Page 6
October 24, 2018
Election Countdown
C ontinueD froM p age 4
photo by
D an D outhit /p ortlanD b ureau of e MergenCy M anageMent
Drop, Cover and Hold On! -- Rigler Elementary students practice what to do during an
earthquake during the Great Oregon ShakeOut earthquake drill, a coordinated event last Thursday
at exactly 10:18 a.m. involving schools and office buildings throughout the metro area.
cused largely on what he views as
things Brown has failed to “fix.”
Buehler’s campaign has paint-
ed a picture of the orthopedic sur-
geon as having moderate social
views. He has occasionally criti-
cized President Trump, said he’s
pro-choice, and touts improving
public schools, health care, and
foster care as main priorities. Bue-
hler digresses from Brown in his
support of Measure 105, howev-
er, which would repeal Oregon’s
status as a Sanctuary City and his
lack of support of then-Supreme
Court Nominee Brett Kavana-
ugh’s accuser of sexual assault,
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Brown and Buhler previously
butted heads in a run for Secretary
of State in 2012, which Brown ul-
timately won. He’s since taken up
reigns as a state representative for
Bend.
City Council Race
A historic outcome is all but
certain to result in the election for
Portland City Council which has
two candidates in a runoff from
the May Primary; Jo Ann Hard-
esty, the former NAACP Portland
president and state representative,
and Loretta Smith, the current
Multnomah County Commission-
er and former aide to Democratic
Sen. Ron Wyden.
Hardesty, whose intense activist
style contrasts with Smith’s more
demure demeanor, is running on a
campaign touting green jobs, pub-
lic access to government, police ac-
countability and addressing home-
lessness. Smith is using her track
record as a county commissioner
promoting jobs creation, affordable
housing, and care for the elderly.
She has scored endorsements from
every incumbent black legislator
and former black lawmakers.
Attacks against Hardesty from
Smith, peppered throughout the
campaign, have brought unfa-
vorable light to both candidates,
however. Most recently, Hardesty
danced at a campaign event with a
former city employee, Baruti Ar-
tharee, who resigned after being
accused of sexual harassment for
commenting on Smith’s appear-
ance. Hardesty later apologized.
Another criticism from the
Smith campaign about Hardesty
was aimed to raise questions about
Hardesty’s competency to serve in
light of mishandling of NAACP’s
finances, while she presided there,
for an amount of money that to-
taled less than $15,000.
Hardesty, for her part, called
those attacks “slinging mud,” and
emphasized that she resurrected
the once defunct local branch of
the volunteer-run civil rights or-
ganization in 2015. Hardesty also
dismissed criticisms that she did
not properly file her private con-
sulting business with the city when
its name changed multiple times.
Smith, meanwhile, has received
her share of controversies as well,
such as a county investigation that
concluded she had bullied her staff
and that she made inappropriate
purchases with county dollars in
2017, though she claimed the in-
vestigation was biased against her
and filed an intent to sue. None
of the bullying claims could be
corroborated, as they allegedly oc-
curred during one-on-one interac-
tions, and she was not found to be
in violation of misspending county
dollars because she reimbursed the
purchases. A separate investigation
resulted in Smith being fined for
violating campaign finance laws
by beginning her City Council race
earlier than was allowed as an in-
cumbent County Commissioner.