Sam Adams held a press conference this morning had a great comeback, calling Potter's endorsement "the least surprising development in the race for mayor"- since Potter and Sho are old friends. Potter's also had some trouble lately. Seems to me that Potter and Sho Dozono had their Strong Mayor measure (which Adams opposed) fail miserably at the polls. And isn't he supposedly irrelevant, or or I guess thats just what he called himself? Will this endorsement actually help Sho? Or will it help Sam? Or is it simply irrelevant? Amy Ruiz has a great writeup of at Blogtown, PDX

My question about the mayoral race is why Adams skipped yesterday's vote on the Day Laborer center? Did he want to avoid taking a position on it during his campaign? If so, he probably just lost my vote...

Hi Chris,

Sam was slated to go to Washington DC for the Bike Summit before catching the flu. He's still feeling quite under the weather.

But he supported the center.

How can you not vote for Adams? I mean, he was doing important stuff like rappelling out of his ScamWay TramWay while Dozono was doing really boring stuff.

This from the Portland Mercury Blogtown website:

"Adams also got in a dig at the $27K Dozono poll, using it as an example of another area where he and Dozono differ:

'The role city hall lobbyists should play in politics,' Adams said. 'The single largest contribution that any candidate running for mayor in this race, of over $27,000, was made to the Sho Dozono campaign, and it was made by a city hall lobbyist, with clients in casino gambling, big box shopping center development, and cyanide mining companies.'

It woould appear that Sam Adams has engaged the same folks who are running the Clinton for President campaign.

Joel: Explain to me the similarity between Adams and Clinton. It's Obama who doesn't take PAC or lobbyist money.

Well if Sho has the Cyanide Mining Companies in his back pocket, I'm definitely voting against him.

Are there any cyanide mines in Portland? Because I keep driving past the Big Oil companies (7-11, BP, Arco), but I'm afraid I don't know what a Cyanide Mine Company looks like.

Please save us from the cyanide mines, Sam!

To 'Uh-Oh': I believe this is in reference to the use of cyanide in mining of precious metals, which leaches cyanide into the environment. Precious metals are still mined in Oregon, though not in Portland. Of course, toxins elsewhere in Oregon and on the far side of the Earth have plenty of ways to get here, not that people should worry only about the environment that's within the political boundaries of whichever city they live in.

What did Sho Dozono do to help bail Portland Public Schools out of financial difficulty two years ago? In that effort, did he display any kind of trait that would recommend him for mayor of Portland?

A few nights ago, wasn't Dozono amongst the studio phone volunteers for OPB, taking contribution pledges? I'll give him credit for that if it's true.

Last I heard Sho owned a cab franchise in the city. Maybe Sam should take the lead and introduce an ordinance to add more cabs, some ride sharing ones as well and maybe some jitneys to the local transportation market. Just open up the market.

Sam was too sick to attend the City Council meeting on March 6th, but managed to crawl out of bed for a press conference at his Campaign H.Q. this morning?

DOES SAM CLOCK OUT when he's dialing for dollars from the campaign H.Q. or is he still drawing a commissioner's salary while he runs for Mayor?

What does cyanide mining or "Big Oil" have to do with Sho Dozono? Does Sam really think that Big Oil or Cyanide mining has ANYTHING TO DO WITH RUNNING FOR MAYOR, or does he think voters are just ignorant?

What's next? Maybe we invade Idaho or withhold natural gas shipments to California. Demagogues come in all political shapes and sizes.

James X--my flippant lumping together of Hillary Clinton and Sam Adams refers to the way the two of them have concocted wacky, irrelevant slurs on their primary opponents: in Adams' case, the screwball stuff about cyanide mines (Dozono knows someone who worked for someone who used cyanide in mining operations); in Clinton's case, well, if you've been paying any attention to the campaign, I'd be boring you to repeat what she's done.

Dozono and schools: A statement from his campaign here, and an article about him in the Asian Reporter here.

If you want slams on Dozono, do a big of archival checking with Willamette Week; they've had it in for him for a long time.

"As a founder of the March for Schools, Sho saved over 250 teacher jobs and raised over $11 million for your schools." Randall Edwards, Oregon State Treasurer quote from Amy J. Ruiz/merc article

Neither of the two articles, Merc or Asian Reporter, give any particular details characterizing Dozono's efforts, besides being unequivocally supportive. O.K, he raised the money. How did he do it? That might be helpful to know. Maybe a search will turn up something.

Dozono was Port of Portland Commissioner at one time, and "...has worked with five Portland mayors..."(polo/asian reporter) Would these two items represnt his government experience?

Dozono seemed to me to throw those two phrases, 'back-room dealing' and 'special interests', around very easily. I'm really curious to know if his own past activities are rightfully free from such characterizations, and whether his performance as Mayor of Portland would be as free from them as his related comments would seem to claim.

Ok, I guess I'm missing the weirdness of Adams' claim. It seems like a pretty basic thing. His opponent got a $27k gift from a lobbyist, whose clients include casinos, big box stores, and polluters. That seems like a pretty standard thing for an opponent to point out. And again, cyanide is leached into the earth when it's used in precious metals mining, which is done in Oregon. It's not done in Portland, but there aren't going to be any casinos in Portland, either. Sam's just pointing out the general nature of the lobbyist who Sho's indebted to.

WWeek has had it out for Sho Dozono for a long time? Funny, I think Sam's supporters were saying the same thing, especially after Nigel's article a while back. In fact, it seems like people regularly suggest that WWeek "has it out" for someone. Thank god for a publication that is willing to go after prominent people -- if it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post (and WWeek).

Willamette Week: rumor and innuendo thinly disguised as investigative journal and paid for by ads for phone sex.

Per "cyanide mining", this is an unfortunate term. No, the cyanide is not mined, it's used in a metallurgical process that is part of gold mining and extraction. Nasty toxic waste ensues. What this has to do with Sho Dozono is, however, either a matter of confusion or more likely a matter of someone's overheated imagination.

Question: how does a lobbyist or pollster's past client list relate to a mayoral candidate?

Answer: it doesn't.

Even if somebody proposed building a cyanide leaching mine within Portland City Limits (which is unlikely), there is no reason to expect Sho Dozono to support it simply because his pollster previously worked on behalf of a mining interest. The pollster serves the interest of the candidate, not the other way around.

This is simply a Rovian tactic used by a greenmail populist (Sam Adams) which will have no impact on thoughtful voters. Sam is appealing to the ingnorance of the uninformed: if Sho Dozono hired a pollster, then that pollster's client list will be used against him? It's a red herring.

If Dozono is for the working people in Portland why dose he say he surports the workers at the Hilton Hotel with their Boycott and then two weeks later cross the Boycott and attend a banquet there.I seems he says what he wants to get surport from the labor community.

The claims by Sam Adams against Len Bergstein are ludicrous and baseless.

Sam Adams has worked with Len Bergstein DOZENS of times--this is a well known fact. When Sam Adams was Vera's chief of staff, she/he/they work together often. Check the records if you're interested.

So him now trying to dump dirt on Sho Dozono because of working with Len Bergstein is an example of how SLEAZY Sam Adams is. Don't be fooled by Sam.

"A few nights ago, wasn't Dozono amongst the studio phone volunteers for OPB, taking contribution pledges? I'll give him credit for that if it's true."

Credit Due to Sho

Sho was indeed a studio phone volunteer for OPB about a week and a half ago.

<h2>I volunteer with OPB myself</h2>