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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2012)
St. Johns Octoberfest Neighborhood pulls out the stops for Saturday fun See A&E, page 19 Community Treasure Historic Elks Lodge continues to serve I nwrome to See Metro, page 13 I < jJo rt limit © h serter Volume X X X X I 'City of Roses’ Number 38 «J| www.portlandobserver.com U I ILS Wednesday • October 3. 2012 Established in in 1970 1970 Established Com m itted Cultural D iversity Com m itted to to Cultural D iversity Mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith during a campaign house party in north Portland Sunday. Smith Tries to Shift Tone Mayoral candidate wants focus back on city issues C ari H achmann T he P ortland O bserver Rep. Jefferson Sm ith w as trying to put his cam p aig n for Portland m ayor back on track M onday after revelations that he w as involved in an altercation w ith a fem ale w hen he w as a college sophom ore at the U niversity o f O regon. T he east Portland law m aker w as struggling to project that he w as a better cham pion for the values and policies im p o r tant to city residents then his op p onent C harlie H ales, a form er city councilm an. R ecent polls show alm ost a third o f Portland voters are still undecided as the N ov. 6 vote-by-m ail general election draw s closer. S m ith w as forced into a new s co n feren ce M onday to by explain the altercation w ith a w om an w ho w as allegedly in toxicated and cam e at him sw inging, thinking he had p ushed h er during an o ff-cam p u s party in E ugene in 1993. Sm ith w as cited for m isdem eanor assault. “ Som ebody, I d id n ’t know w as asleep on the couch. Som ebody p ushed h er off. She cam e at m e and started sw inging at me. I tried to get h er to stop,” he said. T he w om an got a cut that needed m edical attention. Sm ith paid for her hospital expenses and did 20 hours o f com m unity service for the charge to be dropped. L ast A ugust, Sm ith w as forced to apologize w hen rev ela tions cam e to light that he had seven suspensions o f his d riv e r’s license for failing to appear in co u rt for a n u m b er o f driving infractions. A n o th er past transgression involved punching a p lay er during a p ick-up basketball gam e. Even before M o n d ay ’s new s conference, Sm ith said too m uch focus had been m ade on past issues and not enough tim e spent talking about the future o f the city. “W e are all im perfect p eo p le,” Sm ith said, during an interview last w eek w ith the P ortland O bserver. Since joining the race for m ayor last sum m er. Sm ith, 38, has dove w hole heartedly into his cam paign. He has attended 190 house parties and raised m ore than a half-m illion dollars in the cam paign. Sm ith said a grow ing and dem o g rap h ically -sh iftin g P ort land brings com plex issues to the m ay o r’s desk. He d o e sn 't prom ise that he can fix everything, but assures voters that if anyone is going to do it, he is that person. “ I’m not going to fix all o f this stuff, I know — hom elessness, achievem ent gap, incom e d isp arities,” he said. “ But w e are going to d o everythi ng we can to m ake things better. A nd it’s going to take the w hole com m unity to en g ag e.” continued on page 11