The three-way Metro Council President’s race figures to be a compelling battle among three-term Councilor Rex Burkholder (above) a founder of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance; an environmental leader with broad experience in Bob Stacey (below), the former director of 1000 Friends of Oregon; and Tom Hughes, a popular two-term Hillsboro mayor with strong economic development credentials.
At an AFSCME candidate hearing last week, Stacey jabbed hard at Burkholder on two substantive issues. He called the Regional Transportation Plan that Metro approved a “charade” and said the case that Burkholder makes for replacing the existing bridge between Portland and Vancouver is built on “myths” that are “false.” (Stacey argued that including projects in the RTP out of compliance with Metro’s climate goals is irresponsible and argued for re-using the existing bridge rather than spending $3.6 billion on a new one; Burkholder defended the RTP and said the existing bridge is obsolete.)
Burkholder seemed non-plussed at Stacey’s criticism last week. And rather than bashing Stacey or ignoring him—the two typical responses in contested elections—Burkholder today responded with a lengthy press release that amplifies a private email critical of Burkholder. The private email was sent by Stacey campaign adviser Liz Kaufman to a small group more than ten days ago. Here’s an excerpt of Burkholder’s release:
The Burkholder campaign called upon Metro President candidate Bob Stacey to end the recent divisive and baseless attacks on Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder’s impressive environmental accomplishments. Burkholder, who leads in both fundraising and endorsements in the contested race for the three-county post, has won the support of more than two dozen prominent environmental leaders
The Burkholder release goes on to quote Burkholder supporters extolling his strengths, then reprints Kaufman’s email to some of her friends.
Here’s that email:
From: Elizabeth Kaufman
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:17 AMGuys – Wanted you to know that Bob Stacey has received the sole endorsement from OLCV for Metro President. Having watched this thing for years, I gotta tell you that you have to be REALLY bad on the issues if – as an incumbent- you don’t get a joint endorsement from OLCV with your challenger, especially when you’ve been endorsed before like REx. Even Diane Linn against Ted Wheeler got a joint endorsement. Not REx. They just don’t go against incumbents unless they’re really bad.
I guess in my old age that I’m tired of these fake environmentalists. And if more people who consider themselves true environmentalists don’t stick with that brand, you’ll see what you get stuck with.
PS And (delete name)- please take a look at all your friends from the gas company whose names are listed as Rex’s endorsers on his campaign website… would it surprise you to know he’s got them all?
Contacted by WW, Kaufman stood by the email, which she said went to a half-dozen people.
“A lot of prominent elected leaders are trying to get away with saying one thing and doing something else,” Kaufman says. “A lot of people are starting to get tired of it.”
Burkholder’s campaign manager, Caroline Fitchett, acknowledges Kaufman’s email was not intended to be widely broadcast. But Fitchett says the email is nonethless “hurtful” and an example of “cheap politics.”
Kaufman says the real issue is that Burkholder is disappointed Stacey got a key endorsement from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters on Jan. 14.
“When you receive a 55 percent rating from OLCV [Burkholder's 2005 score] you are probably not going to get the endorsement,” Kaufman says.
Tags: Bob Stacey, Liz Kaufman, Metro, Rex Burkholder, Tom Hughes
Reading the OLCV’s actual endorsement, there may be unnamed “people” who think Rex isn’t an environmental leader, but they aren’t on the OLCV board. Check out the huge chunk of their endorsement they devoted to praising Rex’s record:
“Stacey found himself among worthy competition for the OLCV endorsement. Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder boasts a long list of environmental accomplishments in the Portland area, and has earned two previous OLCV endorsements. Burkholder helped found the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the Coalition for a Livable Future. In his ten years on the Metro Council, Burkholder has led efforts to reduce the region’s greenhouse-gas emissions, worked to fund outdoor school for kids, and helped pass the largest bond measure ever to protect natural areas around the region.”
Both of these 60ish clowns need to be thrown out of office. Both have made a career of sucking up at the public trough and have done unrepairable harm to the region’s economic and cultural vitality.
The simple fact that an agency like Metro does not exist almost anywhere else in the USA should be a red flag that this agency needs to be voted out of existance.
I’m surprised that someone has emerged that actually makes Burkholder look moderate. Liberal Portland airheads need to wake up to the fact that Metro covers three large counties and some 30 jurisdictions other than the City of Portland.
Stacey apparently thinks that the Metro head gets to write the RTP and make the bridge decision on his own. He’d be in for a rude awakening – except of course, he won’t win.
I’m sick of the local liberal scene. They think that the area between the West Hills and 65th Avenue represents the whole region.
Liz is right – OLCV loves incumbents. That Rex failed to get the endorsement demonstrates one thing: when the chips are down, Rex is not to be trusted on the environment.
That’s not to say he hasn’t done some good things, but when push comes to shove – Rex backs and cheers for the CRC MegaBridge. He votes for a highways-heavy RTP that violates Metro’s climate policies. So he helps create policies, and then violates them.
I could care less about the qualifications, the issues, whathaveyou…
Tom Hughes already has my vote simply because he’s a Washington County resident, and Metro has for many years ignored Washington County and pushed Portland’s politics (and allowed non-elected Sam Adams “Mayor of the Portland Metro Area” a voice in non-Portland affairs) on everyone else.
Schemes is absolutely right. If it’s good for Portland City Hall, it is not good for the rest of us. Hughes for Metro!
I spent a Saturday knocking on doors to help Rex get elected to Metro the first time he ran.
Liz is not the only one who thinks he’s a fake on environmental issues. Rex has been a huge disappointment, mostly using his reputation to sell out the things he claimed to believe in. People mistook Rex’s love of bikes for a larger social consciousness that just wasn’t there. The I-5 bridge has bike lanes, so Rex is satisfied.
I would not put too much stock in the nice words from OLCV. They will need to work with him if he is elected, so they shouldn’t burn their bridges any more than necessary.
If the race was between their campaign managers, I would vote for Caroline Fitchett over Liz Kaufmann. But its not.