Rene For Portland

Fought for children’s access to schools & sports and a safer city. Portland’s last commissioner.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

So proud of @iaff43 for supporting Portland Police in this crucial ballot measure.

Portland badly understaffs public safety, including the police department. Time to change that. https://t.co/7fXt8WC7fO

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

This isn’t about any one incident.

We’ve seen these tensions around political violence and institutional response play out over several years in Portland, in Oregon.

Consistency in standards is what matters.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

Portland’s struggles this decade have many causes.

The normalization of political violence in our community is part of that story. So is our institutions’ struggle to consistently protect constitutional and civic norms.

Lewis & Clark, and often the local press, can and should do better. Our community needs it.

[Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo]

Lewis & Clark College @lewisandclark in Portland, Ore. is hosting Antifa terrorism and radicalization training at a symposium on April 13–15.

They are directing attendees to hide their faces, and the training on April 14 at the Gregg Pavilion building includes reading claims of responsibility of terrorist attacks from anarchist blogs and how to help "comrades" escape arrest. https://t.co/kQI4NRELlC

@EDSecMcMahon @HarmeetKDhillon, Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college, but it does take federal funding.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@pdx_gate I think a very small % of Portlanders support political violence.
The challenge is making sure institutions respond to it clearly and consistently when it does occur, and don’t normalize it. We also shouldn’t conflate free speech with the promotion of violence.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

A Multnomah County judge found Portland’s campaign finance enforcement process violated basic due process protections, including the lack of a hearing.

The federal lawsuit filed this week seeks accountability so those standards are upheld going forward. Especially in the middle of an election.

https://t.co/JmMAVGaYPF

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

An Oregon court found Portland’s campaign finance enforcement process violated due process during the 2024 election.

A federal lawsuit has now been filed seeking accountability and to ensure due process and free speech standards are upheld going forward.

https://t.co/9roNIHAPHB

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

Portland City Council approved changes to campaign finance code last night following a court ruling that the prior enforcement process was unconstitutional.

The changes attempt to address the framework going forward, and I’m continuing to review the full scope.

They do not address what happens when constitutional violations have already occurred.

Enforcement authority matters—but so do constitutional guardrails.

Legitimacy depends on both.

https://t.co/jtNo2jBmUB

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

One correction — I had forgotten that Stephen served two terms on the school board. I knew him primarily as a civic-minded member of the private Bar, where he mentored and shaped so many of us.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

My heart aches for Stephen’s family, Lincoln students, and our broader community.

Stephen interviewed me as a 3L, and I genuinely believe he is the reason I received my offer from Stoel Rives.

Every day he embodied decency and civic-minded service within the private Bar. Our community has lost a remarkable person who never held elected office — yet shaped generations. May we never forget the quiet impact of those who serve and inspire.

https://t.co/PcVkfM6JHL

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

For context on rerouting corporate surcharge funds to police staffing: Portland’s police force is among the most thinly staffed in the U.S.—just ~1.2 officers per 1,000 residents (48th of the 50 largest cities) vs a ~2.4 national average.

If we’re serious about public safety, we need a realistic plan to reach peer-city staffing + deployment levels.
#PDX #PublicSafety #BudgetMatters

https://t.co/6itv7rPB4k

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@sportsmook @elonmusk @Grokipedia Thank you! My professional responsibilities in 2025 require restraint in public comments on the mayor or governor, other then best wishes and candid feedback when they ask for it.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

There’s been renewed debate this week - sparked by @elonmusk talk of @Grokipedia - about who gets to define “truth” online.

From our small corner in Portland, we lived that question in 2024. While I was in office, we tried to correct simple, verifiable facts on Wikipedia — and instead watched anonymous editors twist the record further, even rewriting our work to restore children’s access to schools and sports.

Whatever you think of Musk, his point about bias in online reference platforms rings true: when falsehoods harden into “fact,” what recourse do public officials - or any citizen - really have?

Portland may be small on the global stage, but we’ve been living this problem in real time.

#TruthOnline #DigitalAccountability #Wikipedia

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

From our family to yours, we’re holding Candace Avalos and her loved ones in our hearts after the devastating fire at her home. No one should have to endure such trauma. Wishing strength, healing, and justice. 💔
https://t.co/IwtmaVZQvZ

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@PNW_working_mom @honeybadgermom It folded during covid, some years after I was on the board, but I did platform its fundraising efforts once I learned about it in ED300.
Closure was a terrible, terrible symbol for Portland families.
Resurrecting it would be also be a great symbol for the city.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@BlueWizard777 The national drama over South Waterfront is certainly not good for the city and takes attention away from our opportunities and problems.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

With so much national attention on Portland Police — and local elites in the press and government struggling to give the full picture of Antifa’s damage to our city — it’s important that the many Portlanders who support their police speak up.

In 2022, Portland Police stopped a known arsonist from threatening our campaign celebration — the same individual who had tried to burn down the Justice Center in 2021.

Simply put, they protected the people I love.

Thank you to the Portland Police Bureau for their professionalism and courage that night — at a time when the Willamette Week's of the world and other local elites ignored or had begun to normalize these acts against local officials, particularly between 2020 and 2024.

Too often, Portland’s officers do their jobs despite the barriers others have placed in their way:
• 2020 state legislation that ties police hands,
• over a decade of federal (DOJ) micromanagement under “oversight,” and
• one of the lowest officer-to-resident ratios in America.
During my time as Commissioner (2023–24), we began to reverse that trend — making real progress on staffing, recruiting, and retention within Portland Police.
But with a new regime in place, and the nationalization of the debate on Portland policing, it remains to be seen whether local government will again become captured by the same radical elements that have dominated policing policy for years.
For too long, political thinking and policy-making in Portland and Oregon have been radicalized by groups like the ACLU and aligned activist networks.
That ideology has warped public-safety policy and left our officers unsupported — leading to a less effective police department.

The men and women on the street — those who actually show up to protect our city — continue to deserve our gratitude and support.

When Portland Police are supported, Portland is safer.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@wweek is capable of hard hitting investigative reporting.
However, they have been uniquely horrific when it comes to antifa violence and threats against electeds in the City of Portland - they simply want to ignore. Further, when they are using snark font, accuracy can go out the window.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@PointNemo61 That is a very good question for the press to take on.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

@PointNemo61 No but antifa apologists and deniers purport to.

[Rene For Portland @reneforportland]

OHSU provided critical care when our twins were born. They save countless Oregon families every day.
Antifa/anarchists — when you embrace chaos, you threaten our most vulnerable. Interfering with emergency flights is pure selfishness. That’s not protest; it’s cruelty.
https://t.co/aPBTm2Cd0B