Alan Kessler
@alankessler.bsky.social
Attorney. Activist. Public records, transit, bikes, and abundant housing.
Turns out 29,000 or so of the signatures collected were duplicates (or triplicates, or quadruplicates in at least one case!), from out-of-Portland voters, from people not registered to vote, or otherwise invalid. www.portland.gov/auditor/news...
Initiative Petition 1PDX2026 does not qualify to Portland’s November ballot
portland.gov
Turns out 29,000 or so of the signatures collected were duplicates (or triplicates, or quadruplicates in at least one case!), from out-of-Portland voters, from people not registered to vote, or otherwise invalid. www.portland.gov/auditor/news...
Initiative Petition 1PDX2026 does not qualify to Portland’s November ballot
portland.gov
hey cops, sorry y'all couldn't get enough signatures to cashgrab the climate justice money for more overtime or whatever but it would be great if you and other politicians didn't echo our fascist president's rhetoric actively discrediting and sowing doubt in our local elections offices!
Khanh Pham for Oregon@khanhphamfororegon.com · 5d agoPortland’s cops shouldn’t be helping Trump undermine faith in our local elections. #democracy #pdx #portland
Update: this decision was reversed! Kudos to the neighbors who organized themselves for a better outcome. I’m grateful that Parks was receptive to our feedback.
Mitch Green@councilorgreen.bsky.social · last wk.Not my district, but c’mon man. I’ll be sending a letter to Parks about this (with a cc to the D3 councilors), but this is one of those moments where in the midst of the many ongoing policy challenges that Portlanders experience that have no near term solution, you don’t add some new pain like this
Bulldoze the arena and turn it into a public sex forest.
OPB@opb.org · 6d agoPortland Trail Blazers officials told city councilors the city needs to do more than just help fund a renovation of the Moda Center if it wants to assure the Blazers’ long-term presence in Oregon.
You don’t actually have to hand it to the bastards, even if they’re corking at a big bike protest. The overtime is already too much thanks.
Controversial opinion, apparently? It’s good when there are city workers with enough moral fortitude to stop and gather evidence when they find out canvassers are lying to the public for signatures. It erodes democracy and engagement when you give your signature and find out you were lied to.
This is unhinged behavior from Safer Portland & the police union president. Last time the campaign got caught lying to Portlanders about their initiative they attempted a red scare. Just run an honest campaign instead of whatever nonsense this is.
As Signatures Are Disqualified, Campaign to Hire More Police Cries Foul
With early numbers indicating that a Portland ballot initiative to hire additional police officers is falling shy of the valid signatures needed to place it on the November ballot, its backers on Mond...
wweek.com
Safer Portland is calling for the state to count signatures for their Pro-Cop ballot measure, rather than the city, which to me smells like desperation. The Police Union Chief calling for an elections official to be fired is a new low IIRC. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Expand 15 minutes earlier to cover start of lunch period.
PRR ideas: The 911 call. Recordings of all comms during the 31 minutes. GPS tracks for all on-duty uniformed officers during the 31 minutes. All dispatch logs during the 31 minutes. All police texts (specify the “Police SMARSH archive” during the 31 minutes.)
Lydia Kiesling@lydiakiesling.bsky.social · 4w agoThis is an absolutely horrific story & it's also absolutely journalist malpractice to uncritically craft it as a PPB talking points memo about Portland's police budget. And it's disgusting for the PPB to leverage their performance here into a lobbying opportunity. www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/0...
Ah yes, the "I'm just a little guy and it's my birthday please don't be mean to me" defense.
Alan Kessler@alankessler.bsky.social · 4w agoElise Haas, a spokesperson for Safer Portland, says canvassers’ responses can likely be explained by them going into “fight or flight mode” when approached by someone recording them. She says no canvassers intentionally misled the public. www.wweek.com/news/city/20...
If someone hired the circulators to write an initiative I'd probably sign it.
Instead of depriving a million Oregonians of medicine perhaps we could cut a single ODOT project.
OPB@opb.org · 4w agoMajor cuts are coming to the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s free healthcare program covering 1.4 million children and low-income adults. But the group of experts Gov. Tina Kotek charged with minimizing the harm of those cuts has given her no definitive recommendations.
i’ve stuck my neck out to fight for ratepayer affordability and to make sure we don’t get worked over in yet another public stadium subsidy scam, and i’ve lost two endorsements over it. that’s unfortunate, but my job is to take on affordability and matters of public trust whatever the cost. and i am
Councilor Mitch Green reaffirms opposition to billionaire bailouts and water rate hikes, vows to stand up for working Portlanders — new campaign site
Councilor Mitch Green reaffirms opposition to billionaire bailouts and water rate hikes, vows to stand up for working Portlanders
mitch4portland.com
Sit a minute with the astounding contempt the cops are showing for civilian leadership and voters — dumping almost a million dollars into a campaign to drain a popular program that they clearly don’t think they can pull off honestly
Candace Avalos@candaceavalos.bsky.social · 4w ago"the mental health police" is WILD 🤯 www.wweek.com/news/courts/...
A canvasser came up to me downtime and opened with "can you take a minute to sign to reduce 911 response times?" I told him "I've read the proposal and that's not what it does". He immediately turned and walked away. Seemed like he'd prefer to find someone else who was easier to lie to.
"the mental health police" is WILD 🤯 www.wweek.com/news/courts/...
Elections Complaint Alleges a Dozen Violations by Canvassers for Police Hiring Initiative
The complaint alleges that canvassers repeatedly failed to carry a copy of the ballot initiative’s complete text and falsely stated that the measure would hire mental health responders and 911 dispatc...
wweek.com
I'm glad that the WW is covering this. The Mercury shouldn't be the only one doing so. I understand that it's good practice to get far more than the needed number of signatures, but the degree of over-collection suggests that they expected many to be challenged. We should investigate more deeply.
Portland DSA@portlanddsa.bsky.social · 4w ago“The complaint, which was filed by Portland lawyer Alan Kessler […] alleges that in over a dozen instances, canvassers were not carrying copies of the initiative’s complete text and repeatedly made false statements about who exactly would be hired by the initiative, among other violations.”
About time somebody other than the Mercury started talking about this. I submitted a complaint about the guy who canvassed me for this, he absolutely tried to play the 911 line, and tried to deny they were stealing from PCEF.
Portland DSA@portlanddsa.bsky.social · 4w ago“The complaint, which was filed by Portland lawyer Alan Kessler […] alleges that in over a dozen instances, canvassers were not carrying copies of the initiative’s complete text and repeatedly made false statements about who exactly would be hired by the initiative, among other violations.”
It’s exactly the same line they use to excuse officer involved lynchings.
Alan Kessler@alankessler.bsky.social · 4w agoElise Haas, a spokesperson for Safer Portland, says canvassers’ responses can likely be explained by them going into “fight or flight mode” when approached by someone recording them. She says no canvassers intentionally misled the public. www.wweek.com/news/city/20...
Elise Haas, a spokesperson for Safer Portland, says canvassers’ responses can likely be explained by them going into “fight or flight mode” when approached by someone recording them. She says no canvassers intentionally misled the public. www.wweek.com/news/city/20...
Initiative to Hire Police Officers Looks Like It Will Make the November Ballot
The backers of a ballot initiative that would tap the Portland Clean Energy Fund to hire police officers announced Monday that it had collected more than 62,000 signatures, well over the required 40,4...
wweek.com
Olivia Clark wants to steal from the police accountability program we voted in at 82%
Councilor Olivia Clark@councilorclark.bsky.social · 2mo agoStay tuned for an ordinance to restore those cuts that will be brought to Council outside of the standard budget process.
If anyone's job or library or whatever gives away a microfilm/microfiche scanner please think of me.
OpenAI uses own chatbot to launch self-interested xenophobic disinformation campaign.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2mo ago🙄
