January 10, 2004
Busse Officially Launches Mayoral Bid
It was just after the 8:00 PM start time, and Phil Busse was outside Holocene, leaving his own campaign launch party.
All in the call of duty, as it turned out. A run to Kinko's was required, to provide supporters of his campaign with copies of his draft platform as part of his previously-mentioned intent to include public input in the platform's creation.
In many ways, this was my least favorite campaign launch event, although not in ways that reflect upon the event or the candidate. Rather, I despise large social scenes, and so from the beginning I knew the only way to make it through even part of this one was to stake out a spot at the bar, take out my notebook, and hunch over the only whiskey and Coke I would be having for the evening.
While waiting for copies of the campaign platform to arrive along with the candidate himself, I had my first exposure to Busse's community-penned Big Book of Complaints, which is toted around to every campaign appearance.
Everything ever written about the Big Book (which, all told, probably amounts to no more than perhaps three mentions) suggested a mighty tome, full of the wide spectrum of Portland political opinion. Indeed, the book itself (a large, blank-paged, hard-bound sketchbook) initially struck me as looking like an old naval logbook of some kind.
In reality, its contents more closely resemble a high school yearbook. Scattered throughout the 25 pages of "complaints" is the occassional doodle and a random "Good luck, Phil!" Admittedly, it's still early in the Mayoral campaign. It will prove interesting to see just what shape the book takes as the months wear on.
Somewhere near the end of those 25 pages is one upon which has been asked, "What should our campaign song be?" The offerings so far include "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain and Tenille, "Running with the Devil" by Van Halen, "Divide and Conquer" by Husker Du, "Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (although the band wasn't listed), and the following:
George Clinton -> Funkadelic/Parliament come to mind... Too bootilicious?
For a time, the giant wall-screen played scenes from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (one of the films played at one of Busse's film events), replaced later by scenes from one of the Rocky movies. I don't know which one, I wasn't paying close attention. I did notice, however, a giant and vaguely disturbing by its very presence "VOTE PHIL" graphic appear for a time in between.
Eventually, the candidate returned carrying copies of the draft platform. Or, at least, what there is of it ready for public perusal. Despite earlier descriptions in The Oregonian which placed the platform at around 80 pages, that would appear to be the rough size of the notes being used to write the platform itself.
Instead, what was released at this event was a 31-page (including title and contents pages) draft that present Busse's platform items on two aspects of economic issues (the creative class, and development of sports and events), and on issues of police and crime.
Other portions of the unfinished platform process are marked simply, "This section is currently under development." These include other economic issues (such as small business development and large business retention), education, social services, quality of life, the environment, cultural development, and governmental transparency.
In the otherwise fairly complete section on police and crime, there might well have been actual policies included under Low-Priority Pot Possession. But given the state in which Busse's team found themselves while writing the platform, well, it was decided that might not be prudent. "It's a good thing I have advisors," Busse said.
For what it's worth, the economic platform should be fleshed out in these draft documents before adding random parts to the other sections. Out on its own, the segment on the creative class floats in vacuum.
Once I had ths current draft platform in hand, there wasn't much left for me. The large social scene began to fill up, and my glass was nearly empty. After brief on-and-off conversation with City Council candidate Brian Smith (who then stood reading through Busse's platform), it was time to pack up and head home. After a whopping one hour and fourty-five minutes.
On my way out, Busse expressed some hope that other Mayoral candidates would follow his lead in moving to release a comprehensive campaign platform, rather than stray policy statements spread out over the course of the campaign season.
"Francesconi's something of a joiner," Busse said, pondering the possibility that one of the two current front-runners in the race might follow suit if Busse's approach is well received. Me, I won't hold my breath.
But it would be nice if comprehensive platform documents -- putting aside whether or not they are generated in part through a process of public involvement -- were something we could simply expect from candidates for public office.
Comments (2)
Mike on 11 Jan 2004
Sorry you didn't have a good time at the party. Did you miss the speach? That's what I was hoping to hear about...
The One True b!X on 11 Jan 2004
It's rarely if ever that I enjoy more than a couple of hours in a space that size with that many people. So no, I was gone by about 9:45, and so there was no speech-hearing for me, unfortunately.