There’s a term of art in the computer gaming community. When you lose–and lose big–you’re not just ‘owned,’ you’re ‘pnwed.’ Undoubtedly spun off from a typo somewhere along the line, the misspelling stuck and now when someone is totally dominated they’re “pwned.” So are the voters of Portland if they approve this measure called “Voter Owned Elections.”
The “trust us” Portland City Commissioners passed this take away from taxpayers in 2006 with the promise that they’d—I’m not making this up–“let us” vote on it in 2010. They thought we’d forget. We didn’t. After some public jousting,  the Commissioners were shamed into setting a date for the election.
This ordinance is nothing more than an incumbent protection act. It allows candidates for City Commission, Mayor or Auditor receive public–read: taxpayer—funding for their campaigns. The ordinance requires 1000 people to give you $5.00 and voila you get up to $200,000.00 (in general elections) of free money from the taxpayers to run for office. Incumbents who choose to participate automatically gain the advantage because they already have tremendous name identification and free advertising from free news coverage, events, etc. You get the picture. Advantage: Incumbents. Taxpayers: Pwned.

It’s an invitation to fraud which we’ve seen several times during it’s four year life. It’s time for it to go.

We can’t afford it. If people want to run for office they can do it like Sam, Randy, Nick and the rest of them (except Amanda) did: they can go out and do it themselves. This is America for crying out loud, where is it written that we have to indulge your political fantasies and pay for you election? 

City of Portland Commissioners have often said that this really isn’t a tax increase. That’s horse feathers. When you take money out of current operating expenses which cause these layabouts to back fill with, oh, I don’t know, bonds for, hmmm… let me think, fire trucks? it’s a tax increase. With hundreds of millions in unfunded police and fire liabilities, using sewage money infrastructure money for bike paths, you understand that Portland has a few bills to pay and can’t afford to see the money go away.

The City’s office of Neighborhood Involvement, as I have reported before, has sent emails out to Neighborhood Associations urging the passage of this measure. Let me be clear: they’re using our tax dollars to advocate for a position which personally benefits themselves.

I just received a robo call from the Voter Pwned elections folks. Earlier this week I received a shiny flyer urging a yes vote.. I don’t who’s paying for that expensive stuff but it had better not be my tax dollars.
I already feel pwned enough.