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Multnomah County Commissioner Jesse Beason, abruptly thrust into the role less than a year ago after Susheela Jayapal stepped down to run unsuccessfully for Congress, says he’s now stepping back himself to make more time for other family and professional obligations.
He also leads the nonprofit Northwest Health Foundation, and has been calling in to recent county meetings from hospital rooms as he takes care of his ailing mother.
“I have decided that at this current pace I cannot be a good son, a good CEO, a good partner and a good commissioner through November,” he said in a Friday statement.
He’ll be working around 10 hours a week, an official in his office says, and will take unpaid leave for the rest of the work week.
Beason was Jayapal’s approved alternate, and assumed her District 2 seat when she resigned last November to run for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). Jayapal lost in the Democratic primary to former state Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland). Now, former Joint Office of Homeless Services director Shannon Singleton and onetime Portland Mayor Sam Adams are vying for the District 2 commissioner seat in the November election.
Beason considered resigning, but said that would leave his constituents unrepresented. Holding a public appointment process would take too long, he says—and appointing a preferred replacement, his chief of staff Sara Ryan, was untenable with “all the politicking these days.” (Translation: He’d need three of the four remaining county commissioners to approve her appointment, an unlikely proposition.)
Beason’s decision to stay through to the election ensures County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson retains a key ally—and effective control of the board of commissioners, at least until January. She declined to comment on the news.