Sources Say • Money lagging for Adams recall drive

The Portland Tribune, Mar 4, 2010 (4 Reader comments)

The new campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams, led by former state Sen. Avel Gordly, has raised about $20,000 in cash and in-kind contributions.

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

The new campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams has a little more than six weeks to collect the 32,185 voter signatures needed to force him on the ballot, but donations so far seem to be falling short of the necessary pace.

Although chief petitioner Avel Gordly originally said the campaign would use paid petition circulators, it has not yet raised enough money to reach the 30,000 or so people who signed petitions during last year’s unsuccessful all-volunteer drive. According to a recent email from volunteer Teresa McGuire, the campaign has only mailed new petitions to one-third of those people – about 10,000 of the original signers.

According to the most recent reports filed with Oregon election officials, the new campaign has raised about $20,000 in cash and in-kind contributions through the end of February. The largest donation remains the $7,500 given by Columbia Sportswear President and CEO Tim Boyle, who previously said his would not be the largest one.

Of course, as McGuire notes, if all of the people on the mailing list collect just five valid voter signatures, the recall campaign will succeed in forcing an election. The deadline for submitting signatures to the City Elections Office is April 20.

Bridge politics

Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder has caught flack from some environmentalists for supporting the current version of the Columbia River Crossing project. In the race for Metro president, opponent Bob Stacey, the former executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, has used the issue to position himself as the greener candidate, arguing that the proposed 10-lane replacement Interstate 5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver is too big.

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