NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | February 5 , 2016 | PAGE 3
Two Portland mayoral candidates
square off at labor council meeting
Portland mayoral candidate
Jules Bailey questioned whether
his opponent, State Treasurer
Ted Wheeler, is committed to
staying in office for more than
one term if he is elected in No-
vember. Bailey made the remark
at a debate Jan. 25 held by the
Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil prior to its monthly dele-
gates’ meeting. More than 100
people were in attendance.
Responding to a question
about the combative relation-
ship between workers and man-
agement at the city, both candi-
dates agreed that labor relations
are broken, and that the next
mayor needs to be more actively
engaged in a leadership role to
fix it.
“We currently have a culture
at City Hall that is standing in
the way of progress,” Bailey
said. “(Portland) needs a mayor
who is going to be there, not just
for four years, but for eight
years. We’ve had too many one-
term mayors, and we need
somebody for whom being
mayor is their first choice —
and is really going to make it a
priority to have a mayor who is
really going to change the cul-
ture.”
Wheeler fired back in his re-
buttal. “I think that was a jab at
me, but I’m not sure. So let’s re-
view the videotape. Jules, in the
last three months, according to
the newspapers, you have looked
at running for Multnomah
County chair, Metro president,
county commissioner, which you
did, and a year and three months
into your first term as a district
county commissioner you are
now running for mayor. So, I
don’t think you’re in a position to
talk to me about my commitment
to a political job.”
Wheeler, 53, served for 3-1/2
years as Multnomah County
chair before being appointed
treasurer. [Gov. Ted Kulongoski
appointed him to the post fol-
lowing the death of Ben West-
lund.] He was re-elected in 2012,
but is term-limited from running
again. It is no secret that he has
aspirations to someday run for
governor.
Bailey, 36, is a former state
legislator serving in his first term
as a Multnomah County com-
missioner.
Right now, both men want to
succeed Mayor Charlie Hales,
who is not seeking re-election
after one term.
Both candidates are Democ-
rats and are well-respected in
the labor community. Both say
they are committed to helping
working families, and both point
to their political track records
for proof.
They are in broad agreement
on most labor issues. They op-
pose right-to-work laws; they
believe workers who don’t want
to belong to a union should at
least have to pay “fair share”
fees; they don’t support con-
tracting out unless it is a unique
situation that can’t be done in-
house, and then done responsi-
bly; they support project labor
agreements, community polic-
ing, and a variety of other is-
sues. Both candidates also have
made housing affordability and
income inequality key features
Portland mayoral candidates Ted Wheeler (left) and Jules Bailey shake
hands following a 90-minute debate Jan. 25 hosted by the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council.
of their campaign. (See NW La-
bor Press, Jan. 15, 2016, or read
online at www.nwlaborpress.
org/2016/01/mayor for more on
where they stand.)
Since they can’t draw much
distinction between their public
policies, the candidates touted
their leadership skills, experience,
and ability to collaborate. Both
gave shining examples of their
work at Multnomah County.
“Labor relations reported to
me as chair of Multnomah
County,” Wheeler said. “When I
got there, we had a dysfunctional
board, a lack of communication,
silo leadership, labor practices
that were concerning to people,
lots of grievances, unfair labor
practices, and bargaining that, at
best, was sticky. By the time I
left, three-and-a-half-years later,
we had signed long-term con-
tracts, every labor leader met
with me on a monthly basis, I
had an open-door policy, every
labor leader had my personal cell
phone so we could address prob-
lems for issues before they bub-
bled up into something signifi-
cant.”
Wheeler said the City of Port-
land has a similar situation. “I
will do what I did at Multnomah
County and rebuild that opera-
tion, improve communications
and performance. You won’t
have to wonder if I’ll do it, be-
cause it’s something I’ve al-
ready done.”
Bailey said as commissioner
he was the first to propose paid
family leave at the county, at a
“We’ve had too many
one-term mayors, and
we need somebody for
whom being mayor is
their first choice — and
is really going to make it
a priority ... to change
the culture.”
— Mayoral candidate
Jules Bailey
time when no other public juris-
diction had it.
“The word I got back from
management was, ‘that’s some-
thing we’re going to have to bar-
gain over.’ I said absolutely not.
There will be plenty of things to
bargain over. This is just the
right thing to do. Let’s work
with our labor partners and let’s
get it done. We did it. We got it
done. The city followed suit.
That’s the kind of thing that can
happen when labor and manage-
ment work together.”
The two candidates also
sparred over campaign contribu-
tions.
Bailey said he was limiting
contributions to $250 per per-
son. Wheeler said he is not lim-
iting campaign contributions,
but will publicly disclose all
contributions — and will not
take any third party money.
“The biggest threat to you is
dark money coming in through
independent expenditure ac-
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