My only other note on a commentary that I almost entirely agree with in substance if not tone, is that you flat out ignore Emilie Boyles. Considering your recognition of Sten’s flaws and the rancid alternatives represented by Burdick and Lister, I’m still trying to figure out why she doesn’t even rate a mention–especially since her community bona fides are almost as firm as Fritz’s. As evidenced by her appearance on the dais at the Goobernor Hotel this afternoon, she’s probably worth one.

Welcome back!
TJ, LoadedO

There is a League of Women Voters Action Committee forum today, Friday 3/24, at 10:30 a.m. at the Central Library. The purpose is to discuss candidates’ experiences in the first ever run of the Voter Owned Elections system, so it may be an opportunity for folks interested in assessing “anyone but Burdick” and “anyone but Saltzman”, despite the single focus on VOE.

Please - do we really need another? Saltzman has his faults - but at least he is attempting to reel in the unions, and restore some sanity to the Police & Fire pension fund.

Speaking of libertarians, Jack got some some pretty good press in the last issue of Brainstorm NW. So what does that say about Jack?

When the same company who states there’s a problem also gets to correct it, people are well within their rights to cry foul, since it presents at least the appearance that they could have found “problems” just so they’d then get paid to “solve” them.

Yet that is precisely how the City is pursuing their investigation of PGE: they hired three individuals (each with hundred+ dollar/hour contracts) who ‘discovered’ PGE’s misdeeds, and whose financial interest is served by the prolonging of the investigation:

As reported by Gail Kinsey Hill in the Oregonian

City officials said they don’t know how much the investigation will cost, but that money is available from the remainder of a 2005 acquisition effort. Roughly half the authorized $1.5 million was spent, leaving $700,000, (City Attorney) Meng said.

Fisher and McCullough will focus on energy trading and ratepayer charges tied to the Multnomah County business income tax, Meng said. Jubb will take a look at PGE’s tax obligations and payments more generally, she said.

Fisher is an expert on energy issues and utility regulatory law. She once worked for PGE. In recent years, she has been critical of PGE’s rates, including ratepayer charges related to taxes.

McCullough for years has consulted on power-trading issues and has gained attention for his analyses of Enron’s market manipulation strategies.

Jubb has worked with the city before. In 2003, he helped the city put together a bid for PGE. Enron rebuffed the offer, as it did in 2005 when Portland mounted a second acquisition effort.

Phillip Gildan, a lawyer with Greenberg Traurig, a Florida-headquartered firm, also is aiding the investigation. He first was hired in connection with the city’s second bid for PGE and remains under contract.

Commissioner Erik Sten acknowledged that PGE might object to a review by people who have been in conflict with utility interests in the past. But, he said, “You want a skeptic to look at something you’re skeptical of.”

PGE declined to comment.

Of Robert McCullough, The Tribune’s Nick Budnick reported

McCullough was a PGE executive until 1991, then co-founded an energy-marketing business, which failed. He became a consultant, working for Indian tribes, aluminum companies and steel mills, as well as underdog local utilities fighting voracious larger counterparts. He even worked for PGE, which by then had become an Enron subsidiary, as recently as 1998.

“I think Robert is supremely confident of his ability,” says Ken Cannon, former head of Industrial Consumers of Northwest Utilities. “Sometimes that’s not always borne out in a court of law.” Cannon suggests the city should watch over its contract with McCullough, which grants him a maximum of $95,000, to keep him on task.

Can we realistically expect any of these experts to tell the City Council, “after billing you for a couple hundred thousand dollars, we have finally learned that our suspicions are not supported by the facts: we were wrong.”

FAT CHANCE!

Guess who’s blogging about Portland politics again (at least a little). An excellent development….