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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2016)
March 16, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 flag — which includes a Confederate battle em- blem as part of its design — in the “Walk of Flags” display on the capitol grounds in Salem. That display included flags from all 50 states as well as Oregon’s nine feder- ally recognized Native American tribes. Now it’s down one. “ ruary deadline. In response to a query about the flag’s removal, Courtney’s office issued a statement containing some of the same lan- guage as the letter to the Mississippi legislature, but also noting Oregon lawmakers are not alone in their objection to the continued display of It was only after Mississip- pi failed to act that Oregon decided to take down that state’s flag Mississippi’s flag was re- moved at the beginning of last week. Last October lawmak- ers decided to give Mis- sissippi the chance to change the design of its own flag. According to a letter dated March 7 and co-signed by Senate President Peter Court- ney and House Speaker Tina Kotek and sent to their Mississippi coun- terparts — Terry Burton, president pro tempore of the Mississippi senate and Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn — it was only after Mississip- pi failed to act that Ore- gon decided to take down that state’s flag. “We respectfully dis- agree with the confeder- ate symbol in your state flag,” the letter reads. “Out of respect for the great state of Mississip- pi, we chose to give the Mississippi Legislature a chance to act first. With the understanding that all of the bills related to the state flag died in the Mississippi Legislature last month, we have now taken action to remove the flag.” Mississippi lawmakers drafted 12 different bills to alter the state’s logo de- sign – but none of them made it out of committee by the legislature’s Feb- Debate Confederate insignia. “Across the country, other government enti- ties removed the Missis- sippi flag from displays. In the State of Mississip- pi, universities, counties and cities – including the capital city of Jackson — refused to fly the offi- cial flag of the state,” the statement said. Last fall, Kotek said she supported the effort to remove the flag from Capitol grounds. “The Confederate in- signia on the flag is wide- ly seen as a symbol of racist intolerance, which is in direct conflict with Oregon values of fair- ness and equality. I sup- port removing it from our Capitol grounds and leaving the flagpole un- adorned until Mississip- pi adopts another flag, one that honors the dig- nity of all people,” Tina Kotek, speaker of Ore- gon’s House of Represen- tatives, said last October. Rep. Lew Frederick (D-North / Northeast Portland) told reporters last summer he want- ed to see the flag come down. “I grew up with this flag, and it was used around me for the same reasons it even exists,” Rep. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, said in June. PHOTO BY CHERISS MAY, HOWARD UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE Flag State Dinner On March 10, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wait for the arrival of Canada’s Prime Minister and Mrs. Grégoire Trudeau for a State Dinner in the East Room of the White House. Contracting cont’d from pg 3 A videotape of the Feb. 18 meet- ing revealed the panel deeply dis- satisfied with their treatment by city officials. As the meeting opens, the direc- tor reports that Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has rejected their request for a meeting. The best they can do is to get Hales’ Chief of staff Joshua Alpert to meet with them. A few commis- sioners express their disappoint- ment. A staff member presents a sta- tistical report about the number of companies registering with the city under the minorities, wom- en and small emerging business designation; the young woman squirms in her chair as she ex- plains the city would not give her all the statistical data she asked for. Soon commission members are talking past the director in a conversation about what kind of statistics they should really be asking the city for and what specific kinds of issues should be researched, including how many city contracts go to white males under the emerging small busi- ness designation designed to sup- port disadvantaged communities. After nearly an hour and a half, NAACP Vice President James Posey rises and gives public tes- timony, essentially urging the commissioners to issue a vote of no confidence in the city’s leader- ship. “Each of you guys who are sit- ting on this commission repre- sent a group — NAYA, the Hispan- ic Chamber, labor unions, you’ve “ As he finished his comments, calling for the resignation of the mayor, the department director, city Chief Procurement Officer Christine Moody and Chief Ad- ministrative Officer Fred Mill- er, other commissioners started picking up the call for a challenge. “At the end of the day we just spent two hours — and I feel like we had a good agenda,” said An- drew Colas. “I feel like we could have done something. And we’ve had how many meetings? The study downplayed racism within the system, to the shock of city officials got Andrew over here (Andrew McGough, executive director of Workforce Systems Inc.), the prominent contractor. “It’s a shame for you guys to sit there with your tails between your legs and allow this process to happen like this. “The City of Portland is failing and you all know that,” Posey said. “I feel like what they’ve done is they’ve put together a very strong powerful group. Every one of these individuals are involved in several things in their communi- ties and in their businesses,” Co- las says. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 The forum was moderated by Re- naud, Jo Ann Hardesty of the Portland NAACP and Israel Bayer the executive director of Street Roots. Wheeler framed many of his answers around problem solving; from himself, from city government officials, even advocating for the police to be com- munity problem solvers. Wheeler de- scribed himself as the “jerk” that Port- land needs. “You need to elect somebody who’s a bit of a jerk,” Wheeler said in reference to a question about homelessness and the housing crisis. “I’m just the guy for the job,” Wheeler said. Bailey presented himself as both the everyman who empathized with the plight of Portlanders and a poli- cy wonk who knows the rules of local government. Bailey took heat for his recent Portland Police Association en- dorsement and his answer to reform the Portland police by adding more of- ficers. Bailey defended his PPA endorse- ment and said it would not affect his ability to lead the Portland Police Bu- reau as the Police Commissioner. “I am honored to have that endorse- ment,” Bailey said. “But that doesn’t “ answer questions in deadly force inci- dents. Bailey struggled to provide a clear an- swer on his stance on the 48-hour rule. In a lengthy back-and-forth exchange with Hardesty, he said he would make Only the three best-funded candidates — those who had raised $5,000 or more by March 8 — were invited to speak mean that I can’t be a mayor who’s will- ing to have tough conversations and hold people accountable.” Both Iannarone and Wheeler took a tougher reform stance in their answers on police accountability. They both pointed to the “having enough police matters” billboard erected by the PPA as being inflammatory and insulting. Wheeler and Iannarone were also quick to criticize the 48-hour rule in the PPA contract. This provision allows officers 48 hours before they have to an effort to slowly move away from the rule. When pressed by Hardesty, Bailey wouldn’t unequivocally commit to re- moving the rule. Throughout the debate, Iannarone had some of the strongest criticisms of Portland’s “progressive” culture, which leads in some areas but consistently fails its most vulnerable residents. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com CANDIDATE POSITIONS: What is the most important role of the mayor in reforming the police? Bailey: To provide leadership and to hold the police accountable, also to push for more progress in implementing the DOJ settlement. Iannarone: To rebuild community trust in the police, to change police culture to have the first actively anti-racist police force in the nation. Wheeler: To change police force from law enforcement to a problem solving agency, to emphasize community policing and police accountability. What is your vision of a city bureau that assists small minority business owners? Bailey: Proposes a new bureau that brings together assistance offered from other development agencies. Iannarone: Proposes a concierge service to help emerging businesses navigate small business services. Read more candidate positions at TheSkanner.com.
