HD-46: Keny-Guyer, Milesnick, and Parks nominated
Kari Chisholm
Earlier tonight, Democratic precinct committee persons from HD 46 gathered to select 3-5 nominees to forward to the Multnomah County Commission to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Rep. Ben Cannon. (Cannon is now a top education advisor to Gov. John Kitzhaber.)
25 precinct committee people were in attendance. Over the last several weeks, they've been some of the most popular folks in town, as noted by Willamette Week:
The precinct committee persons pick the finalists. Candidates have been wooing them at coffee, tours, lunches—more attention than most voters will ever get. ...
The spotlight for PCPs ends Wednesday, and the prospect leaves some PCPs wishing politicians would pay this kind of attention to voters’ needs more often. “Citizens don’t get heard much,” said Veronica Broeth, a 62-year-old court service processor and former probation officer. “It’s neat to establish a relationship with someone in that position. Hopefully, I can give them a call someday and say, remember me? All citizens should have that relationship.”
The six candidates were Alissa Keny-Guyer, Ryan Manion, Rob Milesnick, Trisha Parks, James Schwartz, Mary Volm. The Multnomah County Democrats have their candidate statements.
After voting to limit their selections to three nominees, the balloting got underway. Here's how it works. With three spots open, there are three rounds of voting. In each round, the PCPs will vote successive ballots until one candidate gets an outright majority. If no one gets a majority, the candidate with the lowest vote total is dropped from the next ballot.
Thanks to excellent play-by-play tweeting by Logan Gilles and Ben DuPree, we've got the rundown:
| Round | Ballot | Keny-Guyer | Manion | Milesnick | Parks | Schwartz | Volm |
| 1 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 10 | 15 |
In other words, Alissa Keny-Guyer was nominated on the first ballot of the first round. Rob Milesnick was nominated on the first ballot of the second round. In the third round, no one won a majority on the first ballot. James Schwartz was first to go, then Mary Volm, and then in the third and final ballot, Trisha Parks defeated Ryan Manion. Interestingly, it was a come-from-behind win - presumably with all of Schwartz's and Volm's supporters going to Parks (though there's no way to know that for sure.)
Congratulations to Alissa, Rob, and Trisha.
The Multnomah County Commission will meet on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. to interview the candidates in a public board meeting and select the next legislator for HD-46.
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12:10 a.m.
Sep 22, '11
there was a candidates forum before time that was well-attended. all the candidates acquitted themselves nicely. Walt Nichols had to drop out due to illness, which is too bad. he would have added to the proceedings. now it's up to the MCC to pick the new HD46 Rep -- and for the Leg to get rid of this system & institute special elections that give the community the final say.
10:41 a.m.
Sep 25, '11
While the administrative effort is labor intensive, I would not recommend changing the system w/o due deliberation. PCPs them selves are democratically elected and the particular function of a nominating convention truly employees the democracy of the republic. Further, the ability to have a thoughtful and deliberative process in the span of less than a month allows both the District to have almost seamless representation, and the Legislature to have a full quota of members.
County Clerks will also remind us that the costs of conducting special elections can damage the budget, and it can drain a candidate's resources as well, when the ultimate winner will have to turn around and do it all over again. In fact, an argument can be made that this process expands tha opportunity for a broader range of candidates to participate in the process.
... just some thots..
7:57 p.m.
Sep 22, '11
It would be a huge win for Oregon if Keny-Guyer is chosen. Her leadership and dedication to our community has been amazing. So glad to see her as one of the top candidates.