Tanew

Talking to myself mostly.

[Tanew @twonibbles]

@SenJeffMerkley Can u just lower costs for Oregonians?We ate paying crazy fees to ODFW.

[Ciatta Thompson @CiattaForHD33]

Oregon should be one of the best places in America to build a life.

Instead, we're increasingly told to accept less safety, less accountability, less opportunity, and lower expectations.

A state so rich in natural abundance should not be governed by a philosophy of decline.

My latest Substack:https://t.co/kABDp4QAjY

#OregonPolitics #BuildALife #PortlandOverParty

[Tanew @twonibbles]

@GovTinaKotek $44 to use my 2 kayaks in public waters.

[Tanew @twonibbles]

@pdxmoderate @GovTinaKotek They aren’t jumping ship. They’re continuing to fleece Oregon by moving to different jobs. Padding their PERS accounts.

[Tanew @twonibbles]

@pdxpragmatist Prolly a scheme to cash out their buddies on taxpayer dime.

[Portland Moderate. @pdxmoderate]

@mitch4portland does not give a flying fuck about 98% of small businesses and law abiding tax payers in Portland.

The DSA/ Peacocks on City council has shown zero sustained effort to tackle the “big three” issues: safety, homelessness/mental health, and job creation.

Instead, taxpayer energy is wasted on symbolic policies—Foie gras bans, hot dog cart micromanagement, and performative legislation like immigration enforcement “Protection Acts”—driven by a small minority aligned with DSA-style policies.

And what are the DSA councilors focused on at this weeks city council meeting?

Banning foie gras, pursuing an ordibsbce for ID by federal agents enforcing immigration law which is in clear violation of the supremacy clause, and renaming 39th street again and its was discovered Cesar Chavez molested children.

At a time when Portland residents are asking for leadership on homelessness, addiction, crime, economic recovery, and restoring confidence in the city, this proposals sends exactly the wrong message about priorities.

[JoJo @JojopdxOr]

So Portland, Oregon City Council turned a $500M project into a $2.56 billion boondoggle and raised your water bill again. @mitch4portland @MayorKWilson @councilorzimm

Classic. VOTE THEM ALL OUT!

This one is for you @pdxmoderate

Listen to “Bull Run Boondoggle (They Took Your Money and Ran)” — the only thing that went up faster than your bill.

#PDX #Portland #BullRun #oregon #DSA #Tax

[WebGirlHere 🍊🦆 @WebgirlHere]

If you were smart @KATUNews you would do the deep dive into the ramifications for the entire state.

No more fishing or crabbing on the Oregon coast. Would destroy those coastal communities.

Dairy farmers and Tillamook Cheese and Ice Cream? Gone.

Cattle ranching in Eastern Oregon or even the Valley. Gone.

Literally hundreds of thousands of jobs and companion industries wiped out in Oregon.

Most of you would become unemployed too because advertising would dry up.

Report responsibly on this @KATUNews

[Taren Feist @tarenfeist]

Let me remind you what we are really fighting against this November…

Tina Kotek just told reporters she’ll be relying on “experts” to figure out how Oregon should pay for ODOT moving forward after voters absolutely REJECTED Measure 120.

Reporter: “So tax increases are still on the table?”

Tina Kotek: “I will be looking to those experts to really clarify what it is that we need to have as a state and give us options on how to pay for it…”

Translation? Nothing is off the table.

And to make it even more insulting, Kotek blamed Trump’s war in Iran and rising gas prices for why the transportation tax package failed so miserably with voters.

No, Governor.

Oregonians voted NO because they’re tired of being squeezed for more money while watching government waste, delays, mismanagement, and out-of-control spending continue year after year.

Measure 120 failed because people cannot afford more taxes — and because voters no longer trust Salem to manage the money they already take from us.

[Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt]

Karen Bass is the worst leader I’ve ever seen. Nobody knew she was out of the country during the Palisades Fire. Nobody could order air tankers because her deputy mayor was under house arrest. Her LADWP chief didn’t know our reservoir was empty. Karen Bass is running an absolute CLOWN SHOW. Vote like your life depends on it! Cuz it does!

[Lara Logan @laralogan]

Spencer Pratt hits it out of the park.

[James Woods @RealJamesWoods]

Bass has became a punch line.

#TweakersForBass 😂

[Portland Moderate. @pdxmoderate]

Portland Community College President Dr. Adrien Bennings is the latest in a growing line of local government and quasi-public agency leaders to leave under controversy — only to walk away with a taxpayer-funded golden parachute despite organizational dysfunction, public backlash, and deep budget challenges.

The PCC Board of Trustees voted 6–1 Thursday to approve Bennings’ resignation agreement, awarding her a severance package worth roughly $261,000 — equal to nine months’ salary — along with up to nine months of health insurance coverage and a $25,000 retention bonus.

The payout comes as PCC faces ongoing financial restructuring and fallout from the first community college faculty strike in Oregon history.

For many Portland-area taxpayers, the pattern is becoming painfully familiar.

Whether at Home Forward, Portland Parks & Recreation, the Portland Housing Bureau, or Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program, leaders presiding over operational failures, financial turmoil, labor unrest, or ethics controversies repeatedly depart with lucrative severance deals funded by the public.

Meanwhile, the agencies they leave behind continue to face service cuts, staffing shortages, and widening budget deficits.

Bennings’ tenure at PCC became increasingly contentious after faculty and classified employees representing roughly 2,300 workers launched a historic strike that shut down classes and delayed the spring term.

As negotiations deteriorated, confidence in Bennings collapsed across the college community. Faculty voted 98% no confidence in her leadership, classified employees voted 94% no confidence, and PCC’s student government also overwhelmingly backed a no-confidence measure.

Her administration also became embroiled in an ethics controversy involving the slogan “One Together, Together One,” which is trademarked by a private company owned by Bennings’ husband and in which Bennings herself is listed as a member. A complaint over the arrangement was filed with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission by PCC trustee Kien Truong.

Truong cast the lone vote against the severance package, arguing that nine months of pay was excessive and objecting to a nondisparagement clause shielding board and cabinet members from criticism. He noted that while Bennings’ contract technically entitled her to as much as a full year of salary and benefits if terminated early, approving such a large payout in the current environment sent the wrong message.

Critics say these recurring executive payouts expose a culture of weak accountability in Portland-area public institutions: leaders oversee crises, morale collapses, budgets deteriorate, and public trust erodes — yet taxpayers are still expected to finance generous exits for executives whose performance many employees and residents view as failures.

At a time when local governments across the region warn of budget shortfalls, program cuts, and requests for additional taxes and fees, many residents are questioning why millions of public dollars continue flowing toward severance deals for departing administrators instead of frontline services.

Once again, Portlanders fleeced by paying high taxes for crappy government services. This is what communism looks like!

https://t.co/ifvdp2keiQ

@MayorKWilson @PortlandCC @jvegapederson @GovTinaKotek @PortlandHousing @homeforwardnews

[Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt]

BUSTED: Karen Bass caught paying street ops in black vehicles passing out needles and tourniquets to keep addicts high so her NGO friends can continue to profit off their misery and steal their Medicare $$. These people are sick. I’m ending this madness and imposing mandatory treatment. Enough death and misery.

[Polymarket Sports @PolymarketSport]

🚨BREAKING: Portland Trailblazers owner Tom Dundon could move the franchise to another state

Frustrations are growing as Portland politicians aren’t taking the relocation threat seriously

[Portland Moderate. @pdxmoderate]

The non-profit industry in Portland increasingly resembles the same entrenched public-sector union machine that dominates local politics: self-protecting, politically connected, and largely insulated from accountability.

Public money is funneled into organizations run by insiders who, in return, reinforce and financially support the same political class that keeps the system intact.

Oversight is treated as a threat, so graft, waste, bloated bureaucracy, and chronic inefficiency are quietly tolerated — if not outright rewarded.

Too many Portlanders either fail to recognize the scale of the grift or are unwilling to challenge the power structure for fear of losing influence, access, or political standing.

As a result, the cycle of wasteful spending and institutional corruption continues unchecked. Real reform will require far more citizens willing to confront these entrenched interests directly. I wish you the best of luck in that fight.

https://t.co/iPbjAVpYqP

@jvegapederson @MayorKWilson @GovTinaKotek @MentalOregon
@FBIDDBongino @FBIDDBongino @SecMullinDHS @DepartmentofHHS

[Portland Moderate. @pdxmoderate]

PPS is finally facing the consequences of years of avoiding hard budget decisions with one-time funding.

Enrollment has fallen 12.5% in seven years, and demographics suggest the decline will continue, yet spending and central administration kept growing as if enrollment wasn’t collapsing.

Now the district projects a $56.3 million deficit and plans to cut 336 positions. Meanwhile, property tax revenue is softening and PERS obligations continue rising. None of this should surprise anyone.

Board Chair Eddie Wang says, “There’s no more fat to cut. We’re into the bone.” But when student enrollment drops sharply while central-office hiring increases, it’s hard to argue the district already eliminated the “fat.” That sounds less like fiscal discipline and more like leadership refusing to confront reality until options disappear.

The broader problem is fragmented local governance: agencies keep adding programs, taxes, and long-term obligations without any coordinated view of affordability, demographic trends, or taxpayer limits. At some point, voters and families hit the wall.

PPS’s current trajectory is unsustainable and the actual educational results are bottom of the barrel for academic outcomes.

https://t.co/BvtmSELuSv

@MayorKWilson @PPSConnect @PPS_Connect @

[Sharon Meieran @SMeieran]

The truth is Multnomah literally has no idea what it’s doing. First it couldn’t spend enough money fast enough; now it says it doesn’t have enough money and needs to cut lifesaving services. Two years ago its highest priority was creating shelter beds; now its highest priority is closing them.

This is not a “perfect storm of factors” leading to worsening homelessness, this is uninterrupted incompetence leading to tragedy.

The County *still* does not have a baseline count of how many people are living outside (a By-Name List), so it has no way of knowing how many people are actually homeless.

The County *still* is not measuring factors that tell us whether anything it is doing is working.

And the County is cutting some of its most valuable services - treatment, recovery housing, and workforce training - while throwing its government partners under the bus.

All of this boils down to failed leadership and no plan. Meanwhile, we are beginning a political race for county chair, and none of the current candidates thought it necessary to share an actual plan when they announced their intention to run.

It is not enough to want to be county chair to lead Multnomah County. We need people who actually want to *do* something. Unless, of course, that something is hiring the guy who helped lead LA’s homeless system into a multibillion dollar lawsuit and dissolution of its joint office of homeless services. That’s not qualified work experience, it should have been a quick reference check.

We do not have to settle for this accelerating spiral of nonsense. There is a way forward that can get better outcomes (read: save lives) while spending less. And it doesn’t involve throwing human beings out of shelters and onto the streets like garbage.

It involves a plan with clear leadership, measurable outcomes, meaningful goals, accurate data, coordination, and relentless accountability.

The race for county chair doesn’t have to be yet another fight about who wants to be something rather than do something.

It’s time to put an end to this tragic farce and start our County’s path to recovery.

https://t.co/REVBqXpIW8

[Ciatta Thompson @CiattaForHD33]

I filed the complaint.

Ethics officials say Portland’s Peacock councilors didn’t violate public meetings law after their private August retreat — even though a quorum appeared to be discussing city business behind closed doors.

That’s exactly the problem.

If this is “legal,” the law isn’t strong enough.

Portlanders deserve transparency.

I’m not backing down.

https://t.co/L86ZZqGICv

#Portland #Transparency #OpenGovernment #Accountability