HAP Stealth Nominee Sneaks In Under The Radar 1/5/04
The Portland City Council, Vera Katz - Erik Sten - Jim Francesconi - Dan Saltzman - Randy Leonard, has committed a dishonorable and unethical act by surreptitiously appointing Harriet Cormack to the board of the Housing Authority of Portland during a major holiday week without notifying the public the press or those who made written requests to testify.
The fact that our country was on high orange national alert does not justify the excessive unnecessary speed and covertness propelling this appointment. The mayor's decision to place on the no-public-discussion-allowed Consent Agenda* and the council's decision to pass this appointee with the unquestionably deliberate intention of prohibiting public input exhibits a callous disrespect for the citizens of Multnomah county and the basic ethical standards of government process. I offer to cheerfully debate this point with any member of the city council in a public forum.
Some Background On Process
Only the mayor of Portland has the statutory authority to choose a nominee for the HAP board for submission to the city council for approval. Only the mayor of Portland has the statutory authority to place a nominee for the HAP board on the Portland City Council agenda. The mayor of Portland may choose the nominee from a suggestion offered by a city commissioner or pick the name at random out of the phone book. The mayor of Portland is under no statutory obligation to accept any suggestions made by a city commissioner or her next door neighbor. All of the statutory responsibility and obligations to choose and present a HAP nominee are solely in the hands of the mayor. In house "understandings" carry no official legal weight. The mayor, and only the mayor, is accountable for the quality and competence of the HAP nominee. It's her nomination to promote and defend.
However, now that the entire council has voted on this appointment they all now share the obligation to defend their choices.
Every member of the Portland City Council has consented to the uncontroversial and unchallenged veracity of this statement:
Neither mayor Katz nor any member of the Portland city council that just voted to place Ms. Cormack in a position of high public trust and responsibility can produce any evidence to show that prior to the confirmation vote they made any effort at all to learn about and tell the public what Harriet Cormack's views were on the serious public policy issues (See Below) that will confront her as a HAP board member.
Her views on public policy a mystery to one and all, the poorly vetted and apparently inscrutable Ms. Cormack will nevertheless sit on a public board which has the statutory authority to spend around 80-100 million taxpayer dollars per year. Below are only five of many reasonable and legitimate public policy questions Mayor Katz and her coconspirators should have asked Ms. Cormack BEFORE placing her name up for consideration.
1. What does she think about citizen access to members of public boards and commissions?
2. Does she support the city of Portland's official policy of distribution not concentration of public low-income clients?
3. Will she support neighborhood map based accounting of HAP clients as a method to evaluate and defend HAP's current effective policy of concentrating low-income clients into just a few neighborhoods?
4. Does Ms. Cormack think that it is acceptable and good public policy for ten of one hundred and seventeen neighborhoods in Multnomah County to house twenty-six percent of all HAP's clients?
5. Does she support a real estate covenant which will require all for sale houses at Columbia Villa to remain in perpetuity owner occupied and never rental?
Katz, Francesconi, Sten, Saltzman and Leonard have caused harm to the body politic by diminishing our faith in the democratic process of city government as well as offending our concept of fair play. It's one thing to win the game by ignoring the public but quite another to not let us play at all. If you have voted for or given money to any of these folks and believe that appointed members of public boards with statutory authority to spend millions of dollars of public money should tell the public, the press and, most certainly, the Portland City Council what public policy positions they hold BEFORE they are approved then contact these city officials and tell them (Copy me).
Were HAP appointees elected we would DEMAND to know their public policy positions.
* http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/KatzShame.html
Richard Ellmyer
Portsmouth neighborhood
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org
P.S.
Below are relevant emails which are part of the public record.
From: ellmyer@macsolve.com
Subject: Postpone HAP Appointment
Date: December 30, 2003 4:02:00 PM PST
To: rleonard@ci.portland.or.us, kmoore-love@ci.portland.or.us, dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us, jfrancesconi@ci.portland.or.us, erik@ci.portland.or.us
Cc: mayorkatz@ci.portland.or.us
I have either left phone messages or talked to staff in each of your offices. I request that a motion be made to postpone the HAP appointment for a later date. What we have before us is something that acts like, smells like and in fact is a stealth nominating process. This process has no legitimacy. It is wrong. Neither the public nor the commissioners nor I have any idea where the appointee, Harriet Cormack, stands on a number of important public policy issues. Two days notice to me and no notice to the public is totally unacceptable. There is no impending crisis that would compel the city council to act on this nomination immediately.
You were all told and you all know that I intended to testify on this matter. I suspect others may also wish to express an opinion when we have more time and information. You diminish yourselves and people's trust in government when you "try to pull a fast one on the public" which is exactly how I see it, how the press will see it, how I will tell it and how it will be perceived by the voters and the public. Please postpone this appointment for a later date. Thank you.
Richard Ellmyer
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From: ellmyer@macsolve.com
Subject: New Fish In The HAP Tank
Date: December 2, 2003 11:24:57 AM PST
To: mayorkatz@ci.portland.or.us
Cc: rleonard@ci.portland.or.us, dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us, jfrancesconi@ci.portland.or.us, erik@ci.portland.or.us, mmock@ci.portland.or.us
Mayor Katz:
Nick Fish has announced that he will be leaving the HAP board before the end of the year. I would like to be kept informed about any public documents or meetings that will involve his replacement, especially and particularly the opportunity to speak before the council on his chosen successor. Thank you.
Richard Ellmyer