A persistent local government problem is that many elective officials are so dependent on the administration for information, that it puts them at a disadvantage to provide effective budget oversight
An exception is Herman Greene, who as a former Portland School Board member, could go against conventional wisdom and prevail. He handled the tough job of negotiating teacher contracts, identifying some costs savings and has a good eye for budget detail. That makes him our first choice for election to the District 2 Multnomah County board of commission seat representing N/NE Portland. His endorsements include county commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, State Rep. Travis Nelson, D-N/NE Portland and other community leaders.
Greene sees the county’s $ 4 billion budget as “as a pie” to judiciously spent on health, human services and public safety needs, rather than “bottomless well of money” as some candidates do. One of his priorities is working closely with city and state leadership to foster a local economy that grows enough to generate revenue to fully fund county services
Multnomah County is using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in the Nov. 3 election, similar to what the City of Portland started two years. That’s too bad. The RCV system of asking voters to select and rank six candidates has proven ripe for interest-group shenanigans that manipulate the convoluted RCV vote tabulation formula, such as in 2024 when several candidates won city council seats, while only being the first-choice of fewer than 15 percent of the voters.
Fortunately, voters have two other candidates in this race who could capably serve as commissioners. Nabil Zaghlou is a strong second choice with a deep resume of administrative experience in the county including the county Health, Human Services and Community Justice departments. We hope he stays involved in county issues, particularly homelessness. His endorsements include former commissioner Sharon Meieran and District 2 city councilor Sameer Kanal.
Serena Cruz was a Multnomah County Commissioner from 1998 to 2006. She took some knocks, some deserved, for not working well with colleagues including then-County Chair Diane Linn back then. Cruz later successfully worked the non-profit Virginia Garcia Heath Center for many years and re-emerged as the county’s Operating Officer in 2021 before leaving in 2024. We support political redemption, and were impressed in a long interview with Cruz by her expressions of regret over some early rookie career and her command of county issues today.
Businessman Tony Robertson and retired businessman Bruce Broussard have long-standing roots and community commitments and would get the nod for fourth and fifth ranking positions. We could not identify any remaining candidates with the background or temperament to qualify for the sixth spot.