Ready when you are, Mayor

So, it’s February 27. Two months from today, ballots will begin arriving in mailboxes, asking voters to give one person sweeping power over everything and everyone in Portland, gut civil service protections, and sign up for more complicated changes on the ballot every couple of years with only a few weeks’ notice. When referring these measures to the May ballot, Mayor Potter and Commissioner Saltzman promised a vigorous public outreach and education campaign, so voters can make informed decisions on whether to change the way we’ve done things in Portland for nearly a century. “The campaign trail is the best way to talk with voters”, said Commissioner Saltzman.

What is this public campaign going to look like? When is it going to start? Who is designing the public process, to make it fair, inclusive, and informative?

Or by “education and discussion”, do they really mean “PR soundbites, once-a-week articles in mainstream newspapers that have already announced support for the changes, and corporate/union funded advertising”?

Tick, tock, tick, tock. No, not “24”. Two months and counting, Mayor Potter.

Update 12:27 p.m. – I missed this editorial in the Tribune last week, calling for a citizen-led education campaign in support of the proposals. But the Charter Review Commission members who spoke at the hearings were mostly very clear they were done, and it was the elected officials sending the measures to the ballot with unseemly haste who promised the huge public outreach program to explain it to voters. So my questions remain, what will that process look like, and when is it going to start? And is it going to be more than advertising paid for by the very people who will benefit or lose if the measures pass?