I comment over at Jack Bog's site as follows:

Steve,

Why get public records requests? The DA is supposed to prosecute official misconduct cases already. Is the DA not doing his job? I know the DA has tripped over himself already, as if he has legs made of wet noodles, by not keeping the school district in line . . . confining any offer to that which rightfully belongs in the budget. (There is a 50 million dollar pot of illegal PPS spending this year and 100 million next year, of supposedly legally compellable demands for expenditures that exceeded the budget. This excessive spending, this unlawful spending, compounds as yet unmeasured increases in pension obligations that will be demanded by PERB at a future date when they get around to performing an actuarial report.)

The problem is not the PDC, in isolation, but is a systemic problem that pervades this city and nearly every other city and governmental entity across the state. The Oregon State Bar sits right there atop the list of power bases to authorize its' the officers of the court to give license to the blanket wholesale theft of public resources.

Steve, can I invite you to think slightly bigger? I think the City of Portland should have an elected City Attorney to give the position freedom from the Oregon State Bar and the backing of the public. I have an idle, cosmetic rant in the form of an initiative that would put that question before the public in May 2006. I plan on making a few word changes and resubmit for the November 2006 election, where the election would coincide with the running of candidates to fill the position. This might even suit the interests of the host of this site. It surely could be no worse than we have right now.

But, of course, I am flat broke so I would need a rich sponsor so that I could go gather signatures. Think bigger, think systemic fix. Think about the ability of City Attorney being able to reach back in time FIVE years for ORICO actions. Think December 2006, and then five years before that date, to actions from December 2001 forward. Think positive waves, as did the Donald Southerland character in Kelly's Heroes.

Jack Bog: Reform, PDC-style

UPDATE Steve holds out hope for the FBI, to which I replied:

The feds have a token quota of perhaps twenty to thirty cases nationwide reserved for cases of local government official misconduct.

Don't hold our breath thinking that they might ignore the lost bonding opportunity that might result from cleaning Portland's house of corruption. They are more likely to cheer it on, and inform local folks, in advance, of conduct that might be illegal but that they will nevertheless not prosecute.

Don't expect the OSB to suddenly wake up with a conscience tomorrow either. Not unless they are forced too. The OSB is looking for even more opportunities to let government folks wiggle around with the certainty that a lawyer can offer them immunity for knowingly unlawful conduct, with the stroke of a pen, in secret.

Jack must surely have endured a few polite requests to ban my whinings from his site. A quick look at how the elected City Attorney from San Diego is using his power and autonomy could give a clue to what is at least possible, though clearly not certain. Would Jack have the courage to take on the entire OSB? I would, in a flash, cause I have nothing left to lose, but I am not smart enough and I tend to piss people off in my first or second sentence; sometimes maybe the third.