Parks is a complete wingnut. A rich wingnut, but a wingut nonetheless.

I encourage everyone to go to that web site. It is fabulous. I wonder if Mannix uses any of his techniques?

What's really interesting is there is nary a drop of information available on the Web that I can find about Loren Parks's upbringing, history, biography, or anything. You would think he just popped into Oregon from nowhere. Anyone have any idea where this man, who has spent literally millions on Oregon politics, came from or who his friends are (besides the poor women he seduces and the political groups and figures he buys)? I'd love to see an investigative report that could answer some of these questions. It's not every day that you come across a reclusive multi-millionaire perv with seemingly no background who lavishes vast amounts of money on Norquist worker bees while indulging in psycho-medical research and analysis. It's so odd.

Isn't Loren Parks the creepy conservative who opened a brand-new charter school in Gersham a few years ago... only to close its doors forever... three months after opening?

Yup.

Oh, I don't know. This is the least objectionable information about Loren parks I have run into. As a matter of fact, if I could boast of making a woman climax 56 [not 57] times in one lovemaking session, I probably would.

Park's political and social ideas are another matter entirely.

I suspect Loren Parks also hired Neil Goldschmidt as a consultant on weird sexual abnormalities that he could include on that weird web site. Parks always hires the best and Neil certainly qualifies.

WOW

Torridjoe should get the award for best segue to a ballot measure.

So ...this is a liberal website that makes fun with different sexual orientations? I don't think so. Come on folks -- let's be true blue here. Do we protect only registered Democrats choice in sexual definitions?

GregP: I think it's safe to say that in blue Oregon we are open minded about orientation. Less so about harassment and misogyny. From the WW story:

"The suit also claims Parks sent repeated emails to Guerin and her co-workers bearing "sexually explicit jokes, pornographic materials, misogynist humor, and graphic photographs of deformed female sexual organs and female amputations." Guerin submitted several of those emails to BOLI to support her complaint."

Also: "Last week's lawsuit isn't the first time that Parks' libido landed him in court. In 1983 he was sued by a woman, described in her own court filings as "somewhat retarded," who said Parks had sex with her when she approached him seeking treatment using his hypnotherapy."

Parks settled the case with this victim.

Of course, the larger question is, how many Oregonians know that one of the state's most powerful political puppetmasters has these tendencies...and is an outsider, to boot. Don't forget that in addition to funding Mannix, he is funding the federal substitution tax measure (#14) and the "judges by district" measure for FreedomWorks. According to an Oregonian article of Nov. 30th, he's funneling $100,000 for the judges measure through the Oregonians in Action Family Farm PAC. And he's funding Sizemore's measure.

The relationship between all these groups and their connection to Parks is fascinating. And disturbing. I know that Parks believes he can hypnotize people remotely but Nevada is pretty far away.

Too bad he didn't meet Kelly WIrth before she hooked up with the janitor.

I am trying to figure out what Loren Parks personal life has to do with politics. If it is evidence Mannix is a hypocrite, did we really need any more? This ia a guy who went from a self-styled McGovern Democrat to a self-styled conservative Republican in the space of two years. He would become a self-styled space alien if he thought it would get him elected to statewide office.

"Less so about harassment and misogyny. From the WW story:"

God help us when people use WW stories as a source of information. But it certainly fits in a this middle-school discussion of Loren Parks sexual proclivities.

Frankly people ought to be embarrassed by this conversation.

Ross, you're right that Loren Parks personal life has nothing to do with politics. But since his $1.3 million dollar investment in Mannix is so godswalloping illogical there's no sense trying to analyze that.

Possible bumper stickers "The man who gave women voters 57 orgasms... now offers you KEVIN MANNIX!" or "Loren Parks gave my wife 57 orgasms but all I got was KEVIN MANNIX!" or KEVIN MANNIX says: "A fundamentalist multimillionaire who can give 57 orgasms pawing your breasts isn't sexual harassment... it's the RAPTURE! Thank you Jesus!"

Mr. Parks did open a private school, not a charter.

And it did last only three months, leaving dozens of parents out in the cold as Loren chained the doors shut one cold winter morning.

Nice hit piece. But if Parks was a gay democrat, supporting Kulongowski, you wouldn't be publishing anything. If it is a repub, and the bad news can be inferred, go with it. What makes you dems better than anyone else again??

Patty wrote:

"GregP: I think it's safe to say that in blue Oregon we are open minded about orientation. Less so about harassment and misogyny. From the WW story:

"The suit also claims Parks sent repeated emails to Guerin and her co-workers bearing "sexually explicit jokes, pornographic materials, misogynist humor, and graphic photographs of deformed female sexual organs and female amputations." Guerin submitted several of those emails to BOLI to support her complaint."

Also: "Last week's lawsuit isn't the first time that Parks' libido landed him in court. In 1983 he was sued by a woman, described in her own court filings as "somewhat retarded," who said Parks had sex with her when she approached him seeking treatment using his hypnotherapy.""

[Excuse my sloppy use of quotation marks.]

If true, this is serious stuff. Boasting about giving women multiple orgasms, on the other hand, is not the sort of thing progressives should target.

I'll be talking with Dan Meek about M8 & M37 tomorrow at 5PM on metro area cable channel 11. I also hope to have on someone from the campaign protecting Portland's public financing system.

Sorry, I posted that in the wrong string.

Say what you will about WW, Ross Williams, but they have won a Pulitzer (and many other awards) for political coverage so I think they know their stuff.

Is Loren Park's personal life relevant to the conversation? Yes. The man is the single largest donor in Oregon political history. Election after election we have to deal with his candidate and his ideas because he has the money to buy his way onto the ballot. He doesn't generally win because the voters see through his whacked schemes, but there's still an opportunity cost to the fight. If we weren't fighting against him, we'd be able to move more pro-active progressive measures.

So if talking about the sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him - which are true - and his clear and present weirdness discredits him, his candidates and his ideas, then I'm all for it. I don't care how many orgasms he thinks he can give, but I do care if he's breaking the law or violating someone's rights. And the voters should, too.

they have won a Pulitzer (and many other awards) for political coverage so I think they know their stuff.

They won the Pulitzer for finally reporting on Neil Goldschmidt being a child molester, a story they had managed to ignore for 30 years.

Election after election we have to deal with his candidate and his ideas because he has the money to buy his way onto the ballot.

Oregon has been dealing with the results of Willmette Week's promotion of Measure 5 for almost 15 years now. Perhaps someone should do some digging into the personal lives of its publisher and reporters. I am sure there is some juicy gossip there.

And the voters should, too.

People should vote against a ballot measure because of the sex life of one of its supporters? That really is childish nonsense.

Clearly, Ross hasn't seen any of the Parks emails. I have. I wonder how he - and the nice, straight-laced Christian conservatives Parks's measures attract - would feel if they DID see them. By engaging in unconscionably predatory and unwanted behavior against the women under his authority, Parks has placed himself in the public eye.

I get real tired of predatory, horny pervs like this pushing themselves on women they know can be victimized because they're too nice to say anything or too weak or vulnerable to say "stop." It's little different psychologically from child molesters who push themselves on innocent children who are often powerless to say anything when they're uncomfortable. These perverts want something and, regardless of the feelings of their target, they will have it. It's sociopathic. It's indefensible.

I have no problem with consenting adults pursuing whatever kinkiness their hearts desire, and I doubt many here would disagree with me on that. That's not the behavior we're talking about. What's going on here is not normal, nor is it healthy. It's predatory. It victimizes people. There's no way it doesn't color everything about the man. The public ought to know before blindly trusting the messages he's handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time to disseminate.

The mind boggles that you would see no moral difference between a long pattern of sexual harassment and being gay.

I made no such comparison. The two aren't even related. And I doubt either one has anything to do with the ballot measures Parks supports or opposes. Loren Parks is a creep. Great. So was Mark Hemstreet and his creepiness was often directly related to how he spent his money to influence politics.

Ross put up the assertion that anything written in the Willamette Week is automatically inaccurate,

I made no such assertion. I simply don't believe that stories in the Willmette Week are a reliable source of information. I'm surprised anyone does, although I suppose with the Oregonian as the major alternative I shouldn't be.

Back to the point - Becky's right and she said it better than I did.

I'm quite certain that Kevin Mannix and Russ Walker and Bill Sizemore and Ross Day agree with you completely, Ross. That they wish we wouldn't make an issue out of Park's background. It's better for their measures and candidates if we don't.

Clearly, Ross hasn't seen any of the Parks emails.

You are right. What would I do if I had? I'm probably not voting for anything or anyone Loren Parks supports anyway. And reading his emails wouldn't change that even if I was.

I get real tired of predatory, horny pervs like this pushing themselves on women they know can be victimized because they're too nice to say anything or too weak or vulnerable to say "stop."

Voting against Measure 37, the land use measure, last year probably wouldn't have changed that. Neither will voting against the measures he supports this year. Neither will discussing his wierd claims to sexual prowess here.

I'm quite certain that Kevin Mannix and Russ Walker and Bill Sizemore and Ross Day agree with you completely, Ross. That they wish we wouldn't make an issue out of Park's background. It's better for their measures and candidates if we don't.

I doubt that, but I won't argue with you, you're the pros. That's why villifying Bill Sizemore and Mark Hemstreet kept Oregon on a progressive course for so many years.

Sure, he is no Kelly Wirth, Neil Goldshmidt, or one of the 100 OEA members that have been busted for molesting kids in the last 3 months, but he seems to be pretty icky nonetheless.

I say so what? If the guy is that much of a pervert, it is better that Mannix, Walker, or anyone else uses his money for politics than it is if he keeps it and does whatever icky things he would otheriwse do with it.

At least the Republican pervert lives in another state and isn't elected to anything. Democrats seem to elect theirs to public office.

Ross -

Maybe discussing his "weird claims to sexual prowess," or calling them to the general public's attention, would not change the measures, but character really matters to a lot of conservatives who would be utterly shocked if they knew who was funding their measures and candidates. Maybe a few of those would be shocked enough to begin to question a the character and motivations of those who would accept his money. And just maybe a few of those would actually end up with their eyes opened.

As for the emails, the question isn't what you would think if you saw them as much as whether you would suddenly understand how his female employees felt upon receiving them.

"but character really matters to a lot of conservatives who would be utterly shocked if they knew who was funding their measures and candidates."

The same way character that mattered when they helped elect the current President? I don't think so. Are you going to reevaluate your support for abortion rights because Neil Goldschmidt turned out to be a creep? How about early childhood reading? Has it become less important because its big booster, Neil Goldschmidt, was a child molester?

It may be that polling and focus groups show that Parks creates some vulnerability for Mannix. My instincts say it won't, but I've been wrong before. But I think all the polling on the demonization of Sizemore showed that people didn't really care if he was a jerk. Some people convinced themselves he wasn't a jerk and voted for the measures they liked. Others agreed he was a jerk but voted for the measures anyway. I don't think anyone found that people who would have supported the measures voted against them because they didn't like Sizemore.

you would suddenly understand how his female employees felt upon receiving them.

I'm male and I don't work for him, so I wouldn't know how they felt whether I read the emails or not. I can only imagine it and I can do that as well without seeing them. This discussion has nothing to do with how outraged we are at sexual harassment. No one here seems to be concerned about how to prevent him from harassing his women employees. They seem more to be gleeful about how they can use that to discredit him. And, in the eyes of those who are still persuadable on the issues, I think that does more to discredit us.