the city’s lobbying activities. That office operates under the mayor’s supervision. Lobbyists work closely with the mayor’s office to ferry his requests to lawmakers and the governor.
Lee says the mayor’s office is “in the process of filling those positions, including third-party contracting lobbying firms.”
The state’s lobbying database shows the city registered one new lobbyist Jan. 5, bringing the total to two. That’s Derek Bradley, onetime chief of staff to former City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who, according to sources, replaced Rossi.
Portland legislative delegates tell WW the departures are concerning.
“A lot of what we do is going to be challenging, there will be lots of differing perspectives, and we need to know that who we are working with is able to effectively get our needs and understandings across and that they’re effectively bringing to us what their city leaders need,” says Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland). “It’s really hard for me to believe, unless it’s someone that has experience and has those established relationships in the building, how someone coming in with a couple days’ notice is going to be effective.”
Noll, Rossi and Lujan-Valerio did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, interim director of the Office of Government Relations Nils Tillstrom said the city “is looking at different options to continue with work in support of the adopted state legislative agenda, and we expect to have a team in Salem advocating on behalf of the city and its priorities.”
He did not respond to questions about why Noll and Lujan-Valerio departed.
“You should definitely expect a lot of movement amongst staff at this time, especially after an election cycle: a new administration, new legislative leadership and whole bunch of new legislators. I would call this time the ‘great reshuffle,’” Tillstrom said. “We are really excited about the opportunities that these folks are going on to; each were excellent colleagues and am grateful for what they each brought to the city and to our office.”