Jefferson Smith Goes Even Deeper in Discussing His Admittedly "Embarrassing" DMV Record

Portland Mercury:

If you haven't checked out yesterday's post on Jefferson Smith's driving record—his campaign provided me with a detailed accounting of lapses and citations and missed court dates stretching back to 1993—you really should. It's caught a lot of eyeballs so far, and the post's commenters started a decently healthy discussion on what this pernicious issue (which might finally be put to bed) means for this fall's mayoral runoff. But one commenter, in particular, deserves a little extra attention: Smith himself. The candidate, on his way out the door for a vacation, contributed a long, self-written Q&A; about any other question he says he could imagine someone asking him after looking at the list of infractions. It builds off the answers he gave us yesterday, going deep and getting personal. Consider this excerpt: Q: Why didn’t you pay your fines in a timely fashion or defend yourself an hearings? Why wasn’t your insurance current? A: My insurance is current and I have paid my fines. In 2002-2004, part of my challenge was that I didn’t have money. I avoided them, thinking I could address the consequences later... I should be better at opening my mail. It is a big part of the embarrassing blind spot. Sure, Smith is still exercising a measure of control over the conversation by asking himself the questions before answering—including serving up some opportunities to redirect readers toward his campaign themes. But the decision to engage in details marks a stark turnabout from the formula he used last week when the Oregonian started asking about all this stuff, in detail, again: Admit error, take responsibility, rinse, and repeat. He and his advisers probably figured out that wasn't making anyone feel any better and was, in fact, provoking more questions. And so here we are—getting closer and closer to an Election Day where intangibles and character issues like this matter as much as the less-dramatic-than-it-seems amount of daylight between Smith and Charlie Hales on policy issues. Hales has had his own problems with notable stumbles—and has actually made them during the campaign, no less. Will Smith's driving record matter more? Will it cost him votes among the undecided mass of Portlanders who didn't turn out in May—voters both Smith and Hales need to turn out in November? Or will it mostly just confirm decisions made long ago by voters who will never, ever vote for Smith? Read Smith's full Q&A; after the cut and keep the conversation going in the comments. [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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