Portland mayor candidates promise more open government

PORTLAND, Ore. - The leading candidates to be Portland's next mayor vowed during a Thursday forum to improve transparency at City Hall, in part, because voters are demanding it.

Voters don't trust politicians as has been demonstrated by the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party. These very different groups are calling on candidates to let them in on the decision-making process and their influence is being seen in the Portland mayor's race.

The three leading candidates for mayor, Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith, all told the crowd at the League of Women Voters' candidates forum they want more transparency in Portland City Hall, but they stressed different ways to make it happen.

"I'm going to make my calendar completely transparent so you will know not only what meeting I'm having that day but who's in the room, who's lobbying me and who else is in that meeting for part of the discussion," Brady said. "And my staff will have that same protocol."

If Brady wins she says there won’t be any closed-door deals in City Hall that the public isn't part of and she'll make it easier to request public records.

"Providing information is not enough," said Smith. "We put the budget online, but also Enron's dealings were all public records."

Smith wants to focus more on explaining to voters what the city is doing.

"We need to do a better job linking the taxes and fees that people pay with the services and value they're getting," he said after the forum. "What are we doing with roads? What are we doing with schools? What are we doing with teachers and parks?"

"When I'm mayor, we won't have to be sued by people to make sure we're not misspending water revenues on things that have nothing to do with water," said Hales.

Hales, a former city commissioner, said the city budget debate takes too much time. If he wins, he'll set a budget every two years instead of annually.

He also vows to move council meetings out of City hall and into neighborhoods once a month.

"The council members and the mayor are on the payroll. They can work flexibly and go to where the people are," he said.

Smith and Brady are also in favor of occasionally holding City Council meetings outside of Portland City Hall to involve more residents in the political process.