Isaac Laquedem

Does PETA know about this?

So asks Mrs. Laquedem after reading that Senator Clinton, apparently in reference to why she's still campaigning, said, "You can't tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him."

Legal Weed in your beer? ATF says yes, but no

Some brewers name their beer or their company after their home town.  One brewer in California proudly advertises its home town (named after the town's founder, a California state senator of long ago) on its bottle caps, but the  Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (part of the federal Department of the Treasury) wants the brewer to stop. 

Why?  The brewer's home town is named after Abner Weed, and its bottle cap slogans include "Try LEGAL Weed" and "A friend in Weed is a friend indeed."  The Treasury Department doesn't like the slogans, for two reasons:  (1) they promote the use of illegal drugs, and (2) they falsely suggest that the beer contains marijuana.

Here's a paradox: the federal government doesn't want sick Oregonians to smoke marijuana, but it complains that California beer drinkers are missing out.

[Thanks to Martha Neil and the ABA Journal.]

Franz Kafka gets a job with the Passport Agency

The passport of a Laquedem Friend expired on May 7.  Wanting to travel overseas soon, she made an appointment to visit the Passport Agency in Seattle for expedited service.  A day or two later, someone stole her purse.

She and her husband went to Seattle and arrived at the checkpoint for the building that houses the Passport Agency.  "Please show some identification," the guard told them.  Mr. Friend showed his driver's license.  Mrs. Friend showed her passport.  "This passport is no good as identification," said the guard, "because it expired last week."  "I don't have anything else," said Mrs. Friend, "my driver's license was stolen."  "Then you can't go upstairs," said the guard.

She waited downstairs while Mr. Friend took her passport application upstairs and went to the window for his wife's appointment.  "Where's Mrs. Friend?" asked the passport agent.  "She needs to appear in person."  "She's here," said Mr. Friend, "but they won't let her upstairs because her passport has expired.  Can you come downstairs and tell the guard that she can come up?"  "No," said the agent, "and since she isn't here in person, this is the wrong form.  She needs to complete this other form instead."  "She is here in person," said Mr. Friend, "except that your guard won't let her come upstairs."  "Here means here, not down there," said the agent, "and she isn't here."

Mr. Friend took the other form downstairs to Mrs. Friend, who completed it.   Mr. Friend then brought it back upstairs and handed it in.  "Good," said the agent, "now because she's not here in person, in order to expedite her application, we need a letter from her employer saying that she's scheduled to leave the country soon."

This was the first bright spot in the whole process; Mrs. Friend works for a business owned by Mr. and Mrs. Friend.  Mr. Friend obtained a piece of paper and wrote out the letter on the spot.  He didn't notice whether the passport agent was disappointed at how quickly he solved the problem, but I think that just to be on the safe side, Mr. and Mrs. Friend are now planning a U.S.A. vacation.

Election Night IV - knowing when it's time to go home

Habitues of Republican victory parties will, after a while, see spots before their eyes about the size of golf balls. (Force of habit.) Those who frequent Democratic parties around here will eventually see Kafourys. I see three of that stalwart Democratic family - time to go home.

Election Night III - that 0.17% of a delegate is going to be a real pain

Mrs. Laquedem sends e-mails with the Obama-Clinton results county by county as they come in. In the midst of the results (Senator Obama is strong in Benton County, weak in Linn; strong in Jackson, weak in Josephine) she mentions that a pundit says that to win a majority of the pledged delegates, Senator Clinton now needs to win 103.17% of those that remain.

Election night II - upstairs at the Benson

John Kroger's party is at the top of the Benson Hotel. They get the good news early in the night. They also have soft drinks for the asking and, ceremonially resplendent in a cardboard box, the symbol of a political campaign: two slices of cold pizza. One of Mr. Kroger's law school classmates gives him a high-five in the hallway. Mr. Kroger grins, and for a moment looks like a gangly 16-year-old who's just been given a Ferrari for his birthday. The Knower of All Things tells a friend that Rep. Macpherson's campaign made a big mistake by going negative. No one disagrees.

Isaac makes the rounds on election night

Observations from the rounds of tonight's campaign parties:

The televisions at Steve Novick's party were in the back and not very big, so Metro chief David Bragdon announced the results from time to time. Though Mr. Novick lost the primary to House speaker Jeff Merkley, he ran an outstanding campaign and we'll no doubt hear from him in 2010. My prediction: he'll run for the First District if (when?) David Wu announces his intention to return to private life.

One interesting thing here is the crowd reaction when Mr. Bragdon announces the results in other races. Not surprisingly there's a great cheer at the news that Kate Brown has a strong lead over Rick Metsger -- her victory party is downstairs and there's much coming-and-going between the two. More telling is the reaction to the Obama-Clinton results: half the crowd cheers, half is politely silent.

We'll be out there leading, about two or three steps behind you (that's off of the record)

Election day is not complete without revisiting a lyric by Tom Paxton called "We All Sound the Same," the first verse of which is:

The candidates come and the candidates go, and we all sound the same
I'm Eeenie, I'm Meenie, I'm Minie, I'm Mo, and we all sound the same
We're having another election this year,
We're hiring the halls and we're pouring the beer
We'll tell you precisely what you long to hear,
And we all sound the same.

I heard Mr. Paxton sing this in Portland some years ago.  When he finished the song he said that in some midwestern city (possibly Madison or Ann Arbor), the local candidates were doing a joint appearance and debate, and at the end of it they joined hands and sang the song.

"It's a satire!" Mr. Paxton complained.

Endorsements IV: Portland City Hall

Portland City Hall hasn't been spared the liveliness that's characterized the other electoral choices we face next week.  Erik Sten's resignation means that four seats are on the ballot: a new mayor, two new commissioners, and Randy Leonard's re-election bid.

Taking these from easiest to hardest:  first, Portland voters should re-elect Commissioner Leonard over his two challengers.  The council works best when its members bring a variety of views and experiences.  Five Commissioners Leonard would be too many, but zero is too few.  His challengers, who didn't bother to file a statement in the Voter's Pamphlet, haven't made a case for replacing him.

Next, for seat no. 2, voters have an easy choice in selecting Nick Fish over the four other candidates.  Jim Middaugh is an engaging fellow who's worked in City Hall for the last several years, and would be a fine addition to the council if Mr. Fish were not in the race, but it's Mr. Fish's turn to have a chance to put his energy and creativity to work in City Hall.  (Speculate on who would be running for mayor today if he had defeated Sam Adams in 2004.)

Six candidates, all credible, want seat no. 1.  Some appeal to specific groups: for example, unionists may vote for Mike Fahey, and neighborhood activists for Amanda Fritz.  I'm also impressed by Charles Lewis's "back to basics" campaign platform, though experience suggests that those platforms don't often survive an official's first term in office.  I have nothing negative about any of the candidates.  I recommend that voters without a strong reason to prefer for one candidate over another vote for Jeff Bissonnette, whose background is with the Citizens' Utility Board.  The City Council missed an easy one when they dithered over whether to acquire Portland General Electric or its assets after Enron went under, and got mired in internecine fighting with other local governments over how to run PGE after a purchase.  On the off chance that the city gets a similar chance, I'd like to see Mr. Bissonnette on the council.

What about the center chair?   Sam Adams had the election wrapped up, until Mr. Dozono showed up to make this a contest.  I like Mr. Adams's energy.  I don't like how he handles land use issues, in particular the City's schizophrenia over big-box retail that allows one big box, Ikea, into an industrial area but keeps another, Wal-Mart, out of retail zones.  On such things the government is supposed to be a referee and not a power forward.  Mr. Dozono makes a good case for why Mr. Adams should not become the mayor (let's not even mention the Sauvie Island bridge fiasco), but he's less compelling about why voters should elect him instead.

The main reason, at this time, for electing Mr. Dozono is similar to my reason for supporting Commissioner Leonard.  In addition to his long record of civic service, Mr. Dozono has owned and operated a business in downtown Portland for many years.  As the city piles project after project into downtown, it often overlooks -- ignores outright -- how those projects encourage downtown businesses to pack up and move somewhere else.  The City needs a downtown businessperson on the council.  I recommend voting for Mr. Dozono.

Endorsements III: the statewide races

Three state senators and an independent-minded Democrat want the nomination for secretary of state.  The secretary of state's main duties are to publish the Oregon Blue Book, manage elections, and register corporations.  It's not an onerous position.  The main practical task of most secretaries of state is to plan a run for the governorship.  The secretary of state is also one of the three members of the State Land Board, a position with a lot of theoretical power that's not often visibly exercised.

Any of Senators Kate Brown, Rick Metsger, and Vicki Walker would serve the state well.  I give the edge this year to Senator Walker principally because of her recent record in bringing to public attention matters that the political establishment had ignored or set aside.  She can more easily continue her whistleblowing as a statewide official with a department than as one of 30 state senators.

The attorney general's race presents two fine candidates in Greg Macpherson and John Kroger, each a possessor of a Harvard law degree.  Rep. Macpherson serves in the Oregon House and was active in promoting Measure 49.  Professor Kroger teaches law at Lewis & Clark Law School and was formerly a federal prosecutor.  Professor Kroger stresses four priorities he would have as attorney general, including most interestingly pursuing polluters.  (Have you swum in the Willamette lately?)  Rep. Macpherson's campaign rhetoric started by playing up his long ties to Oregon and his experience in the legislature and as a pension lawyer in private practice, but has been moving toward that of Professor Kroger.  (Compare their pages in the Voter's Pamphlet to see how close they have come to each other.)

Either man would serve with distinction.  I favor Professor Kroger, very slightly, for two reasons.  First is that the current attorney general has administered the office safely and efficiently, but without great flair, and I believe that Professor Kroger is better suited to "wake up" the office.  Second is that the incumbent came to the job from Rep. Macpherson's law firm, and the state is better served by having officeholders come from a variety of cities, backgrounds, and employers.  (This is akin to the concept of it being time for the Clintons and Bushes to give someone else a chance.) 

Ben Westlund is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state treasurer.  The Republican party found only one candidate each for secretary of state and state treasurer, and no one at all for attorney general, and I make no recommendation in those races.