Whoop, Whoop! Remembering Portland's Bud Clark

 

Oregonians of a certain generation know the significance of hearing someone go Whoop, Whoop!. It was the eccentric catchphrase of citizen Mayor Bud Clark. He passed away earlier this month, just a month after his 90th birthday. Portlanders all know the story of Bud Clark. The owner of the Goose Hollow Inn that took on the unlikely task of running against Mayor Frank Ivancie. No one was paying attention when they should have and Clark pulled out a shocking win with 54% of the vote in 1984. 

It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that Clark, as a community small business owner had become a community activist. He served on several local boards and helped revitalize the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Fearing that citizens were going to left with the same old leaders that were wasting chances to improve things for the city he made the unlikely decision to enter the race for Portland Mayor. 

Oregon's Earl Blumenauer on the Trail since 1970

1981 City Council Button

Earl Blumenauer has been a fixture of Portland politics since the 1970s. One of the few that has served in just about every level of government offered in Portland.  He got his start by organizing the Go 19 campaign in 1970. This would have lowered the voting age in Oregon to 19. While this effort was unsuccessful, it helped push pressure towards the passage of the twenty-sixth Amendment that lowered the voting age to 18 in 1972.

Winning a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1972 and was re-elected in 1974 and 1976. During this time he was also attending law school and working at Portland State University. In 1978 he won a seat on the Multnomah County Commission and during his term sought a seat on the Portland City Council in 1981. He would lose this race to Margaret Strachan.

It wouldn't be until the late 80s when another opportunity opened up for Blumenauer to vie for a seat on the city council. This time he would win and serve there until his election to congress in 1996.

While on the city council, Blumenauer was able to work on transportation issues and was the Commissioner of Public Works for the city. It was during his time on the city council that Blumenauer went up against Vera Katz in the open mayoral election in 1992. While he would lose this race, he continued to serve on the city council and that allowed him the opportunity to run to replace Ron Wyden after he advanced to the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Portland Mayoral Campaign 2012

One of the great things about being a locals collector is the sheer amount of materials out there in the locals field. Everything from a Ronald Reagan for Governor pin to a Al Smith for Sheriff pin is out there for fans of the candidates who later run for president. Then there are the items for folks who run for water board, school board, city council, auditor, county commissioner and then the biggest office in most municipalities across the country is that of mayor.

Founded in 1845, Portland is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oregon. Portland is governed by a commission style government. The Mayor of Portland sits on the commission with 4 elected City Councilors and the City Auditor. All are elected to 4 year terms. These six folks govern the 100 or so neighborhoods that make up the city of Portland. As of 2011, it is estimated that nearly 600,000 people call Portland home. While the elections are all non-partisan, the city is known for it's abundance of Democratic candidates and office holders. All of the members of the state legislature from Portland are Democrats. The last Republican to be Mayor of Portland was Connie McCready, completed Mayor Neil Goldschmidt's term after he was appointed to the Carter Administration. The last Republican to be elected Mayor of Portland was Terry Schrunk.

2012 represented another campaign for Mayor of the Rose City, and it was an interesting campaign. There were 23 candidates on the ballot in the May primary. People of every walk of life stepped up to the task of running for mayor. There were college students, writers, engineers, real estate agents, artists, a CEO, a former city commissioner, and a member of the legislature all running for the same office. There was even an Occupy Portland supporter in the mix. Tre Arrow even popped up again. Instead of perching himself on a window ledge, he perched himself on the ballot.