AFSCME #88 backs Francesconi for Multnomah County chair
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Former Portland City Commis-
sioner Jim Francesconi won AFSCME
Local 88’s endorsement in his race for
Multnomah County Chair Feb. 19. The
endorsement came after Francesconi
squared off against two-term county
Commissioner Deborah Kafoury at a
candidates forum for Local 88 mem-
bers. Local 88 represents about 3,000
Multnomah County employees, and
the candidates are vying to succeed Jeff
Cogen, who resigned after exposure of
an extramarital affair with a County
employee.
Chances are, most voters don’t
know much about the government of
Oregon’s most populous county, but
Local 88 members do. It’s a $1.5-bil-
lion-a-year operation with a broad port-
folio of responsibilities: Not only
bridges, libraries, courts, jails, and elec-
tions, but public health, animal control,
restaurant inspections, property tax col-
lection, policing and road maintenance
in unincorporated areas, and services
for seniors, the developmentally dis-
abled and mentally ill, domestic vio-
lence survivors, addicts and ex-offend-
ers. Whoever is elected chair will be
responsible for all that, and will be the
boss of Local 88 members’ bosses.
After intensive candidate interviews,
Local 88’s volunteer Political Action
Committee was evenly split over
whether to endorse Francesconi or
Kafoury. That left the decision wide
open Feb. 19 at the union’s monthly
general membership meeting. Mem-
bers packed into Oregon AFSCME’s
Portland office to hear Francesconi and
Kafoury answer their written questions.
[A third candidate — restaurant man-
ager and Dominican immigrant
Aquiles Montás — also took part in the
candidates forum, but didn’t get serious
consideration for endorsement.]
In the members-only debate after-
ward over who to endorse, several Lo-
benefits for janitors, security guards
and parking attendants employed by
City contractors, after a three-year
campaign by Portland Jobs With Jus-
tice.
After losing the mayor’s race,
Francesconi joined the Haglund Kelley
law firm and took personal injury and
medical negligence cases. He also rep-
resented minority contractors and a pair
of unions, Operating Engineers Local
701 and the Pacific Northwest District
Council of Carpenters, in crafting a
“community benefits agreement” en-
dorsed by the Portland City Council,
which sets out requirements that pub-
lic construction projects use union la-
Jim Francesconi (standing), a former Portland city commissioner, and
Deborah Kafoury, a two-term Multnomah County commissioner, squared off
at a candidates forum Feb. 19 sponsored by Multnomah County Employees
Local 88, an affiliate of AFSCME. Both are vying for the open seat as
Multnomah County chair.
cal 88 members said they were im-
pressed by Francesconi’s self- presen-
tation as a champion for minority op-
portunities and for Multnomah
County’s impoverished outer east side.
Members described Kafoury as a
known quantity with a strong under-
standing of the County, and said she’s
always had a good relationship with
Local 88.
But members had a hard time iden-
tifying any specific achievement during
her time in office. Reelecting her would
bring “more of the same,” members
said, whereas Francesconi would be
more likely to shake things up.
Francesconi told the Labor Press he
was deeply honored to get Local 88’s
endorsement. The race for chair is his
first return to politics 10 years after he
suffered a humiliating defeat in a race
for Portland mayor. Francesconi was
endorsed by AFSCME Local 189 and
other unions in that 2004 campaign, but
got 38 percent of the vote in the gen-
eral election — after outspending for-
mer police chief Tom Potter more than
15-to-1. The defeat came up at the Lo-
cal 88 candidates forum when the can-
didates were asked to identify their
biggest mistake.
“During the mayor’s race, I took too
much money from downtown inter-
ests,” Francesconi said. “That wiped
out 25 years of working in the commu-
nity and created the impression that I
only cared about them.”
Francesconi spent 18 years repre-
senting plaintiffs in personal injury
cases, including migrant farmworkers
and public employees. At one time,
now-labor-commissioner Brad Avakian
was his law partner. In 1996, he out-
polled former state representative Gail
Shibley to win a seat on Portland City
Council, and was re-elected in 2000. In
2002, Francesconi sponsored a living
wage ordinance to improve wages and
bor, minority contractors, and appren-
tices. The Carpenters have endorsed his
bid for County chair. Local 701’s en-
dorsement interview was rescheduled
to March 9 because of snow.
Kafoury, meanwhile, is backed by
dozens of current and former city,
county, and state elected leaders, and
four labor organizations thus far: Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers (IBEW) Local 48, United
Food and Commercial Workers Local
555, the Columbia Pacific Building and
Construction Trades Council, the Inter-
national Longshore & Warehouse
Union, and Oregon Nurses Associa-
tion.
Unionists to bowl for Muscular
Dystrophy Association on April 13
The 25th annual Labor Bowl Chal-
lenge for the Muscular Dystrophy As-
sociation will be held Sunday, April 13,
at Sunset Lanes in Beaverton.
The Labor Bowl Challenge consists
of four-person teams that compete for
prizes. Money is raised through
pledges and from a silent auction, and
goes to buy wheelchairs and braces for
children, as well as for research and
summer camps.
Muscular dystrophy is a hereditary
condition marked by a progressive
weakening and wasting of the muscles
over time.
Since its inception in 1989, union
members have donated $351,025.75 to
MDA.
The event is coordinated by the Na-
tional Association of Letter Carriers
(NALC) Branch 82 and the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council.
For more information, or to sign up
and receive fundraising packets and in-
structions, call Jim Falvey, president of
Letter Carriers Branch 82 at 503-493-
5903. To donate silent auction items,
call NALC’s MDA Coordinator Debby
Burbank at 971-404-5384.
Broadway Floral
for the BEST flowers call
503-288-5537
1638 NE Broadway, Portland
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PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MARCH 7, 2014