apri lfi. 2004 »
MAYOR:
TOM P O T T E R
CITY C O U N C IL ,
P O S I T I O N 4:
RANDY LEONARD
CITY C O U N C IL,
PO SITIO N l!
SAM A D A M S
"As m ayor o f Portland,
I w ill do everything within
" I think we need to do
'This is not a time fo r those o f us
m y authority to foster
equity ana inclusion
for sexual m ino rities.. . .
I want city governm ent
m ore to m ake Portland
who believe that it is about damn
time that gay marriages be allowed to distance
ourselves from those on the county commission
who did the right thing. . . . I believe we have
an LGBTQ-friendly c ity .. . .
As the first openly gay
to reflect our citizens, because
thing to do and the only thing to do.
m em ber o f City Council,
I plan on being a source o f advocacy
a responsibility to speak out and defend those
fo r the basic human rights o f a ll Portlanders."
who stood up and were counted
a t a crucial juncture in our state's history."
■
Vote Potter, Adams, Leonard
T
Sam Adams has the insider edge with 10-plus years of extensive City
Hall experience. He is solutions oriented, he knows how to bring diverse
j groups together, and he genuinely wants to improve the quality of life in
Portland. We’re not shy about saying that an out gay city commissioner
will help represent the diversity of Portland in a more visible manner.
Nick pish, while perhaps a little shorter on substance than Adams,
1.
What have you done to promote civil rights for the
would be a reasonable alternative. He worked on the 1980 campaign to
sexual minorities community?
2.
What will you do as city commissioner to continue to foster equity elect U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and went on to help create
affordable housing in New York City for people living with AIDS. Too
and inclusion for sexual minorities?
bad Fish disagrees with the Multnomah County com
3. Do you support marriage rights for same-sex couples?
missioners’ process in opting for marriage equality. We
We considered the responses to these questions along with the candi
We...chose
candidates
vehemently oppose the recall effort against Commis
dates’ overall platforms and experience. We then chose
sioners
Lisa Naito and Maria Rojo de Steffey, and we
candidates who we feel sure will do a great job for the
who we fe e l sure w ill do
urge you to vote for them in May and in the future.
sexual minorities community in Portland as well as the
a great job for the sexual
We were divided on the race for City Council Posi
city at large.
4. Ultimately we decided that Randy Leonard
In the mayors race, our choice was clear. Tom Pot
m inorities community in tion
hasn’t been given enough time to demonstrate his
ter has an outstanding record in the sexual minorities
potential on the council. It’s simply too soon to replace
community, and he has shown strong leadership,
Portland as w ell as the
him. He also has more experience and makes a passion
integrity and commitment to the city of Portland. His
city
a
t
large
ate
case for equality. Leonard has a good track record on
pioneering role in making the Portland Police Bureau a
queer issues, supports same-sex marriage rights and has
welcoming workplace for sexual minority officers gives
endorsements from many labor unions— a combination of attributes we
him the edge over Phil Busse, who seems equally sup
find impressive.
portive of queer rights hut lacks experience.
We might he inclined to consider openly gay candidates Frank Dixon
Busse gets our kudos for mobilizing young voters and for represent
ing a refreshing, intelligent, younger perspective. Jim Francesconi is or Aaron Hall if their campaigns didn’t seem so rushed and disorganized.
Beware of Mary Ann Schwab, who believes in the Webster dictionary def
not queer-unfriendly, hut he makes us nervous by qualifying his support
o f “civil” marriage for same-sex couples. Also, some of us remain dis inition of “marriage” and thinks it’s OK to make same-sex couples endure
appointed that he scuttled a resolution that would have declared Port a complex contractual process to receive the partnership protections that
automatically come with traditional marriages.
land’s opposition to the war on Iraq.
In general, we found it heartening that a number of well-meaning,
The wackiest candidate, Scott Campbell (aka Extremo the Clown),
community-minded individuals have thrown their hats in the ring; how
scores points for shooting straight on marriage equality: “Drop it, you
nutty Christians.” Scott Ketchum gets demerits for calling homosexuali ever, some of us were troubled by how few women are running. Alicia Salaz
ty a “lifestyle," while Rosalinda Mitchell contradicts herself by calling for
is a bright spot with her advocacy for sexual minorities and domestic vio
lence survivors. Unfortunately, her only listed qualification is being a stu
equality in employment hut not in marriage. Notably, James Posey did
dent at Portland State University. JM
not respond to our questionnaire.
Though many pundits have claimed the top two candidates for City
Council Position 1 are nearly indistinguishable, we see clear differences.
PRIMARY V
ELECTION 1 _ _ _
ENDORSEMENTS
o prepare our primary election endorsements for the city of
Portland, Just Out sent a questionnaire to each candidate.
We asked:
colege radio
community radio
norvœ m m eraal rado
S^Sunoon-2am
M /F5pm -2am
c ity -w id e
sofas
chairs
Ballots must be returned by 8 p.m.
May 18. Just Out does not make
endorsements in every electoral
contest.
• Portland Mayor: Tom Potter
• Portland City Council,
Position 1: Sam Adams
• Portland City Council,
Position 4: Randy Leonard
• Multnomah County
Commissioner, District 1:
Maria Rojo de Steffey
• Multnomah County
Commissioner, District 3:
Lisa Naito
• Judge of the Supreme
Court, Position 4: Rives Kistler
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