You have a choice for Position 2, Portland City Council
By Fred Stewart of Portland, Oregon. Fred is a candidate for Portland City Council.
Portland needs diversity on the City Council, not just of color but more importantly, diversity of priorities and life experiences. The sum of my experiences makes me, Fred Stewart, the best candidate for Portland City Council, Position 2.
Six things that make me uniquely the best choice For Portland City Council are:
- As a real estate broker I sold about 700 homes in North/Northeast Portland, saving homes from foreclosure, keeping properties from going derelict and keeping families together.
- As a banker I tore down barriers to financing for minority homebuyers throughout Portland. I have called out lenders who were red-lining and worked to secure stable financing for our minority communities.
- I have built businesses from scratch. I converted a strip bar into a neighborhood gathering place and built a real estate business during the most difficult real estate market in Portland since before WWII (even worst than today). I struggled to meet payrolls. None of the other candidates for this position can say the same.
- I was a Labor Union member while I was a baker at Franz Bread.
- I was President of King Neighborhood Association from 1990 to 1999.
- I served our country for six years as a US Marine.
The sum of these experiences has also given me a vision of the future for the Portland I think we want.
Portland faces a tough time ahead, both for the City budget and for the economic well-being of our citizens. The only way out of this down cycle is to create more living wage jobs. I will work with the other members of the Council to support small and large businesses that pay their full time employees $19.00 per hour or more. I will work to tier the business tax/licensing fees to favor businesses that hire people who live in Portland. I will also work with the other members of the Council to market Portland to established businesses from around the world looking for new markets to develop and move into. I will make sure minority owned businesses are approached and encouraged to consider Portland in their future.
For our long term economic vitality, I will make sure the children of low income people and minorities are given every opportunity to be fully educated. I am for establishing a new funding source that will allow the city to provide services and learning opportunities for low income children to ensure their learning day does not end at 3:30 PM.
Finally, I want a green Portland, but to get there we have to have public ownership of all of the utilities, including PGE. I am the only candidate who promises to continue to work to bring PGE under public ownership. I have worked on this issue through my former bank and will continue to seek creative ways to bring the utilities under public ownership.
As my long history in Portland shows, I have the ability, skills and vision to continue to build the community we call Portland. I ask for your vote.
You can find more of my ideas on my website, FredForPortland.com.
Thank you,
Fred Stewart
Candidate for Portland City Council, Position 2
PS: Please watch the Willamette Week interview or listen to the candidates for Position 2 on KBOO.
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May 16, 2008
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connect with blueoregon
May 16, '08
Just make sure that, if you are elected, don't get so uptight, petty, and vindictive like Sam Adams and Randy Leonard - especially over duct tape and IKEA signs.
May 16, '08
The council position #2 candidates gave short speeches to the Rose City Park Neighborhood Association during the March 25th Candidates Fair. YouTube clips of the Position #2 presentations can be seen here:
http://www.rcpna.org/apm/article.php?id=215
May 16, '08
We have a wonderful slate of candidates for pos. 2. I often have to pick the lesser of two evils, but this vote was a difficult choice. In the end, I voted for Fred. I think he will concentrate on more than just downtown and inner eastside. Although I happen to live in the inner eastside, as a progressive I think we need to make sure ALL of Portland receives services.
1:34 p.m.
May 16, '08
Is Blue Oregon going to run pieces from all non-viable candidates now?
According to ORESTAR, Mr. Stewart has raised $1,625.00 listing only 3 individual contributors - the rest being "miscellaneous contributions".
His website lists only 25 personal endorsements - none more notable than David Lister - and a grand total of zero endorsements from any non-profit, political or professional organization.
Guys.
I know bandwidth isn't free.
Why waste it on every Tom, Dick and Fred who wants his ego stroked?
Disclaimer: I actually have no idea if Fred wants his ego stroked or not. Maybe he just lost a bet and that's why he filed for office.
May 16, '08
Finally, somebody with actual business experience. Substance is difficult to come by when running for any political office. Fred has the minerals that Portlander's need on city council. The other's can go troll for fish or look for a cliche.
May 16, '08
Glad to see this article on here. Seems like once the news picks their favorite 2 no one else has a chance. I think Fred is a great choice for Position 2. I havent seen any other candidate with so much passion and determination to make Portland better for everyone there. My votes with Fred.
May 16, '08
So Mike
How much money should a candidate have to be publishable on this web site?
How many endorsements should a candidate have listed on their website to come off as viable?
I this was a race for votes, not a race for money or favors.
Thank you Kari and the others at blue Oregon for upholding the concept of 'equal time'. I look forward to seeing Ed Garin posting soon too.
May 16, '08
[Off-topic comment deleted. -editor.]
May 16, '08
PSJackson........
Ditto
4:16 p.m.
May 16, '08
Dear PS~
Glad you asked. And welcome to Blue Oregon.
Indeed, determining a candidate's viability is a tricky blend of art and science.
It can be very hard, especially early in a race, to look at a set of candidates and make such predictions.
In this case, though, when it's less than one week before the last ballot will be counted, we can, however, look back on what has been accomplished since the February filing deadline and make some rational predictions about what the future has in store.
Your question, it seems, is why not have hope?
The KPTV poll released a couple of days ago suggests that only 45% of voters have already decided to vote for someone else in this race. The good news, is that maybe Fred's got a chance at the other 55%! If Fred were to reach all the undecideds and pursuade all of them in the next 4 days, Fred would win!
Unfortunately, all Fred has left are Sat, Sun, Mon and Tuesday until 8:00. Let's be generous and count those as 12 hour days (sure, I'd wager you really shouldn't canvass someone at 9:00 am on a Sunday, but hey, go nuts) so call it 48 hours.
Now let's through in some rudimentary contact rates into the math. A pretty good canvass might produce 5 contacts an hour. A pretty good phone bank might get up to 10 contacts per hour. So theoretically Fred could either meet about 240 folks at the door or call about 480 folks on the phone between now and 8:00 pm on election night.
Unfortunately, more than 125,000 Portland residents will vote in this election - though somewhat fewer will vote in the City Council race. In 2006 there were 101,300 votes cast in the Portland City Council primary, so that year candidates needed 50,651 votes to win outright and avoid the runoff.
Unfortunately, Fred only has the time - at best - to talk to .9% of the voters.
So that's where endorsements and money come in. An endorsement gives folks the reason to think that a candidate supports their issue. This can translate into votes, volunteers, and sometimes financial contributions as well. Not all supporters want to volunteer of course, so that fundraising is very important in be able to reach out to even more voters.
Of course, money spends quickly. A decent full size color mailer might cost well over a dollar a piece to put together. Don't have over $100,000? Can't mail very much to the voters of the city of Portland.
The voters pamphlet statements can help bridge those gaps, though. Some say it is the biggest communication value in an election. But the content matters. And having no endorsements to include is a missed opportunity to demonstrate that others support a particular candidate.
Can Fred convert 50,000 Portland voters with the help of his supporters Sue Hagmeier, Lew Fredrick and Dave Lister and $1,625 in 4 days?
I say Fred's candidacy isn't viable.
Disclaimer: I actually have no idea if Fred wants his ego stroked or not. Maybe he just lost a bet and that's why he filed for office.
May 16, '08
I appreciate the fact that Fred Stewart, of Portland, Oregon, who is a candidate for Portland, City Counci, Position 2,is not afraid of the tough questions. He doesn't answer with the typical paraphrasing that has become customary with a lot of today's political candidates running for an office. He will accept the question at face value and give an honest and clear answer. If he doesn't know the answer, he tells us. But, at the same time, he seems willing to look for the truth of the matter and report that truth, even though it may or may not be popular.
I'm just wondering why all the local interviewers aren't asking anything more than the candid questions that can be answered generally, rather than specifically. What other candidate would say that they would work with the other city counsel members to support small and large business that pay their full time employees $19.00 per hour or more? That is a tough position to put oneself in, let alone follow through with.
I appreciate Fred's earnest, hard working approach to resolving to aggressively go after established businesses by marketing Portland as a place to establish themselves and support them with business tax/licensing fees that compliment the hiring of Portland residents. I also like his approach in wanting to reach out to minority owned businesses to locate in Portland.
Although I also appreciate Fred's wanting to make sure the children of low income people and minorities are given every opportunity to be fully educated, and wishing to establish a new funding source that will allow the city to provide services and learning opportunities for these same low income children, I might note here that there are a lot of middle income people who are now living month to month in this current economic climate, with no certainty of job retention. They too may not be able to afford their children an opportunity for higher education as well. Perhaps this area of "education ideas" could be approached in a broader community spectrum so all children may have the same opportunities of a higher education, perhaps in affilliation with small local community and/or private colleges-universities, or trade schools with the children living in those communities where the colleges are established? Just an idea.
Portland does need diversity on the City Council, not just of color, but also diversity of priorities and life experiences. I've already mailed in my vote; it was and is for Fred Stewart for Position 2, Portland City Council. I personally feel it was and is the right vote.
May 16, '08
Mike,
Thank you for welcoming me to Blue Oregon. This is the first time in three years of reading and posting that someone has welcomed me.
As for your theorizing on whether Fred has a shot or not at winning, your numbers are very wrong. Fred does not need to win 51% to go into a runoff with Nick Fish, he just needs to come in second and Fish be denied 50% + 1. With so many undecideds in this race (it is the KATU pool that shows better numbers) all you have to do adjust your calculations to around 25%. We all know Nick Fish does not do so well in runoffs so whoever gets Nick in a run off will most likely go on to win.
I know getting Fred to 25% is still a long shot but your OP statement and my OP question stands, how much money and and how many endorsements does a candidate need to get posted on Blue Oregon?
BTW, I would also like to welcome you to Blue Oregon too.
May 16, '08
Whoops, Wrong station.
Here is the poll
http://www.kptv.com/politics/16208257/detail.html
11:54 p.m.
May 16, '08
Mike,
Among other merits like a thought-provoking platform / program that is an interesting read regardless of Fred Stewart's electoral prospects, he has, I believe, been a commenter here in ways that I for one have appreciated. BlueOregon has published lots & lots of candidate statements in the past few weeks. I'm glad they published Mr. Stewart's, in light of the general practice, in light of Nick Fish's recent guest column, and as an act of courtesy to someone who has added dimension and interest to this intellectual community (insofar as it is that).
Your several long comments are a much bigger waste of bandwidth than the original column, come to it.
I only wish this had been published before I voted -- it might have changed my vote. Anyway, now I have a clearer picture of Fred Stewart for the future. And next time I'll wait to vote until election day.
May 17, '08
Mike
Yo,
Mike
How much? How many?
We would all like to know.
Have a good weekend.
May 19, '08
Check out fred's website, he has some new content posted. See how he would have answered the Portland City Club Questions if Nick Fish had let him on stage.
fredforportland.com