Gov. Barbara Roberts throws her hat in the ring for Metro Council
Kari Chisholm
In a rather surprising development, Governor Barbara Roberts has asked to be considered for the appointment for the Metro Council seat vacated by Robert Liberty. She filed her paperwork right before the deadline.
Roberts is the biggest name among some heavy hitters who seek to succeed Robert Liberty as the District 6 councilor. She was Oregon's first woman governor, elected in 1990 and serving a four-year term. Before that she served two terms as secretary of state and was a state representative.
On her application, Roberts listed her occupation as "Retired public official; author."
Not in the O's description - her stint as a lecturer on government reform at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
I've talked to a number of Metro observers, and most seem to agree that Gov. Roberts would be the presumptive frontrunner -- perhaps even recruited to be a consensus candidate.
Whether that's true or not, as the O notes, she probably hurts the candidacy of Bob Stacey:
Roberts' filing may cramp the chances of Bob Stacey, who conventional wisdom said was the frontrunner because he narrowly lost to Tom Hughes in November's election for council president and swamped Hughes among District 6 voters. Supporters maintain Stacey is the logical conservation activist successor for Liberty, as both were directors of 1000 Friends of Oregon and hold similar views on the growth management issues Metro decides.
A Metro official said Roberts telephoned Stacey from the building to tell him she seeking the appointment. Stacey served as Roberts' senior policy advisor for urban growth issues from 1993-95.
In addition to Stacey, the other major candidate is Bob Shiprack - a former official with the building trades unions and a former state legislator.
The appointment will be made by the Metro Council, following public interviews on February 16. The complete public process is outlined here.
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1:02 p.m.
Feb 10, '11
2 questions: where does she stand on CRC? and what are her recent credentials for this gig? i know that Stacey would be a good choice; why would i support her instead? because she's Barbara Roberts?
4:01 p.m.
Feb 10, '11
I just feel like Stacey got screwed; unless he wasn't going to get it anyway and this is a way to block Shiprack. Does anyone really know?
4:11 p.m.
Feb 10, '11
This is peculiar. Unless it's just a matter of Barbara Roberts just can't stay away from politics and governance.
5:22 p.m.
Feb 10, '11
With due respect to the other candidates, Metro's got three leading contenders - Shiprack, Stacey, Roberts.
I felt pretty informed about two of them, and spent a little more time today learning about Rep. Shiprack and where he might be on key Metro issues.
For Shiprack's legislative record on Metro-related issues, I recommend looking at some old OLCV Scorecards.
His six-session average OLCV score was 39.5% - among the worst for Democrats. His last two sessions were 1991 (13%) and 1993 (14%).
I'd have to look at the bills themselves to confirm specifics, but I'm not sure where to find them online (the legislature's online database goes back to 1995).
With the caveat that I'm assuming the short description in the Scorecard is accurate, I found several interesting votes.
Most informative were Shiprack's votes against strong air pollution laws, against adequate funding for planning, against requiring public access to recycling, against strong energy efficiency standards for appliances, for limits on recovering the costs of development, and for a sweeping "takings" bill in 1993 - House Bill 3087 - that luckily eventually died.
I don't think those votes are consistent with the values of the majority of the district's constituents, who twice elected Robert Liberty and just recently supported Bob Stacey for Metro President.
12:28 p.m.
Feb 11, '11
Evan, that's troublesome.
Before pillorying Shiprack, however, I'd be curious to learn if his values and principles are the same as they were twenty years ago.
I'd look to his own statements - as well as more recent actions for evidence.
1:40 p.m.
Feb 11, '11
Definitely agree, though I find clear records of policy decisions and votes are more telling than platitudes. Everyone can say they support the UGB and protecting farmland, but have starkly different policy interpretations of that once in office.
I'd be open to hearing how his views may have changed - my post was simply saying many of his past votes aren't consistent with what I think we value as a region.
11:38 p.m.
Feb 10, '11
Gov. Roberts put herself forth as a third-path candidate in case of a 3-3 tie between The Bobs, who both said they want to run for the seat in 2012, win or lose in 2011.
She wouldn't say who it was that recruited her to the vacancy, other than it was "people connected with Metro."
A little surprising that the Portland media and blogosphere didn't pick up on her side of the story, which was posted less than an hour after she applied.
http://news.oregonmetro.gov/1/post.cfm/former-gov-barbara-roberts-last-minute-application-makes-seven-for-council-vacancy
12:32 p.m.
Feb 11, '11
I'm posting on it now.
Pretty simple answer to your question, Nick, at least for me: It didn't come up in a Google search.
My post was about 18 hours behind the news - and so I read every story that came up in a search, looking for a quote or other news tidbit.
The Metro piece didn't show up.
2:54 p.m.
Feb 11, '11
No worries Kari. I've tried to get Google News to pick up the Metro News Feed, but they don't do one-reporter shops, and apparently they aren't interested in linking to PR sites.
So, between rock and hard place, I rely on RSS and e-mail subscriptions to get the news out.