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Chairing Is Caring · The Schmidt Show PDX

0:00
SPEAKER_01: A quick word from our show sponsor,
0:02
SPEAKER_01: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Dr. Moret from Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: My vision for Corbett Hill has always been simple,
0:11
SPEAKER_00: to give our community a place for whole person care with people they can trust.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Today, we offer chiropractic,
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SPEAKER_00: massage,
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SPEAKER_00: acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, laser treatment, shockwave therapy, and more.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Different kinds of care with one goal, helping you feel your best.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Corbett Hill Wellness Center, move well, Feel well.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Live well.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Visit CorbettHill.com.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm Mike Schmidt, former Multnomah DA, amateur nonprofit Gala MC.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Street Roots for their successful event this week.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: And of course, your favorite part time podcaster.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: Listen, everybody,
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Election Day is less than It's seven weeks away,
1:14
SPEAKER_01: and in many races on your ballot, someone new is about to take charge.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: That includes the biggest job most people can't describe, Multnomah County Chair.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: The incumbent isn't running again,
1:25
SPEAKER_01: so no matter who wins, we're getting a new leader and a new direction.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: My guest today spent 14 years on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners,
1:33
SPEAKER_01: eight of them as chair.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: She helped guide the county through COVID-19 pandemic and left office at the end of 2022.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: She's now chief of staff at Portland Public Schools.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: In my conversation,
1:43
SPEAKER_01: we will discuss what it was actually like to be chair
1:45
SPEAKER_01: and what voters should be asking the candidates who are now vying for the position.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: That's what's coming up.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: But first,
1:51
SPEAKER_01: we turn once again to our trash news correspondent,
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor Jones for our recurring segment called...
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor, what was in the news this week?
2:03
SPEAKER_02: Wow, Mike, I am so glad you asked.
2:05
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot going on right now.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: And today I would really like to bring our focus to a group
2:10
SPEAKER_02: that does not get nearly enough attention.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: Men.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: I feel.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: So I previously talked on the show about how leaders in the AI field have wanted
2:21
SPEAKER_02: to rein in AI development because they're pretty sure it will kill us all.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: President Donald Trump, of course, did nothing at all to make us feel any safer.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: And last week on social media,
2:31
SPEAKER_02: he said,
2:31
SPEAKER_02: I am the hoax buster and right now breaking another hoax that AI is going to take
2:39
SPEAKER_02: over,
2:39
SPEAKER_02: consume and destroy the world and that robots will be marching into our cities
2:44
SPEAKER_02: and getting rid of us all.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: So I feel better.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: My concern around AI
2:52
SPEAKER_02: and smart technology like robots definitely does not have anything to do
2:57
SPEAKER_02: with them marching into our city.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: So I'm always seeing videos on Instagram
3:02
SPEAKER_02: of allegedly fancy high tech new robots trying to breakdance or do karate
3:07
SPEAKER_02: or even like go downstairs.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: And they can't do it.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: So I'm really doubtful that they can also march downstairs.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: Of all the places I fear rapidly advancing technology, it's not when they're trying to walk.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not the kickboxing.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: But, oh God, forgive me for saying this.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of being unable to walk, Mitch McConnell was back in the Senate last week.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'll be honest, I did not believe Mitch McConnell...
3:35
SPEAKER_02: Was still alive.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: And I admit that I was wrong.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: That said,
3:39
SPEAKER_02: while he may not be technically dead,
3:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure what we saw was exactly alive either.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: But so now we're going back to the robots.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: If they could make robots that moved like people,
3:52
SPEAKER_02: they would definitely be using them in the Senate to prop up all of the 90 year olds
3:56
SPEAKER_02: that work there.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: So we may be moving beyond kind of what we dreamt of in movies like 2001
4:02
SPEAKER_02: A Space Odyssey when it comes to AI systems,
4:05
SPEAKER_02: but we're still weak in a Bernie zine as far as corpse reanimation goes.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: I think I saw a clip of Mitch McConnell vote with the Democrats and then he had
4:14
SPEAKER_01: to have two different people be like, sir, you meant I on that one.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: People were yelling at him to give a thumbs up and he couldn't do it.
4:23
SPEAKER_03: So even if they can reanimate his legs,
4:24
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how they're going to get his thumb to pop up there.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: But speaking of excellence in male bodies,
4:30
SPEAKER_02: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is moving forward with his plan
4:35
SPEAKER_02: to test male soldiers' testosterone levels.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: How good.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the plan is to provide hormone therapy after the age of 30 if the levels seem low.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: But I researched this.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: There can actually be a really broad range of normal levels of testosterone.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: So if they're only testing men at 30 or older, they won't know what a person's baseline is.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: So they might not actually need it.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: And when a person gets their testosterone levels artificially juiced,
5:02
SPEAKER_02: it can have side effects including irritability, mood swings, aggression, anxiety.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: High risk behavior and infertility.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: So wait, it sounds like that might qualify them to run the Department of Defense.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: I think that's probably a positive for HIGSA, but a little bit scary for the rest of us.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, God.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: However,
5:21
SPEAKER_02: in some cases,
5:22
SPEAKER_02: excess testosterone can also cause testicles to shrink and for men
5:26
SPEAKER_02: to develop breasts.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: So I think gender affirming care is a beautiful thing and it saves lives
5:32
SPEAKER_02: and people using medicine to be at home in their bodies is a good
5:36
SPEAKER_02: and beautiful thing.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: But that's not what is happening here.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: In his weird,
5:42
SPEAKER_02: insecure quest to make men as manly as he thinks they should be,
5:45
SPEAKER_02: he might be giving them all boobs.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: And I kind of love it.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: Because Pete Hegseth is the same guy who also suggested that women shouldn't serve
5:55
SPEAKER_02: as soldiers in the military.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: But with his new plan, the army uniform is still going to have to include bras.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen some of the Thomas Massey videos going around this week?
6:06
SPEAKER_02: No.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: What do they look like?
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, he wants to get Hegseth impeached.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: He's a Republican who's going out of office and he wants Hegseth impeached.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: So when he filed the paperwork to make a vote happen on that,
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Mike Johnson immediately shut down Congress.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
6:21
I know.
6:21
I did hear about that.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: So they've got some great plans ahead of us.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: And I'm really looking forward to the manly men with breasts that are going
6:30
SPEAKER_02: to be leading our nation into unnecessary wars.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Manly men, men in tights.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor Jones, everybody.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor, thank you so much.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you?
6:40
SPEAKER_02: People can find me in the Portland Mercury, the Trash Report.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: And now to our interview, former Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kofori.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to The Schmidt Show.
6:47
SPEAKER_03: Yay.
6:48
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm so excited for you to be here,
6:52
SPEAKER_01: not only because we're friends and a little trauma bonded,
6:54
SPEAKER_01: which I think we'll get into,
6:57
SPEAKER_01: but I'm really excited to talk to you because we have a major election coming up
7:01
SPEAKER_01: in this community for county chair, a job that you know very, very well.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: So before I get into asking you and peppering you with all
7:10
SPEAKER_01: of my county chair questions,
7:12
SPEAKER_01: I just want to kind of do a little table setting,
7:14
SPEAKER_01: which will be awkward for you because I'm going to sit here and read a list
7:17
SPEAKER_01: of accomplishments.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: But I want listeners to really understand the depth of your experience.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: So bear with me here.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: So you serve 14 years on the County Board of Commissioners,
7:29
SPEAKER_01: eight as our chair,
7:31
SPEAKER_01: five years in the Oregon House representing North Northeast Portland,
7:35
SPEAKER_01: and two of them as the Democratic leader.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: And on your watch as chairperson.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: And on the commission, the new Selwood Bridge was constructed, which I love.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: The new courthouse was built, which I also love very much.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: The health department HQ,
7:52
SPEAKER_01: you finally unloaded that albatross Around the county's neck,
7:56
SPEAKER_01: the Wapato Jail,
7:57
SPEAKER_01: a facility that you didn't build and had anything to do with,
8:00
SPEAKER_01: but also never opened,
8:02
SPEAKER_01: was never in the cost of doing so, would have just been astronomical.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: So you helped get the county out from underneath that.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: You co-led the joint creation of the Office of Homeless Services,
8:13
SPEAKER_01: bringing the city and the county together on homelessness.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: And you have,
8:18
SPEAKER_01: over your tenure,
8:19
SPEAKER_01: doubled the investments of housing and homelessness,
8:23
SPEAKER_01: The city and the region have made.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: In fact,
8:25
SPEAKER_01: going to 2016,
8:26
SPEAKER_01: you partnered with Commissioner Nick Fish from the city
8:29
SPEAKER_01: to get two major housing bonds passed in 16 and 18,
8:32
SPEAKER_01: totaling almost a billion dollars to construct new housing.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: And then,
8:35
SPEAKER_01: of course,
8:36
SPEAKER_01: in 2020,
8:36
SPEAKER_01: You helped lead the push for
8:38
SPEAKER_01: the Tri-County Regional Supporting Housing Services measure.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: And then, because that wasn't all enough, you had to deal with the COVID-19 state of emergency.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: On March 11th,
8:46
SPEAKER_01: you declared the state of emergency officially for the county,
8:49
SPEAKER_01: led our county through the pandemic.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: Also some climate related emergencies.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: There were some heat domes and fires and once probably in a lifetime racial justice reckoning.
9:03
SPEAKER_03: 200 days.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: 200 days of protest, which I remember very well.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: You know,
9:08
SPEAKER_01: as I was preparing for this interview and writing down all the accomplishments and
9:11
SPEAKER_01: the things you did, it reminded me of that Billy Joel song.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: We didn't start the fire.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Both because of just like the insane list of things that I had to compile,
9:22
SPEAKER_01: which is a testament to your leadership, and also because we didn't start the fire.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: So I felt like that worked.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for being here.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Let's just talk about what that was like.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: What was it like to do all that?
9:36
SPEAKER_03: It was exhilarating.
9:37
SPEAKER_03: I mean, truly being county chair, I think...
9:41
SPEAKER_03: Is the best job that anyone could have.
9:43
SPEAKER_03: I feel like after that, I was kind of a mic drop, I'm out.
9:49
SPEAKER_03: Just being in that space and time,
9:50
SPEAKER_03: even COVID,
9:51
SPEAKER_03: as scary and terrible and terrifying as it was,
9:57
SPEAKER_03: it was really, there were times in that where I just felt like I'm in history.
10:05
SPEAKER_03: This is in the middle of history right now.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: And the decisions that I make that were weighing so heavily on me,
10:10
SPEAKER_03: Are affecting hundreds of thousands of people's lives.
10:14
SPEAKER_03: So again, it was scary.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: And it was also like,
10:18
SPEAKER_03: this is a moment where you just have to dig deep and work really, really hard.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: I remember.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: So obviously you were there predating me and we got to work together
10:28
SPEAKER_01: before I became district attorney in my former job at the state.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And so I always appreciated our relationship.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: But when I became DA and, you know, the current DA, he resigned.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: So I got to get appointed in the middle.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, 60 days into the protests.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: And I just remember that.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Every night I was like watching the live streams,
10:51
SPEAKER_01: you know,
10:52
SPEAKER_01: sometimes in police bureau, sometimes at home, just watching things happen.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: And exactly what you're saying,
10:58
SPEAKER_01: that kind of feeling of this is one of the most challenging situations
11:03
SPEAKER_01: that I can imagine being dropped into the middle of.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: But also it was, you know, I mean, history and so many reasons pandemic.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: At that point, the county jail and the arraignment center had been firebombed.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: So we couldn't do that.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't use that.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: People couldn't come into work.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And we were all trying to socially distance.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: It was an absolutely wild time.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: What are your fondest memories?
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:35
SPEAKER_03: Well, I have to I'm not one to toot my own horn.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: So talking about myself is not my favorite thing to do.
11:41
SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to turn it back to you.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, great.
11:44
SPEAKER_03: And for a first time elected official in a job as big as being district attorney.
11:50
SPEAKER_03: Having no prep time whatsoever before you just jumped right into the role,
11:55
SPEAKER_03: because usually you ease into it.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: You know,
11:56
SPEAKER_03: the election happens and then you win and then you have some time to kind
12:00
SPEAKER_03: of get your feet under you and talk to the players and figure out what's going on.
12:04
SPEAKER_03: You had none of that.
12:06
SPEAKER_03: You just really got a call and said, oh, here you have to take office tomorrow.
12:10
SPEAKER_03: And I always felt like that was really, you know, I think it harmed you in the end.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: I'll just say that.
12:16
SPEAKER_03: I think it was not allowing you the prep time to get your feet dirty.
12:21
SPEAKER_03: Not that you, I mean, obviously you were extremely qualified for the job.
12:24
SPEAKER_03: It's just that that was a challenge.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: So I want to kudos to you on that.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: My wife frequently says,
12:31
SPEAKER_01: and some of my friends who like,
12:33
SPEAKER_01: yeah, when the governor called, you should have been like, nah,
12:36
SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
12:37
SPEAKER_03: Somebody else do it for a while.
12:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, like.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: The second in command can run that office.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: I'll start in January when the voters wanted me.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: But oh, well, that's not what you do when you're called to be in these positions.
12:50
SPEAKER_03: As we say in our family, if the governor calls, you take the call.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: You say yes.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's exactly right.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know,
12:58
SPEAKER_01: through all of that,
12:59
SPEAKER_01: through all your years of public service and you're continuing to serve the Well,
13:02
SPEAKER_01: I think...
13:28
SPEAKER_03: I grew up in the business, which helps.
13:31
SPEAKER_03: It is truly my life is politics and public service.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: I remember canvassing at age five.
13:40
SPEAKER_03: I mean, this has really truly been my life.
13:43
SPEAKER_03: So I think I was well prepared for the job.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: And for me, the secret to success has been something that my father taught me.
13:53
SPEAKER_03: And I worked for him for a tiny bit as a lobbyist in the 90s.
13:59
SPEAKER_03: He's always said, hire people who are smarter than you.
14:03
SPEAKER_03: You're never going to be the expert on everything and obviously have some humility,
14:06
SPEAKER_03: but hire people who are smarter than you.
14:08
SPEAKER_03: And I took that to heart.
14:10
SPEAKER_03: So I had a team of people,
14:12
SPEAKER_03: my personal staff,
14:13
SPEAKER_03: I think there were about eight people at the county who worked for me.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: Who are experts on all the different issue areas that we covered.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: And they were just, and still are.
14:20
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they've gone on to do amazing.
14:23
SPEAKER_03: Every one of them is in a fantastic job because they're just brilliant people.
14:27
SPEAKER_03: But that really made all the difference.
14:29
SPEAKER_03: You can't do it if you're thinking that you're the smartest person in the room.
14:33
SPEAKER_03: It's never going to work that way.
14:35
SPEAKER_03: Especially if you do think that, you're actually not.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: To all the people out there who think everybody else is a dummy, no, it's probably you.
14:44
SPEAKER_03: Surrounding yourself with people who can challenge you and push back
14:48
SPEAKER_03: on sometimes crazy ideas or give you crazy ideas that you wouldn't have thought of
14:53
SPEAKER_03: that are like, that might be able to work.
14:55
SPEAKER_03: We might try that.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: From my tenure,
15:01
SPEAKER_01: I believe in that philosophy and I had some great people around me.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: And some of the best things that came were from people around me who were like, hey,
15:11
SPEAKER_01: we should Remember during the pandemic when catalytic converters were all the
15:16
SPEAKER_03: rage?
15:19
SPEAKER_01: You could not walk down the road without seeing someone slide out from underneath
15:22
SPEAKER_01: a car and you're like, wait, I don't think that's your car.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: And my own mother-in-law came home and was like,
15:29
SPEAKER_01: I had to install a catalytic converter protector.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing about this?
15:34
SPEAKER_01: It was through my policy director at that time.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: He was like, hey, I got an idea.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And through one of the deputy DAs,
15:41
SPEAKER_01: he was like, hey, we've seen this before in the past with aluminum theft.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: And so we partnered with the folks, the Mm-hmm.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to take 12 of them that you've had hanging around your backyard,
16:06
SPEAKER_01: you know, or whatever the story is that people would tell.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that legislation passed, went into effect, partnered, like I said, with industry.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, nobody even talks.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: No one even remembers that catalytic converter theft was a thing at this point.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, that's the problem when you solve.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: Right.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: When you solve a problem and it's no longer around, then no one remembers you for it.
16:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
16:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: But to your point,
16:33
SPEAKER_01: having the humility,
16:35
SPEAKER_01: but also the understanding that there are a lot of great ideas and great people
16:38
SPEAKER_01: that you can tap into, and they will make you look good if you do.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: All right.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: So I want to get into a little bit about the job.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: So voters, as we have mentioned, have to choose a new county chair.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: And it's going to be a new person leading the county because
16:56
SPEAKER_01: the incumbent is not running for reelection.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: So no matter who wins, and I think there are three candidates.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's three major candidates that are that are probably three viable candidates.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: And so no matter who wins,
17:10
SPEAKER_01: there's going to be a new person leading the county in a new direction.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: So let's just start off like what does the county chair do?
17:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like I feel like people don't really understand and maybe even I don't know.
17:23
SPEAKER_03: And it's a truly unique position.
17:27
SPEAKER_03: First of all,
17:27
SPEAKER_03: to understand the county,
17:28
SPEAKER_03: you have to kind of take one step back to explain what is the difference between
17:32
SPEAKER_03: the city and the county?
17:33
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
17:33
SPEAKER_03: And why can't we just have one like they do in San Francisco?
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Right.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: Well, first of all,
17:37
SPEAKER_03: we can't have just one because there's no way that Gresham wants to be part
17:40
SPEAKER_03: of Portland.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: Portland.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
17:42
SPEAKER_03: So, done.
17:45
SPEAKER_03: The city and the county,
17:46
SPEAKER_03: I describe it,
17:46
SPEAKER_03: and this is obviously going to be a simplification, but the city does...
17:51
SPEAKER_03: The physical infrastructure.
17:53
SPEAKER_03: They do roads and parks and buildings and not bridges.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: That's where the analogy breaks down a little bit.
18:01
SPEAKER_03: But the city does kind of the physical infrastructure and the county does human infrastructure.
18:06
SPEAKER_03: So the county has aging and disability services,
18:10
SPEAKER_03: homeless services,
18:11
SPEAKER_03: animal services,
18:14
SPEAKER_03: community justice, all the things that are really related to people.
18:18
SPEAKER_03: And then within that breakdown...
18:21
SPEAKER_03: The county chair really has a unique set of responsibilities.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: And that's one of the reasons is because Multnomah County is a home rule charter,
18:32
SPEAKER_03: which means that they're not dictated to by the state as much as some of
18:38
SPEAKER_03: the other counties are,
18:39
SPEAKER_03: even though the counties are really an arm of the state government.
18:43
SPEAKER_03: So...
18:44
SPEAKER_03: The chair is like the governor and a legislator in one.
18:50
SPEAKER_03: You are the administrator,
18:52
SPEAKER_03: the executive, CEO of the organization, but you also have a vote.
18:56
SPEAKER_03: So it makes for a very unique and important role.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: You have a lot of power, which I hear a lot about as people are running for office.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the chair has too much power.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: But I don't remember hearing people saying that when I was chair,
19:12
SPEAKER_03: because I think that if you're a good chair, you delegate your power.
19:16
SPEAKER_03: You don't hold,
19:18
SPEAKER_03: you're not so fearful of other people doing things that you don't hold it tightly.
19:23
SPEAKER_03: You spread the wealth.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
19:24
SPEAKER_03: I really tried as chair to ensure that each one of the commissioners at the time had
19:31
SPEAKER_03: at least one, if not two or three issue areas where they could champion.
19:34
SPEAKER_03: So they could be out front on those issue areas.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: And be emboldened to make change and,
19:40
SPEAKER_03: you know,
19:40
SPEAKER_03: check in with me,
19:41
SPEAKER_03: of course,
19:41
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to know what they were doing, but that they could lead those efforts.
19:46
SPEAKER_03: Like Commissioner Smith,
19:48
SPEAKER_03: when we served together,
19:49
SPEAKER_03: she was championing SummerWorks program and she built it from nothing to
19:54
SPEAKER_03: a very successful program today.
19:56
SPEAKER_03: And that was her baby.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
20:00
SPEAKER_03: So you do have a lot of.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: So, I mean,
20:03
SPEAKER_03: you get to be,
20:04
SPEAKER_03: like you said, so your executive and your legislative branch at the same time.
20:06
SPEAKER_03: So you're a little bit.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Agenda setter.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: You have to obviously work with your colleagues.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: You have to be able to count to three if you want things to be successfully through the process.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: But also you're the person who is...
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Choosing who's going to lead the different county agencies,
20:38
SPEAKER_01: which I mean,
20:38
SPEAKER_01: I imagine that in and of itself is just a huge part of the job of getting
20:42
SPEAKER_01: the right people in those seats.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: And there's always challenging aspects of different county commission
20:48
SPEAKER_01: or county agencies that you have to deal with.
20:50
SPEAKER_03: Well,
20:50
SPEAKER_03: and that is one of the things that I don't think that the public really understands
20:55
SPEAKER_03: when they're voting for the chair.
20:57
SPEAKER_03: It's not.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: You're not just voting for someone that's a figurehead or someone that votes on a commission.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: You're voting for someone who is a manager.
21:09
SPEAKER_03: If somebody asked me, what am I looking for in a county chair?
21:12
SPEAKER_03: I would say it really helps to have managerial experience.
21:17
SPEAKER_03: Have they run an office before?
21:19
SPEAKER_03: Have they had staff that they've had to hire, fire, review, promote, encourage?
21:27
SPEAKER_03: All the things that you have to do as a manager of a team, have they had that experience?
21:32
SPEAKER_03: And did they do a good job at it?
21:35
SPEAKER_03: Because you really do have your own personal staff who are the people
21:41
SPEAKER_03: who are your policy analysts and advocates.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: And then you have all the department directors who work for you as well.
21:48
SPEAKER_03: I mean, actually, I always said I had 7,000 employees, whatever.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: Because everybody at the county worked for me.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: And I took that role extremely seriously and actually found,
21:59
SPEAKER_03: for me, that that was probably where I felt was going.
22:03
SPEAKER_03: Where I did the best was being a manager of people.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think you did the transition from commissioner.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: So- Probably that more legislative, you know, that's the job to chair, right?
22:18
SPEAKER_01: That's a big jump in all three of the candidates that are the viable candidates
22:23
SPEAKER_01: that are running are all they've all been on the legislative piece.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: They've all been commissioners, but they're now asking to take the jump to chair.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: What was that transition like for you?
22:32
SPEAKER_01: Because that's like you already had a job and then you just added a massive job
22:38
SPEAKER_01: on top of the job you already had and get to keep.
22:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I hadn't looked at it that way.
22:43
SPEAKER_03: That's an interesting take on it.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: I had watched...
22:52
SPEAKER_03: Three chairs at least before me,
22:55
SPEAKER_03: because I'm thinking Ted Wheeler,
22:57
SPEAKER_03: then Jeff Kogan, and then Marisa was Madrigal, who's now the COO at Metro.
23:04
SPEAKER_03: She was interim.
23:06
SPEAKER_03: So I was able to watch them and I worked really closely.
23:10
SPEAKER_03: Despite what the press might tell you,
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Ted Wheeler and I actually worked really closely together.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: In fact, he delegated me head to head up the Selwood Bridge.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: And so I did.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: And then Jeff Kogan and I worked really closely together.
23:25
SPEAKER_03: So I was able to see where I thought that they were doing well and
23:31
SPEAKER_03: where I thought they missed a step.
23:33
SPEAKER_03: So that was helpful for me to have that kind of background to analyze like, hmm,
23:37
SPEAKER_03: this is what I would do differently or this is what they did really well and I want
23:41
SPEAKER_03: to do the same.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's always super helpful.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: So whoever becomes our next chair,
23:47
SPEAKER_01: they are going to inherit a lot of challenges and opportunities.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: What do you see as a former chair?
23:57
SPEAKER_01: What do you think the biggest thing that's going to be on their desk in day one
24:02
SPEAKER_01: that they're facing that they're going to have to try to get their hands on
24:06
SPEAKER_01: and really try to tackle?
24:09
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think homelessness is still,
24:12
SPEAKER_03: even though it has dropped in the polling from what,
24:14
SPEAKER_03: not that I follow polls as much anymore,
24:17
SPEAKER_03: but when we were there, it was the number one thing year after year.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: And so I think it's dropped in terms of the public.
24:27
SPEAKER_03: I also think one of the reasons it's dropped is one of their priorities is just
24:30
SPEAKER_03: because people are more used to it.
24:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, visible homelessness has been around for a long time now, and so people are used to it.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: Yes, unfortunately.
24:40
SPEAKER_03: But that is still going to be a huge issue.
24:43
SPEAKER_03: And really,
24:44
SPEAKER_03: I've always said that the visible homelessness you see is the end result of a series
24:51
SPEAKER_03: of failed public investments.
24:55
SPEAKER_03: People don't have jobs,
24:56
SPEAKER_03: they don't have access to health care or mental health care or alcohol
25:00
SPEAKER_03: and substance abuse.
25:02
SPEAKER_03: The end result is that they're living on the streets,
25:04
SPEAKER_03: but that means that there are all these other problems that need to be addressed.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: And I think you'll hear from a lot of people, you,
25:13
SPEAKER_03: our next county chair,
25:14
SPEAKER_03: a lot of people that it's really hard to afford to live in this community.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, affordability is, I mean,
25:22
SPEAKER_01: nationally,
25:23
SPEAKER_01: everybody's talking about affordability,
25:25
SPEAKER_01: obviously,
25:26
SPEAKER_01: and there's a lot of national headwinds being put into place because of
25:31
SPEAKER_01: the current administration, to put it mildly.
25:33
SPEAKER_03: That's a whole nother podcast.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: It is funny, right?
25:57
SPEAKER_01: Everything is in the context of national
25:59
SPEAKER_00: politics for better and for worse these
26:01
SPEAKER_01: days.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: So affordability, high on the national list, but also extremely high on the local list.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's going to be a challenge for the region, right?
26:11
SPEAKER_01: And it's water costs.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: I look at the water bill and it's like, oh my God.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: And I'm hearing from,
26:18
SPEAKER_01: and this is more of a city issue,
26:20
SPEAKER_01: but I'm hearing that It's projected to continue to increase.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: And then there's energy costs.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: And then there's all kinds of fees and other things that are going to be Coming up
26:30
SPEAKER_01: for renewal, even, hopefully.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: But I completely agree with you as from my perspective as former DA,
26:37
SPEAKER_01: when people come to the criminal system,
26:40
SPEAKER_01: you could almost you could look at them
26:42
SPEAKER_01: and just see like our health care system has failed you,
26:46
SPEAKER_01: you know,
26:47
SPEAKER_01: different other mental health,
26:49
SPEAKER_01: obviously addictions, health,
26:50
SPEAKER_01: but also then housing and other challenges and I frequently felt like
26:55
SPEAKER_01: the criminal system was the very last of the safety nets that will get you.
27:01
SPEAKER_03: Which is why when you arrest people for being homeless, it doesn't actually solve any problems.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: It's weird.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: I always said like jail is the most expensive housing option that we have for people.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: So let's think of other ones that that will work better and stick a little bit more.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: So.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we saw in this last budget cycle,
27:23
SPEAKER_01: because,
27:23
SPEAKER_01: you know,
27:24
SPEAKER_01: a lot of times I think the budget is the thing that people pay attention to at
27:27
SPEAKER_01: the county.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's probably every year it's it's one of the biggest challenges and things,
27:33
SPEAKER_01: tasks in front of the county commission.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: And we saw budget cuts in this last fiscal year.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think the projection is we're going to continue to see cuts.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: So what, how do you, A, how does a chair approach that, right?
27:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are just realities and you have to figure out how to manage within a budget.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: But also are there things a chair can do to help guide us
27:58
SPEAKER_01: through these projected structural deficits and Yeah,
28:04
SPEAKER_03: I think I always viewed the budget as, first of all, a moral document.
28:09
SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is where your values are shown right here in black and white.
28:13
SPEAKER_03: And then it's also your strategic plan.
28:17
SPEAKER_03: Where are you headed?
28:18
SPEAKER_03: Putting your investments shows what your values are, but also your priorities for the next year.
28:23
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to look at the expenses from last year.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: Where do they make a difference?
28:31
SPEAKER_03: Where...
28:33
SPEAKER_03: Is this a program that didn't live up to its promise?
28:36
SPEAKER_03: So we probably should get rid of it.
28:40
SPEAKER_03: I think one of the things that we started and I hope
28:45
SPEAKER_03: as I'm sure it's continuing is really heavy public involvement and not just
28:51
SPEAKER_03: the traditional,
28:52
SPEAKER_03: we're gonna have a public hearing come out six to eight on Wednesday night
28:56
SPEAKER_03: because we all know you have to get true public engagement.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: You have to go to where people are.
29:01
SPEAKER_03: So that is what I spent a lot of my time doing was being out in community,
29:05
SPEAKER_03: listening to people and groups,
29:09
SPEAKER_03: often folks that didn't get FaceTime with the mayor or the governor or anybody else.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: I came to those meetings and sat around the table with people and listened
29:19
SPEAKER_03: to what they wanted, what was helpful for them.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: And it's actually one of the things that I got dinged on later was –
29:28
SPEAKER_03: Some of the business elites in our community said, she doesn't call me.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: She doesn't spend enough time with me.
29:35
SPEAKER_03: Well,
29:35
SPEAKER_03: that's because I was spending my time with the people who are the recipients of
29:39
SPEAKER_03: the services that the county provides,
29:40
SPEAKER_03: which I thought was something that I should do.
29:42
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
29:43
SPEAKER_03: You ask a random person on the street, do you know Debra?
29:47
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, she was at our Neighborhood Association meeting or she came to our community gathering.
29:52
SPEAKER_03: Because that's what I felt listening to the community about what their needs are.
29:57
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes they're different and you you represent everyone.
30:00
SPEAKER_03: So you have to reconcile those differences.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got my own dinging on that when I got called into the Arlington Club to,
30:09
SPEAKER_01: you know,
30:09
SPEAKER_01: face down some of those elites,
30:12
SPEAKER_01: including Jordan Schnitzer,
30:14
SPEAKER_01: who read me, you know, the riot act from his perspective.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wow, that's Exactly what I'm not hearing from all of my other constituents.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: And but it's so important because and this is how I felt in that situation
30:27
SPEAKER_01: as I was like, look,
30:27
SPEAKER_01: there are some people in the community that have the privilege of being able
30:30
SPEAKER_01: to get your cell phone number as the county chair or as the district attorney.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: And it's not hard for them to get to you.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Right.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: But the vast, vast, vast 99.9% of people we serve can't get your cell phone number.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: They don't have that privilege to be able to just give you a call or summon you to a lunch.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: And I so appreciate, and I took that.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: And they're used to getting their way.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Whereas if you're
31:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:23
SPEAKER_03: Some people can put you on billboards.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: But some people, you can really change their lives.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I just had the privilege of being at the Street Roots Gala this past week.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: And thank you for your support.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm a board member of Street Roots.
31:56
SPEAKER_03: Oh, great.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: And it was great to hear your name announced as one of the supporters.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: But I had somebody come up to me and just say, hey, when you were a DA, you did this.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: And it literally changed our family's lives.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: And that's really what it's about at the end.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: Let's take a quick break there for a short word from our sponsors.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: A quick word from our show sponsor,
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
32:18
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32:21
SPEAKER_00: People ask me, how do I know if I really need a chiropractor?
32:25
SPEAKER_00: The truth is you may not.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: I'll listen, figure out what's going on, and recommend care only when I think it can help.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: And with chiropractic,
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32:51
SPEAKER_03: Back in the day,
32:52
SPEAKER_03: if you were driving to downtown Portland,
32:54
SPEAKER_03: maybe crossing Morrison Bridge, you might see a big poster of...
32:57
SPEAKER_03: The two of us.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
33:00
SPEAKER_03: It was actually a nice picture of me, which I did appreciate.
33:02
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Kevin Looper.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:03
SPEAKER_03: Could have easily used an ugly one.
33:05
SPEAKER_03: Pictures of us.
33:06
SPEAKER_03: But so your kids are on a school bus.
33:09
SPEAKER_03: Well, one of your children is on a school bus on a field trip.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: And they drive by and he's, look, there's my dad, all proud.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: So proud.
33:17
SPEAKER_03: My dad's on a billboard because, of course, he couldn't read yet.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: And all the other kids were like,
33:23
SPEAKER_03: wow, your dad's so famous.
33:26
SPEAKER_03: That's so cool.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: I love that story.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: I had a lot of fun with that.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: I, you know,
33:35
SPEAKER_01: sometimes if I was,
33:36
SPEAKER_01: I remember going to a Timbers game and I was riding in an Uber and we were going
33:40
SPEAKER_01: across or a Lyft or whatever, and I was riding across.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I was like, Hey, what the heck?
33:45
SPEAKER_01: So we're going across the Morrison bridge.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: And I say to my driver, like, Hey, you see that billboard over there?
33:49
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh yeah, it's hilarious.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: I was like, that's me.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm on that billboard.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, wow.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: He's like, that's incredible.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: How much did it cost you to put that up there?
33:58
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't think you've fully taken in the meaning.
34:03
SPEAKER_03: They don't like me.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: Some of the perks of public life.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Talk about as the leader of the largest county in the state,
34:14
SPEAKER_01: most populous county in the state,
34:16
SPEAKER_01: you have obviously a lot of things that you can do,
34:20
SPEAKER_01: but you also can't do everything on your own.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: What Is the importance and what should voters be thinking about in terms of relationships?
34:27
SPEAKER_01: You've got the cities, right?
34:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've got the city of Portland, the city of Gresham.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: There's some other smaller cities in Multnomah County.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: Then you've got the region.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: You've got your other county commissions, Which,
34:38
SPEAKER_01: you know,
34:39
SPEAKER_01: the Metro,
34:41
SPEAKER_01: that layer of government kind of bonds us together with the work that they do.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: But you also have to have relationships.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: And then,
34:47
SPEAKER_01: of course,
34:47
SPEAKER_01: there's the state relationships that are critical to advocating for funding
34:54
SPEAKER_01: and structural programs.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So talk us a little bit about a successful chair's relationships.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: What's important and what should voters be looking at with that?
35:07
SPEAKER_03: And that is...
35:08
SPEAKER_03: When you ask, like, what are the qualities or characteristics of a successful chair?
35:13
SPEAKER_03: The first one, as I talked about, was hiring really good people and being able to manage a team.
35:18
SPEAKER_03: But the second one,
35:19
SPEAKER_03: or maybe the first,
35:21
SPEAKER_03: who knows,
35:21
SPEAKER_03: is being able to have positive relationships and knowing how to forge relationships
35:27
SPEAKER_03: and working with people that you...
35:31
SPEAKER_03: Either just really don't like or you have zero in common.
35:36
SPEAKER_03: And I credit my time in the legislature for that.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: I feel like we're in such cancel culture now where I disagree with you on one issue
35:46
SPEAKER_03: and therefore you are dead to me.
35:50
SPEAKER_03: We're never going to get out of the mess that we're in right now if that's the kind
35:54
SPEAKER_03: of filter that we use.
35:55
SPEAKER_03: So working with the Speaker of the House when I was in the legislature was
36:01
SPEAKER_03: a Republican controlled, which is odd to anybody now.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: And so I would have to work real closely with the House Majority Leader and
36:09
SPEAKER_03: the Speaker to get anything done.
36:12
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we,
36:13
SPEAKER_03: our politics did not align,
36:15
SPEAKER_03: but you find issues, you find those areas that you can work on together.
36:18
SPEAKER_03: And I, you know, when the Oregonian would write an article, Debra doesn't get along with people.
36:24
SPEAKER_03: Well, Karen Menace,
36:26
SPEAKER_03: a Republican Speaker of the House who,
36:28
SPEAKER_03: from Gresham, we really didn't agree on many, many things, had a baby shower for me.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: So...
36:35
SPEAKER_03: I don't know in today's world if that kind of relationship bonding happens.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, could you imagine the Willamette Week story?
36:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you'd be skewered.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: On both sides.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
36:47
SPEAKER_03: So being able to work with people that your politics don't align,
36:52
SPEAKER_03: your values maybe don't align, but you can find areas to work together.
36:58
SPEAKER_03: When I first started at the county office,
37:01
SPEAKER_03: The reputation of Multnomah County at the state was really low.
37:06
SPEAKER_03: And so that was one of the first things that I did.
37:09
SPEAKER_03: And people thought I was crazy.
37:11
SPEAKER_03: They were like, why do you care about what the state thinks of us?
37:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: Maybe we get a lot of our funding from the state.
37:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:20
SPEAKER_03: Myself and our lobbyists at the time spent a lot of time in Salem,
37:24
SPEAKER_03: and that's how we got the funding to build the Selwood Bridge.
37:27
SPEAKER_03: And it would not have happened were it not for Republican at the time,
37:31
SPEAKER_03: House member Bruce Starr, who is the transportation kind of guru of the legislature.
37:36
SPEAKER_03: And we had worked together and knew, again,
37:40
SPEAKER_03: our politics didn't align very well,
37:43
SPEAKER_03: but on this project, we could work together and got funding.
37:46
SPEAKER_03: So we would not have the Selwood Bridge Were it not for now State Senator Bruce Starr.
37:53
SPEAKER_03: And these are the kinds of things you have to do in order to be successful.
37:59
SPEAKER_03: Another example is our county courthouse.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: I remember when I was first running for county commission and now city commissioner,
38:10
SPEAKER_03: counselor,
38:10
SPEAKER_03: Steve Novick,
38:13
SPEAKER_03: with a group of lawyers actually held a fundraiser for me and they all wanted
38:17
SPEAKER_03: to talk about Yeah, the whole building.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: Again, having a very smart lobby team,
38:47
SPEAKER_03: we put our heads together and worked a statewide response where we worked through
38:55
SPEAKER_03: the Association of Oregon Counties with counties across the state, again,
39:00
SPEAKER_03: rural Republican counties,
39:02
SPEAKER_03: to get a bill passed that allowed,
39:04
SPEAKER_03: if your community raised half the funds,
39:08
SPEAKER_03: the state would contribute the other half to build a new courthouse.
39:11
SPEAKER_03: And I mean, because it never would have passed without Republican support.
39:15
SPEAKER_03: And so now I don't know how many courthouses have been built around the state because of that.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: But I know Chillamook...
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Clackamas,
39:24
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there's some others,
39:25
SPEAKER_03: but it was another one of those things that you can't do these things on your own.
39:31
SPEAKER_03: We didn't have the money.
39:32
SPEAKER_03: Taxpayers would never have paid for an increase of their taxes for the courthouse.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: So we worked with colleagues from around the state and got a bill passed
39:41
SPEAKER_03: that eventually led to a great building.
39:44
SPEAKER_03: That you used to work in.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: That I used to work in.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: It is truly a great building.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, I completely agree with you.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: You know,
39:51
SPEAKER_01: when I started,
39:53
SPEAKER_01: as you know,
39:54
SPEAKER_01: I was counsel to House and Senate Judiciary Committees for a year in 2013
39:58
SPEAKER_01: when we were doing some major criminal justice reform work.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: And then, I mean...
40:04
SPEAKER_01: It was not as anathema for Republicans and Democrats.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: Democrats were in control at that point, so they were in the majority.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: But we had Republicans that were also engaged in criminal justice reform work, right?
40:17
SPEAKER_01: Different angles, different reasons.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: Right.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: I remember some of the Republicans who got there
40:23
SPEAKER_01: because they maybe had religious beliefs that were more in tuned with forgiveness
40:27
SPEAKER_01: and things of that nature.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, on the Democrat side, I think it's usually more like root causes and rehabilitation.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: You may not get 100% right out of the bat,
41:03
SPEAKER_03: but if you get 25 and then 50 and then 75 and then you get...
41:06
SPEAKER_03: So compromise is actually the only way we get things done.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: So this litmus test that we have today of 100% you're with us, you're against us.
41:16
SPEAKER_03: It's one of the reasons that we have this dysfunction right now.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: I've heard it said that politics is the art of not war.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: So, all right.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: So, I want to really take us into...
41:41
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: It just felt to me like this vestige of an older time where neighbors would gather
42:08
SPEAKER_01: in somebody's living room and the candidate would have their speech and
42:12
SPEAKER_01: then they'd glad hand.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your experience.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you've run for office many, many times.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: What is your favorite part of running for office?
42:23
SPEAKER_03: I really enjoy going door to door.
42:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:26
SPEAKER_03: You like the knocking?
42:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I did.
42:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:30
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'll have a story.
42:32
SPEAKER_03: My first race, 1998, I was gonna win.
42:37
SPEAKER_03: I was a Democrat in the most heavily Democratic seat in the state.
42:41
SPEAKER_03: I didn't have a Democratic opponent.
42:42
SPEAKER_03: I knew I was gonna win.
42:44
SPEAKER_03: But I also,
42:45
SPEAKER_03: and I was 30,
42:46
SPEAKER_03: and I thought, this is an opportunity for me to get to know my neighbors.
42:50
SPEAKER_03: So I tried to knock on every door.
42:52
SPEAKER_03: I didn't have to worry about Republican or how many times I voted.
42:56
SPEAKER_03: I just knocked on people's door.
42:58
SPEAKER_03: And I'll never forget, I knocked on the door.
43:01
SPEAKER_03: Big, scary dogs.
43:02
SPEAKER_03: And I'd already been bitten by a dog a couple weeks earlier, so I was a little hesitant.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: Big, scary dogs.
43:07
SPEAKER_03: And a heavily tattooed guy opens the door and looks at me,
43:14
SPEAKER_03: kind of like, scout, like, why are you here?
43:16
SPEAKER_03: And I was terrified.
43:17
SPEAKER_03: And I was, I mean, I'm Deborah Cofori, running for state representative.
43:20
SPEAKER_03: And he said, oh.
43:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, what do you think about, I'm glad you came by.
43:24
SPEAKER_03: I've got some questions about how the state is running.
43:26
SPEAKER_03: And we had this amazing conversation.
43:28
SPEAKER_03: And I just remember like,
43:30
SPEAKER_03: this is how you break down stereotypes and misperceptions
43:34
SPEAKER_03: of your neighbors is you meet them.
43:36
SPEAKER_03: And you have conversations with them about what they care about and what matters to them.
43:42
SPEAKER_03: That was when I thought, this is great.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: Being extroverts, you get off on that.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't agree more.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: And I've had everyone who's knocked doors has had that experience
43:52
SPEAKER_01: where they see someone come in the door and your mind immediately is like,
43:55
SPEAKER_01: oh, this person's not going to like me.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: Right.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: And then you actually talk and then, you know, it's a completely different conversation.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: I remember when I was door knocking in my second campaign,
44:06
SPEAKER_01: you know, I talked to a guy and he was out like pulling the weeds of his thing.
44:09
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, hey, I'm Mike Schmidt running for office.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: And he was salty.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: He was he was not feeling it.
44:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: But, you know.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: He asked me a lot of great questions and he was totally polite and not rude at all.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: But I was like, this guy is not on my team.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: And I talked to him for like 15, 20 minutes as he was sitting there weeding his front sidewalk.
44:33
SPEAKER_01: And he just asked me fantastic questions.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: And he had real concerns,
44:38
SPEAKER_01: as everybody did, about crime and different things that they were seeing.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: You know,
44:44
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times in one of the reasons I do this podcast is it's really hard
44:48
SPEAKER_01: for elected leaders to we get caricaturized.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: We become cartoons on people's minds.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: Right.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: And we're on a billboard and they're like,
44:56
SPEAKER_01: oh, you know, they and so I could really sit there and interact with him.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: And so I remember we shook hands and,
45:03
SPEAKER_01: you know, I was on my way and I got like two more houses down.
45:07
SPEAKER_01: He's still out there waiting.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey, Schmidt.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: All right, I'll vote for you.
45:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
45:13
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, that interaction is priceless.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: And when,
45:19
SPEAKER_01: you know, again,
45:20
SPEAKER_01: the national feels like democracy is so under attack to have those kind
45:24
SPEAKER_01: of vestiges is so important.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: So I heartily encourage anybody out there to attend a house party.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: If there's a candidate you believe in, go knock doors for him.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:37
SPEAKER_03: It's much easier than phone banking.
45:39
SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you right now, that is knocking on doors so much easier.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: Phone banking is the worst.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so my worst part about campaigning, right?
45:47
SPEAKER_01: It's dialing for dollars.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, God, especially cold calls.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, hi, you don't know me.
45:53
SPEAKER_03: Would you like to donate to my campaign?
45:54
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to give me money?
45:55
SPEAKER_01: And here's why we do it, because it works.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: You surprisingly get people, but also it is the worst.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: So, all right,
46:04
SPEAKER_01: I am a person and I'm going to attend a house party and I'm not entirely sure
46:09
SPEAKER_01: where I'm at.
46:09
SPEAKER_01: What questions would you say that somebody would be insightful to ask
46:14
SPEAKER_01: a candidate running for chair?
46:16
SPEAKER_03: I would ask about trade-offs,
46:18
SPEAKER_03: especially right now when we're in a time where there's going to be budget cuts.
46:22
SPEAKER_03: So I would hope that since the three major candidates have served
46:29
SPEAKER_03: or are currently serving on the county commission,
46:31
SPEAKER_03: that they would have some ideas of where should we look deeper to make some cuts and
46:36
SPEAKER_03: where do we need to spend our time in investment.
46:39
SPEAKER_03: And also, as county chair, you get...
46:44
SPEAKER_03: A lot of people who want your time.
46:47
SPEAKER_03: And so I would ask people, how will you spend your time?
46:51
SPEAKER_03: Who are the constituents and constituencies that you will be out talking with
46:56
SPEAKER_03: and spending your time listening to?
46:58
SPEAKER_03: Because that is really telling about where they prioritize their time and who are
47:06
SPEAKER_03: the communities that they value.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: That's so smart, I think, to just hone in on that question.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: All right.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: You have a tough decision in front of you.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: Who are you calling?
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Who's your first phone call?
47:17
SPEAKER_01: That would be a very tough if they would answer it, answer it honestly.
47:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but still.
47:23
SPEAKER_01: But still, right?
47:24
SPEAKER_01: Like who who are you listening to would be a huge thing.
47:30
SPEAKER_01: And obviously different candidates are,
47:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
47:33
SPEAKER_01: the reason endorsements matter is because you're trying to figure out as a voter,
47:36
SPEAKER_01: OK, who do they listen to?
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Who are they reaching out to when things matter?
47:42
SPEAKER_03: I think one other thing that is perplexing to me and I think is another part
47:49
SPEAKER_03: of why we are in this conundrum mess,
47:51
SPEAKER_03: whatever you want to call it that we're in right now in our world,
47:55
SPEAKER_03: is that
47:58
SPEAKER_03: asking hard questions has become a measure of success as opposed to So
48:06
SPEAKER_03: when I just,
48:08
SPEAKER_03: it makes me crazy when I read an Oregonian article and they say, well,
48:14
SPEAKER_03: she didn't get anything done during her time on the County Commission,
48:17
SPEAKER_03: but she asked really hard questions.
48:20
SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's a low bar.
48:22
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I would hope that every person can ask hard questions,
48:26
SPEAKER_03: but going back to working with people to get things done,
48:29
SPEAKER_03: it's not about whether you can ask the hard questions.
48:32
SPEAKER_03: It's about whether you can get,
48:33
SPEAKER_03: it should be, about whether you can actually accomplish something.
48:36
SPEAKER_03: Because if you can't bring people together to make change or to create something
48:42
SPEAKER_03: or change something, then you're not gonna be effective, especially in this role.
48:47
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
48:49
SPEAKER_03: Because one of the things that we didn't hit on earlier was even though
48:53
SPEAKER_03: the chair has all of this power and can do all these things,
48:57
SPEAKER_03: three members of the commission at any time can take away those powers.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: It takes three.
49:04
SPEAKER_03: And I mean, I'm We did it to Ted Wheeler.
49:07
SPEAKER_03: He wasn't very happy.
49:09
SPEAKER_03: But we kind of took over the budget process at one point because we didn't like
49:13
SPEAKER_03: the budget that he had put forward.
49:15
SPEAKER_03: So three members of the commission voted.
49:18
SPEAKER_03: Actually,
49:18
SPEAKER_03: I think we even got four in the end,
49:20
SPEAKER_03: voted to change the budget to the priorities that we wanted.
49:24
SPEAKER_03: And he ended up voting against him.
49:26
SPEAKER_03: So you can do it.
49:29
SPEAKER_03: So you still have to have, I mean,
49:31
SPEAKER_03: we saw it during the Diane Lynn days where the Three members of the commission kind
49:39
SPEAKER_03: of ran the agenda because she had challenges.
49:43
SPEAKER_03: So there are definitely, it's not just about whether you can point out the problems.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: Plenty of people are good at pointing out the problems and talking about what's wrong.
49:57
SPEAKER_03: It's what are your solutions and who are you gonna work with to make the change necessary?
50:03
SPEAKER_01: I think that's huge advice.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: We are about to, I imagine we're getting close, less than 70 days out from the election.
50:11
SPEAKER_01: We're going to start really seeing campaign ads, right?
50:14
SPEAKER_01: We're going to see the mailers in our inbox.
50:16
SPEAKER_01: We're going to see the things on YouTube and on TV.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: And in those ads,
50:20
SPEAKER_01: of course,
50:21
SPEAKER_01: there will be the attack ads,
50:23
SPEAKER_01: but there will also be the Well, we've seen now two promises.
50:53
SPEAKER_03: Mayoral candidates run and win on making outlandish, ridiculous pledges to end homelessness.
51:03
SPEAKER_03: I think Wheeler's was 18 months.
51:06
SPEAKER_03: And then Mayor Wilson was a year.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: I believe it was a year.
51:10
SPEAKER_03: I just any time somebody puts a time limit on like that, that should be a huge red flag.
51:17
SPEAKER_03: In fact,
51:18
SPEAKER_03: there was an article recently about the SHS measure in the Oregonian and
51:24
SPEAKER_03: The reporter was saying that Kevin Looper,
51:27
SPEAKER_03: our best friend,
51:30
SPEAKER_03: that during the SHS measure, he promised that it would end homelessness.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: And it was probably the downfall in my relationship with him because I refused to say that.
51:44
SPEAKER_03: He said,
51:44
SPEAKER_03: you're never going to win unless you can tell people that you're going
51:46
SPEAKER_03: to end homelessness.
51:47
SPEAKER_03: And I said, well, I just, I mean, it's been around since the beginning of time.
51:51
SPEAKER_03: So I don't think that any one measure, any one tax is going to end homelessness.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to end crime.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
51:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: So that is something that I would definitely watch for as a red flag.
52:05
SPEAKER_03: I also think that when people,
52:08
SPEAKER_03: you're going to hear a lot of this with certain candidates,
52:10
SPEAKER_03: like, oh, they're attached to this group on both sides.
52:14
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm already seeing it.
52:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:17
SPEAKER_03: Julia Brim Edwards is attached to all these Republicans
52:21
SPEAKER_03: or Shannon Singleton's attached to all of these- Socialists.
52:24
SPEAKER_03: Socialists.
52:26
SPEAKER_03: And going back to being able to work across the aisle or across the spectrum
52:32
SPEAKER_03: of whoever, those kind of like they're painted in that swath.
52:37
SPEAKER_03: I would ask the candidates about that.
52:40
SPEAKER_03: I would say, so I hear that this is your natural inclination, but who else do you work with?
52:45
SPEAKER_03: And maybe that question you asked about who's the first person you call,
52:48
SPEAKER_03: if you could get to something like that.
52:51
SPEAKER_03: But those are also,
52:52
SPEAKER_03: I take that with a grain of salt because they're going to try to paint you with,
52:56
SPEAKER_03: like Christine Drazen is a Trumper.
52:58
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if she is, but you're going to hear that.
53:01
SPEAKER_03: By the time this campaign is done,
53:03
SPEAKER_03: her face, they're going to do that famous ad where they meld the two faces together.
53:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, the hair might work.
53:10
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
53:11
SPEAKER_03: All right.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: Before I ask you about your current role and just talk about what you're doing now,
53:19
SPEAKER_01: any last tips for voters out there who are hopefully really going to,
53:23
SPEAKER_01: after hearing this episode, dig into a very, very important county chair race?
53:28
SPEAKER_01: Anything else you'd like to leave with them?
53:31
SPEAKER_03: I just, I think it's gonna be a challenging,
53:35
SPEAKER_03: for most people it'll be really hard unless you've worked with each
53:38
SPEAKER_03: of these candidates to know what their style is and what kind of people they are.
53:44
SPEAKER_03: But I would just be skeptical about the promises that you're gonna hear
53:48
SPEAKER_03: as we've talked about,
53:49
SPEAKER_03: because you're gonna hear,
53:51
SPEAKER_03: people are gonna promise you the sun, the moon and the stars.
53:54
SPEAKER_03: And have they been able to deliver in the past?
53:59
SPEAKER_03: That's a good question.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: As a former elected,
54:01
SPEAKER_01: I would wish that the media would go back and check and see
54:05
SPEAKER_01: if those promises have come to fruition.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: Because so often we just move on.
54:09
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: Next.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: So you can make the promise and then no accountability later.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: All right.
54:17
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
54:17
SPEAKER_01: You continue to be a public servant.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: Tell us about the role you're in now.
54:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I am the chief of staff at Portland Public Schools.
54:26
SPEAKER_03: So I work for the superintendent, Dr. Kimberly Armstrong.
54:29
SPEAKER_01: So you're like, I had a really challenging job and I want another one.
54:36
SPEAKER_03: I know.
54:40
SPEAKER_03: It actually might be surprising to people that it.
54:44
SPEAKER_03: It was a natural next step for me in some ways
54:47
SPEAKER_03: because my parents were both Portland Public Schools teachers.
54:52
SPEAKER_03: I was a Portland Public Schools student, graduate myself.
54:55
SPEAKER_03: And then my children all went through the school system.
54:57
SPEAKER_03: So I have always been a huge fan and a huge supporter of public schools.
55:04
SPEAKER_03: They changed my life, changed my children's life.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: And also I see every day the effects of Of our public school system on our kids and families.
55:15
SPEAKER_03: So when the superintendent came to me and said, I really want you to be my chief of staff.
55:22
SPEAKER_03: And I said, you are crazy.
55:24
SPEAKER_03: Have you Googled me?
55:27
SPEAKER_01: But don't.
55:28
SPEAKER_03: No, no.
55:28
SPEAKER_03: She said, of course I am.
55:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, of course I am.
55:31
SPEAKER_03: She's very strategic and very smart.
55:33
SPEAKER_03: She said, yep, I've Googled you, and that's why I know that you're who I want.
55:37
SPEAKER_03: I said, okay.
55:39
SPEAKER_03: And it's been real challenging.
55:41
SPEAKER_03: It's funny because at the county,
55:44
SPEAKER_03: for so many years that I was there,
55:46
SPEAKER_03: there was not an Oregonian reporter assigned to the county.
55:51
SPEAKER_03: So we had to create our own news.
55:54
SPEAKER_03: When we had our team, comms team, was a mini reporter.
56:00
SPEAKER_03: We basically had our own podcast, our own paper, our own TV station.
56:04
SPEAKER_03: We had to do it all ourselves because we couldn't get the word out about what we were doing.
56:08
SPEAKER_03: Portland Public Schools has Basically a full-time reporter at the Oregonian,
56:13
SPEAKER_03: Julia Silverman, who is, I think, one of the best reporters I've worked with.
56:18
SPEAKER_03: And also a full-time reporter at the Willamette Week,
56:20
SPEAKER_03: Joanna Howe, who's also a very good reporter.
56:23
SPEAKER_03: But two full-time reporters on the school district when I had,
56:27
SPEAKER_03: I don't know, for six, seven years at the county, zero.
56:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:33
SPEAKER_03: So we are under a microscope in a way that no one else is.
56:36
SPEAKER_03: I mean, someone sneezes and headline.
56:39
SPEAKER_03: There's measles at Portland Public Schools.
56:41
SPEAKER_01: That's not a headline.
56:44
SPEAKER_03: No, not we.
56:45
SPEAKER_03: So far, so good.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, tell us something.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, it's back to school season and there's already been a bunch of headlines.
56:51
SPEAKER_01: And obviously the school system is going through some challenges with,
56:55
SPEAKER_01: you know, budgets and other things.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Tell us something that Portlanders should be proud of about their public school system.
57:00
SPEAKER_03: That our test scores are going up.
57:03
SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
57:04
SPEAKER_03: And it's actually surprising to me that even though the press is focused
57:09
SPEAKER_03: on test scores and a lot of people are on achievement,
57:12
SPEAKER_03: which test scores shouldn't be the ultimate,
57:16
SPEAKER_03: but achievement levels for kids is kind of why we're in this business, right?
57:21
SPEAKER_03: It's the goal, right?
57:22
SPEAKER_03: It is.
57:24
SPEAKER_03: But people are not often focused on that.
57:27
SPEAKER_03: They want us to worry.
57:29
SPEAKER_03: We have to be in charge of Are we serving,
57:32
SPEAKER_03: you know,
57:33
SPEAKER_03: we have pepperoni on pizzas and there are people,
57:37
SPEAKER_03: children who don't eat meat and is that okay for us to do?
57:42
SPEAKER_03: Or recently the headlines about the bird, the hawk who flew into the window at McDaniels.
57:50
SPEAKER_03: So we're responsible for everything and the focus gets lost of really why we're here.
57:57
SPEAKER_03: So test scores are up.
57:59
SPEAKER_03: Portland does better than the rest of the state.
58:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did an episode on statewide school scores and things,
58:06
SPEAKER_01: but I've heard that and seen that,
58:08
SPEAKER_01: that the Portland schools does a good job compared to the rest of the state.
58:13
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
58:14
SPEAKER_03: And it's kind of like Congress.
58:17
SPEAKER_03: You hate Congress, but you love your congressman.
58:20
SPEAKER_03: It's the same thing.
58:21
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the evil school district, but my teacher or my school.
58:24
SPEAKER_03: School pride is amazing because Going around, I mean,
58:29
SPEAKER_03: that's my happy place right now is going to schools and seeing kids and families
58:33
SPEAKER_03: and staff.
58:34
SPEAKER_03: And they just love their communities.
58:36
SPEAKER_03: And right now,
58:37
SPEAKER_03: because we're going through potential closures,
58:40
SPEAKER_03: we're listening to things that are working and aren't working in individual schools.
58:45
SPEAKER_03: And people are just, you know, they love their school.
58:48
SPEAKER_03: It's really heartwarming.
58:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, Debra Cofori,
58:51
SPEAKER_01: thank you so much for coming on the pod and thank you for your continued service
58:54
SPEAKER_01: to our community.
58:55
SPEAKER_01: And of course, I love my time with you as chair.
58:58
SPEAKER_01: So it's good to see you again.
58:59
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
59:00
SPEAKER_03: You too.
59:01
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Mike.
59:02
SPEAKER_01: Debra Cofori,
59:02
SPEAKER_01: thank you for your time,
59:04
SPEAKER_01: your candor, and for doing a job that most of us would run from.
59:07
SPEAKER_01: To everybody out there listening,
59:09
SPEAKER_01: the county chair race is one of the most important races in this election cycle.
59:12
SPEAKER_01: And I put it up there against any national races for the impact that
59:15
SPEAKER_01: the person elected to that office
59:19
SPEAKER_01: So attend a house party,
59:20
SPEAKER_01: go knock some doors,
59:21
SPEAKER_01: and most importantly,
59:22
SPEAKER_01: do your homework,
59:23
SPEAKER_01: talk to your neighbors,
59:24
SPEAKER_01: make sure you're registered to vote, and then actually get your ballot in.
59:28
SPEAKER_01: Season three of Schmidt Show PDX continues through election day.
59:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm Mike Schmidt.
59:32
SPEAKER_01: Take care of each other and we will see you next time.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: A quick word from our
59:59
SPEAKER_01: show sponsor,
1:00:00
SPEAKER_01: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Dr. Moret from Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_00: I know some people worry that once they see a chiropractor, they'll have to keep coming back.
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SPEAKER_00: I recommend the care that you need for as long as you need it.
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SPEAKER_00: And at Corbett Hill, you have options.
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SPEAKER_00: Care should be about what's right for you.
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SPEAKER_00: Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
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SPEAKER_00: Move well, feel well, live well.
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SPEAKER_00: Visit corbethill.com.