Will Ted Wheeler challenge Charlie Hales for mayor?

Kari Chisholm

Before he was appointed State Treasurer in 2010, there was a lot of speculation that Ted Wheeler -- then the Multnomah County Chair -- would run for Mayor in 2012.

Fast forward a few years, and that speculation is back.

According to Willamette Week, some unnamed leading lights of the business community have asked Wheeler to consider. And Wheeler's definitely not saying that he's uninterested:

"I have been approached by lots of people about lots of opportunities,” he told WW this week, “but it would be premature to comment on any of them. I haven’t ruled anything in and I haven’t ruled anything out.”

If it's true that the business community is coming out for Wheeler, that's interesting -- because Wheeler is certainly more progressive than Hales.

Sidenote: Declining to comment, the Portland Business Alliance's Sandra McDonough said, "The election is two years off." Um, no. The next mayoral election is on May 17, 2016. That's just over 14 months away. Not two years. More like one year. Remember that the next time the Business Alliance tries to explain something with math. Even weirder, neither of the WW reporters credited with the story bothered to fact check the claim. (Then again, if the Business Alliance thinks the election is in 2017, I'm cool with that.)

By Kari Chisholm March 10, 2015