Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono hasn’t yet made up his mind whether to stay in the race after an administrative judge’s decision today to revoke his public campaign financing, he said at a press conference this afternoon at his campaign headquarters on Southwest Start Street.
“I have to weigh, is this good for the city of Portland if I withdraw?” Dozono said. He added that if he withdrew, leaving Commissioner Sam Adams a shoo-in to become Portland’s next mayor, the legacy would be “what many people consider a tainted race.”
Dozono asked the press to give him some latitude while he decided what to do. He said the campaign finance guidelines weren’t all that complicated, but that his team, like Mayor Tom Potter’s in 2004, was not composed of “professionals in running grass roots” campaigns, but a “groundswell” of volunteer support.
At a debate earlier today at Portland State University, Dozono said: “I have not been a policy wonk. I don’t intend to become one. I think I can hire all the policy wonks I need when I’m mayor of Portland.”
Dozono said that, contrary to a press release sent by his campaign earlier today, he would not be meeting with any lawyers this weekend. He would, however, be consulting with his family.
Family was on hand at Dozono HQ this afternoon, as was the candidate’s friend and lobbyist, Len Bergstein, who commissioned the $27,000 poll that got Dozono in so much hot water.
Early in the evening at the monthly Arts Spark event at Living Room Theaters on Southwest 10th Avenue, Adams took a break from glad-handing to respond to Dozono’s statements.
“I hope he stays in the race,” Adams said. “I said at the beginning, I hope there’d be a vigorous debate.”
Adams campaign joined the legal challenges to Auditor Gary Blackmer’s decision to approve Dozono’s public campaign financing. He said that filing was not about knocking Dozono, his chief opponent, out of the race.
“Our legal efforts have been about being treated fairly,” Adams said. “Sho would have saved himself a lot of headaches—and me $10,000 in legal fees—if he’d simply been up front” about the poll.
Noting Dozono’s earlier promise to run only as a publicly financed candidate, Adams said: “I release him from that commitment.”
As to Dozono’s suggestion that the public campaign financing rules were too convoluted, Adams said: “Six other candidates in this election cycle have managed to find a way to work with it with little complication.”
And as to whether a judge’s decision today to overturn Auditor Blackmer’s earlier approval of Dozono’s campaign funds, Adams said, “I think Auditor Blackmer did the best job he knew how.”
- Dozono Pollgate Update The possi
- Dozono Explains the Poll; Auditor’s Decision Tomorrow Tomorrow,
- Dozono Gets the Money! Auditor G
- Dozono’s In: Mayoral Race Still On (Updated with more comment) Sho Dozon
- Dozono Playing Takebacks? The latest
I guess this is what we deserve – oh, but I feel sooo abused. Lying POS.
Adams hopes Sho stays in the race.
Much like a cat pawing a bloody mouse hopes it isn’t dead when he lets it go for the third time. Sam isn’t done playing with Sho yet.
Payback’s coming, Trammy Boy! Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t really out to get you.
Karma is a cereal killer.
Noting Dozono’s earlier promise to run only as a publicly financed candidate, Adams said: "I release him from that commitment."
He really does think he’s god.
Sam should back that up with a check to the Dozono campaign.
Yes Sho. You absolutely should stay in the race. With respect to the other candidates, you must stay in the race to allow the citizens of Portland a CHOICE. And just because an error was made is no reason to pull back. I think your showing to gather the necesary $5 donations prove that you have a stong amount of support.
I don’t want a coronation in this town and with Sam, well, my mom said if I can’t say something nice…………
There is grassroots, and then there is incompetent. Right now he is looking a little bit on the incompetent side. And we already have an incompetent president, why in the world do we need one for mayor too?
"I have not been a policy wonk. I don’t intend to become one. I think I can hire all the policy wonks I need when I’m mayor of Portland."
If he hires good ones, that is great. If he hires Michael Brown (of "Heck of a job Brownie" fame,) would he be smart enough to know it? But without knowing exactly who he’d hire, why exactly should we vote for him? He isn’t taking a stand on an issue with that statement, he is just passing the buck.
We don’t need a mini-Potter for our next mayor, we need a Sam Adams who knows how to accomplish things. No more OJT. If you can’t stand the heat Sho, stay out of the kitchen.