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