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A p ril 21.2010
Cornett Support Raises Stature
Earns public monies to challenge Saltzman
by J ake
T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
The May 18 Primary vote-by­
mail election will have the names
of eight people challenging Dan
Saltzman, a three-term incum­
bent city commissioner. But one
of those candidates stands out.
Jesse Cornett is the only can­
didate who was able to score
$ 150,(XX) in public money for his
campaign by coaxing over 1,000
Portlanders into ponying up a $5
contribution. Thi s infusion of cash
has put Cornett in a position to
potentially topple Saltzman, who
has come under fire for his han­
dling of the Police Bureau.
Cornett has served as a deputy
reserve sheriff. He has worked
for the iconic Republican, former
U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield of O r­
egon, and one of the state’s cur­
rent Democratic candidates for
governor and former Secretary
of State Bill Bradbury. He has
worked a decade as Portland
State U niversity’s director-of
government relations, and made
two unsuccessful bids for the
state Senate from southeast
Portland.
"One thing that really honed
my attention on city issues has
been the way the Police Bureau
has operated in recent years,”
said Cornett, in an interview with
the P o rtlan d O bserver. For
Cornett, the issue is personal.
H is clo§e frien d R aym ond
Gwerder was shot in the back by
a police sniper while on the phone
with a hostage negotiator in 2005.
He said that the Police Bu­
reau made some positive ad­
vancements under former Mayor
Tom Potter and current Police
Chief Rosie Sizer, w ho’ve re­
instated community policing prac­
tices that withered under Mark
Kroeker, who ran the bureau in
the early aughts after being re­
cruited from the Los Angeles
Police Department.
However, Cornett said that
more needs to be done.
He wants to have annual per­
formance evaluations of indi­
vidual police officers, a stan­
dardization of procedures when
there is a police shooting, a di­
versification of the ranks of the
police using people from Port­
land, and routine mental health
assessments of officers — the
need for which was demon-
first place.
Jesse Cornett
strated by two recent road rage
incidents by Portland police of­
ficers, Cornett argues.
“I think that's a disparity that
we absolutely have to address,”
he said of the lack of diversity on
the force. “Once we get the
right folks in that represent the
community we have to train them
better.”
Cornett praised a recently
passed ordinance that mandated
more independent review of the
P o lice B u reau , but fau lted
Saltzman for not drafting it in the
“Dan Saltzman wouldn't touch
this issue and didn’t lead on this
issue, and let the auditor and
another commissioner [Randy
Leonard! dictate the policy,” he
said.
When asked about the issue
of racial profiling, Cornett said
that the city first must do a better
job of analyzing the data the
bureau records from traffic stops
made by police.
“It’s really easy to look at that
data and think that we have rac­
ism in the ranks,” he said. “That
could be the case, but until the
bureau looks at the data, it’s
hard to draw conclusions.”
When asked about a report
released by the A uditor’s Office
last year that showed that police
use of force was down, he had
this to say:
“You can give me charts and
graphs all day, but I want to
know how that would have saved
Aarons Cam pbell’s life, and it
didn’t,” he said referring to a
recent police shooting. “They
are spinning a story that helps
the bureau.”
Cornett was also asked about
his involvement with minorities
and disadvantaged communities,
he pointed out that he helped
institute the “Rooney Rule” at
PSU, w-hich requires at least one
m inority be interview ed for
coaching positions.
He also pointed out that he
lives in the working class Lents
Neighborhood, and argues east
Portland has been sorely ne­
glected by the city.
C ornett also said that he
would be more cautious about
extending urban renewal areas,
unless there is a firm com mit­
ment to meeting affordable hous­
ing needs.
“We can’t just use urban re­
newal to make nice neighbor­
hoods nicer,” he said.
He also faulted a recently
approved deal w ith M erritt
P aulson, the son o f G eorge
Bush’s Treasury Secretary, to
bring m ajor league soccer to
Portland, calling it “welfare for
billionaires.”
Cornett also said that a new I-
5 bridge is necessary, but needs
major improvements first.
He also plans to get the
economy going by temporarily
cutting business license fees and
assigning a city commissioner to
a position charged with making
sure business needs are met.
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