Golovan trial starts Monday

KGW reports the theft and forgery trial of Vladmir Golovan, “fundraiser” in the first run of Portland’s Public Campaign Finance Fund system, starts on Monday.

I’m glad I’ll be out of town. Steve, Luke and I are going on a vacation Steve’s been hoping to do for a long time – a driving tour of some of the National Parks in Utah, Arizona, and California. We’ll be gone from late this Friday until just before Independence Day. Maxwell is staying home to care for the cats, work, and take a break from long hours traveling; Ali will join us in California. It’s fun to have adult/nearly-adult children who choose to come along, or can be trusted to stay home and mind the fort. And I’m greatly looking forward to spending long hours with my sweet spouse and our enthusiastic, joyful firstborn.

People are innocent until proven guilty in this country, and the trial will tell us whether or not Mr. Golovan stole from Portland’s taxpayers. But my campaign volunteers, workers, and I put so much effort into avoiding even the appearance of impropriety in the way we collected qualifying donations and spent taxpayer money, it’s hard not to feel bitter about the “other” campaign which did not. People who betray not only trust, but a beautiful ideal and noble cause, harm our society deeply. One of the major successes of my campaign was that I proved an honest community candidate could negotiate the hurdles of the new system. I’m proud of that accomplishment. But still, I’m happy I will be gazing on the splendors of Zion, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and more, instead of opening up old scars reading news of the trial.