Look for Ginny to bring up her solid record of liberal accomplishments as someone who's been stuck in a legislature that has at least one house against liberals since she's been there. She's managed to get things through, or go on the initiative front when needed. I'm pretty impressed.

Erik has a record of some accomplishments, but the playing field (of getting to 3 votes out of 5 in liberal Portland) is much easier. He also has bungled some of the more complex efforts he's tried to take on. The list of "accomplishments" on his web site is completely vague, without specific policies listed. I really can't figure out what the heck he's done, which is frustrating, because I know he's done things.

Which of his accomplishments are you most impressed by, and how much did Erik have to do with it?

I'm most impressed with Erik's "nobody was minding the store" quote regarding the Tram debacle....Just who were those mystery City Commissioners that voted for the Portland Aerial Tram, anyway?

Maybe if they weren't so busy trying to buy an electric utility, stop global warming, and pander to their "progressive" pet projects, they would have had time to monitor the CoP's largest and most complex construction project.

Again -- what specific policies. How much did Erik have to do with those? Not, what were the outcomes (green buildings), but what did he do to make sure that green buildings were built? And what did he have to do with air and water issues? and what did he have to do with greenhouse gasses?

Specific policies. Erik's role. Spell it out for me, I'm slow.

My friends in the affordable housing community think Erik's a blowhard who doesn't get much done for his signature issue. They're kinda whiny folks, but again -- specific policies, results, Erik's role.

I suppose if you DON'T believe that public power is a good thing, then you think that those efforts were misguided or wasted. I think that each new revelation about PGE / ENRON's corporate malfeasance shows that Erik Sten was right all along. Of course the corporate apologists like Ginny Burdick are on the other side. That's to be expected.

Moreover, Ginny has been in a place where she SHOULD be held accountable for the sorry state of our education funding (a national joke and local disgrace0. Our schools are in free fall, and it's the state legislature that has kept them there. I haven't seen any leadership . . . just DLC-style fingers in the wind.

"Solid record of liberal accomplishments" is a sick joke. Look at her recent negative mailing (gag me with a spoon) to see her true stripes.

Erik Sten, on the other hand, has been a consistent progressive voice for change, including change that threatens his own status (cf. publicly owned campaigns, which Ginny B. - predictably - also disses). He hasn't been perfect, but he's on the right side. He's good at what he does, and we can expect him to get better.

I was simply going to vote for Sten. When I got Ginny B.'s lame piece of attack flackery in my mailbox, I made a contribution to Sten and tonight I'm going to call to ask how to volunteer. My hope is that the severity of the defeat that's coming for Ginny B. will end her erstwhile polite but lackluster career, and we'll start to get some Democrats with some fire in the legislative branch. God knows it's not happening with Teddy K.

Charlie Burr'

We were the first city in the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially.<

That's a wild claim. How's that? Where's that? Who said?

The fact that Portland has more Green buildings per capita and more Green buildings period is due to Dan Saltzman, not Sten. Saltzman created and now oversees the Office of Sustainable Development and is the one responsible for the City's push to be more enviro-friendly.

Portland having more green buildings than any other city - comparred to who? Witchita, Omaha - Portland's not exactly a major city. Being green is great, but how about diverse? What's our city doing to ensure we have more people of color moving, and retaining housing in Portland?

About Erik, I read his campaign WEBsite with as open a mind as possible and he has no real accomplishments in 10 years beisdes a bunch of endorsements and that he served certain positions. Great, Portland is safe from global warming thanks to Erik.

Man has this city set the bar that low that don't care if a politician really knows how to run a city at min expense to taxpayers? I know Erik is the local fave, but come on the Burdick-bashing is getting really boring.

Sorry, I guess I was too subtle, I should have said WASTE (PGE chase, water computer, tax abatements for $1M condos, etc.), not EXPENSE. My point is that Erik has never had a real job, ever. Unless you count being an apparatchik a job. I am not saying Burdick is any better, but am I depressed by the selection of ineptitude out there.

Come ON, Charlie. There are specific accomplishments of Ginny mentioned in this discussion that aren't mentioned on her mailer, because they're wonky. Which doesn't mean they're not important.

You've done politics. You know that you can't fit much on a mailer -- you've got seven seconds of attention. And, yes, you have to attack an incumbent. Ugly, yes. But no less ugly than the Ginny-is-evil whisper campaign going around.

And I have yet to read a specific policy that's resulted in accomplishments, that's Erik's doing. Green Buildings? Saltzman. Global warming? Erik probably did something here, but what? And Voter Owned Elections, wasn't that Gary Blackmer's baby? Maybe it was also Erik's baby. Spell it out for us, don't just attack.

Still undecided in who to vote for.

Finally, Ginny's website sucks ass. Total agreement there.

The criteria for being classified as a "greenbuilding" is generous. And many building owners/architects use the classification liberally for marketing and other reasons. The claims being made are suspect. There may be just as many or more building per population ratios in other areas of the nation, but the owners/architects do not spend the time/money for the classification that one has to pay for accrediation. Plus, many buildings claim "green" without the paid classification. Portland loves to claim it's "green".

Erik has spent his entire adult life on the public dole. And he keeps trying to get other jobs on the dole -- Port of Portland, PDC, but they won't select him. Neither should Portland's voters. Time to move on.

I wonder if Ginny has learned a bit more about our fair city's government than she did during her last run at the council. A few weeks ago, it appeared she hadn't.

I'm going to listen to all the candidates critically on Friday and see who makes the most sense. By the way, while everyone is welcome to attend the City Club forum, if you want to ask a question of the candidates, you need to be a member. Here's a link for those who want more information about this excellent civic organization: http://www.pdxcityclub.org/ If you join, I'll buy you the lunch.

(Okay, that's limited to about four people--the lunch costs $16--but you can just go and listen for free).

Now as for a politician being on the "public dole all his life," there used to be a time when people, particularly people in cities, had some respect for professional politicians. Depending upon how you define it, my main political hero, Wayne Morse, was on the public dole all his life--at least he never worked in the private sector. Earl Blumenauer has been an elected official virtually all his life. Peter DeFazio either worked for politicians or was one most of his life. There is no shame in being a professional politician. It's the amateurs that have gotten us in the most trouble.

BURDICK DOES PUSH POLLS!!!

There should be room for debate, but Ginny is using some really extremely negative tactics that I believe are beyond fair play. I think that the way a person campaigns is an important part of how they behave in public life, and Ginny is behaving innapropriately by engaging in this type of tactic.

Frankly, the way she has behaved in this campaign negates a good number of her good acts as a legislator.

"Oh come on... we're the #24 biggest city in America. Well more than half the states don't have a city our size."

By this definition Portland is bigger than Miami, Atlanta, etc...

My point was it's easier to build a sustainable model in a city like Portland because it's not dealing with population, and sprawl to the degree in which many cities are dealing with, but that's changing. With the amount of people coming to Portland, sooner or later, we're going to have to connect the green + density, or it's going to be sprawl city... It doesn't matter how green Portland is, if the region doesn't follow in the cities footsteps... We risk becoming a mecca for green progressives with money (Seattle, Boulder, Austin) while hundreds of thousands of service workers who serve this population live on the outskirts of the green city thus creating sprawl and undercutting any idea of being environementally friendly in the first place...

I personally strongly support Sten, but "Voter Owned Elections" (VOE) is a marketing term, and not accurate.

This state-of-the-art experiment in municipal public financing should be called "Taxpayer Owned Elections" (TOE)-- since we taxpayers are footing the bill (quite appropriately and economically, I believe).

There may be a few voters who really are not taxpayers, but very few: you'd basically have to be an indigent homeless person who does not drink, so that your income is too low to require filing, you aren't paying property taxes (either directly, or indirectly through renting), and you aren't paying our hidden sales taxes on alcohol.

Whereas, there are hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in Portland who are not voters.

YO THERE, non-voting taxpayers: Thanks for subsidizing better municipal elections for us voters! We appreciate the help!

And now that we've got our TOE in the water in Portland, let's work on extending TOEs to county government, state government, etc.

Which is exactly the kind of thing that Senator Burdick's corporate sponsors are afraid of.

I hope some of you that can attend tomorrows "debate" will ask some hard questions about how misuse of Urban Renewal has affected the general fund tax base for Portland.

Urban Renewal costs the general fund for Portland by over $68M .Consider a reasonable use of UR of say a 50% reduction, that would be $34M that could be used for schools, police/fire. jails, human services, etc. If we downsize the PDC because of reasonable use of UR, then even the average property tax bill of $350/year we each pay to run PDC could be reduced. Then, maybe some of us would be more inclined to support additional taxes for specific needs the voters find relevant.

The four candiates should have divergent views on this issue, considering their past history and positons. Should be interesting.

Varner wrote:

"There should be room for debate, but Ginny is using some really extremely negative tactics that I believe are beyond fair play."

In general, it seems to me that Democrats campaign at a higher ethical level than Republicans do. That is, except in Multnomah County, where Democrats are nasty as hell running against other Democrats.

-OK, Wendy, I'll bite. The Kyoto stuff is right here at BlueOregon. Oh, and here.-

I thought that might be what Charlie was talking about.

I'm surprised anyone would bring that up since that report was provne to not only be incaccruate but that emissions were never really measured.

In short, it is a bogue report and claim.

Ginny's G+G attack dogs seem in full force here on BlueOregon, attacking Sten for lack of accomplishments when she has so very little to show for herself, beyond corporate servitude coupled with lip-service to the liberal positions so popular in Portland.

The public relations industry, by definition, buries substance in style. That's their job. It's what they do. How could any sane person want a professional PR flack in public office?

Ginny Burdick, the PR flack, brought to you by PGE/Enron

While I don't have a dog in the race...I had to respond to this load of cr**:

Erik has spent his entire adult life on the public dole.

You mean being a public servant?

Now, whether he has been a good public servant is totally up for debate...and that is what elections are for. It is crass and worthless statements like yours that diminish the honor and calling of public servants. In our democracy, I can see no greater calling than serving the public. So, cut the cr** about "living on the public dole". Sheesh.

OLCV, the same group that called Senator Ringo, who looked to expand Measure 37 and has been the king of misinformation about Oregon voters desires, the environmental defender of the year?

OLCV, the same group that called the 20% to 0%-scoring Ben Westlund the consensus builder of the year?

OLCV, the same group that endorsed Ted Kulongoski, who tried to make Measure 37 waivers transferrable?

<h2>Yeah, I trust their endorsements like a hole in the head.</h2>