PORTLAND BALLOT MEASURE OFFERS NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT THE PROPOSED REFORMS TO PORTLAND’S CITY CHARTER EXPLAINED NICK GATLIN Portlanders will vote on a ballot measure that would dramatically alter the structure of Portland city government this November. The proposal would make three major changes to Portland’s charter. First, it would institute ranked choice voting for city elected officials, allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than casting a single vote for one candidate. Second, it would increase the number of city council members from five to 12, with three each representing four new geographic districts. Third, the proposal would give sole legislative authority to the city council, removing the mayor entirely from council except in the case of a tie-breaking vote. Instead, the mayor would have exclusively administrative powers, and the authority to nominate city officials for the council’s approval. A new city administrator would take control of overseeing the city’s bureaucracy, a role that is currently fulfilled by the five commissioners. These proposed changes were drafted by the Charter Commission, an independent body appointed by the Portland City Council every 10 years to assess the city charter and recommend amendments. If approved by voters in Nov., changes would take effect by the Nov. 2024 elections.
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The proposal has been met with a mixed reception among Portlanders, with multiple members of the Charter Commission— such as Mayor Ted Wheeler, Commissioner Mingus Mapps and Commissioner Dan Ryan—publicly voicing concerns about the possible changes, despite their loud opposition to the current form of government. Portland State Vanguard spoke to two people with knowledge of Portland’s current government—Richard Clucas and Ethan Seltzer—to get a better understanding of this potential overhaul. Richard Clucas is executive director of the Western Political Science Association and professor of political science at Portland State University, where he teaches courses on state and local government. Clucas outlined some of the complaints with Portland’s current government, particularly its “commission”-style system distinct from the more typical “mayor-council” system. Under a commission system like Portland’s, the city commissioners act as both legislators and administrators for the various city departments. Portland’s form of government was enacted in 1913 as a Progressive-era reform meant to increase government responsiveness to public concerns.
“We do have a commission system of government, which is very rare in America today, and we’re the largest city to have that,” Clucas said. “At one point in time there were lots of cities that had commission structures of government, but they came to find that these systems have lots of problems… Among the problems that are often identified is that you elect people who are asked to run a bureaucracy besides serving on the city council, and most of them don’t have any sort of professional background in running a bureaucracy. They may be good at running for election; that doesn’t mean they would be a good administrator.” While commission governments were originally intended as a progressive reform, many governments which adopted them ultimately chose another path. “I mean, the original impetus for creating commission forms of government about 100 years ago was a thought at the time that they responded well to crises,” Clucas said. “But over a period of time, after a variety of cities adopted them, they realized they really didn’t function well, and so they abandoned that charge.” Besides issues of administrative expertise and crisis response, Clucas noted that Portland city government has taken criticism for its citywide commissioner elections, which some point to as a reason why “[each commissioner] typically comes out of the central part of the city, and those who don’t live in central Portland—years, decades underrepresented—have not had a voice on the city council.” When asked about the argument that the ballot measure contained too many changes to be workable, Clucas had doubts. “The charter reform commission has come forward with a proposal that’s designed to address this myriad of different problems that are perceived to be existing in this city,” Clucas
PSU Vanguard • JULY 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
