Phoenix endorsements City Council choices BY PORTLAND PHOENIX EDITORIAL STAFF

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CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE

Loretta Griffin vs. Carol Schiller vs. Ed Suslovic

The At-Large race this year is a feisty one. We have Loretta Griffin, the widow of a former city councilor and a woman who, incredibly, fills five trash bags in one week living alone (seriously, what does she put in those things?). Griffin doesn’t have any political or community activism experience but she sure seems pissed off about property taxes and the local economy. Carol Schiller and Ed Suslovic make for a more competitive match. Suslovic has years of experience as a politician and local activist, Schiller has years of experience as a community activist and an artist. Schiller snagged the Green Party and League of Pissed Off Voters endorsement, Suslovic has so many buddies in Portland’s Democratic circles they could throw him a block party, and all of the current members of the city council, barring Will Gorham and Cheryl Leeman, have endorsed him.

Both the Schiller and Suslovic camps have no qualms about calling us to talk smack about the other. Schiller and Suslovic, thanks for the memories.

Whoever wins, hopefully the passion for city politics generated by the players in this three-way race will be carried directly to the council, minus the smack-talking. If we could morph Schiller and Suslovic together into some kind of ideal artist-activist-politician, we would. Sadly, morphing is currently beyond even us. In the absence of pseudo-science, we have to give the nod to Suslovic, by a hair. The man’s worked to create affordable housing in the city, he’s on too many area boards to count, and he served well as a Portland representative in the 121st state legislature, narrowly losing out in 2004 to Green John Eder when the two were redistricted into an incumbent vs. incumbent race. He deserves another chance to serve Portland.

The Phoenix endorses Ed Suslovic for At-Large representative to the city council.

CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4

Cheryl Leeman vs. Stephen Lovejoy

This year marks the eight time Cheryl Leeman has run for the city council. She’s already served seven consecutive terms and done two stints as mayor. Needless to say, Stephen Lovejoy has some chutzpah to take on this city council behemoth.

Leeman probably knows you. She knows everybody, which, if you’ve served on the city council for 21 years, pretty much makes sense. She’s a fiscal conservative and received the endorsement of the Portland Firefighters local union. Lovejoy has been endorsed by the League of Pissed Off Voters, major Portland democrats like representative Glenn Cummings, and state senators Ethan Strimling and Michael Brennan. He’s a business professor at the University of Maine at Augusta and so knows how to crunch numbers. He also seems like a nice enough guy. But, in the end, Leeman’s ability to refer to audience members by their first name at the Portland Taxpayers Association city council debate, along with her voice of reason and institutional knowledge, is evidence of what makes her worth keeping. She knows this city inside and out and, in the end, when it comes to district-level races, it’s really constituent service that counts.

The Phoenix endorses Cheryl Leeman for the District 4 representative to the city council.

CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5

Jim Cohen vs. Alvin Schulman

After the vote on November 8, we think incumbent councilor Jim Cohen and Alvin Schulman should launch their own sitcom on Channel 4. It would be sort of an Odd Couple knock-off, Portland style. If you attended any of the council-race debates, you know what we mean. Part of the fun of attending was to watch the District 5 back and forth. Schulman enjoyed standing up and pacing to drive home his often incomprehensible diatribes about how he is the candidate of the people, even though he moved from New York City only six years ago. Cohen played the straight-man, talking about his experience on the council, pointing out his parents in the audience and smiling at them, referencing his children. Somewhere, somebody should rent these two a tiny apartment.

We do owe Schulman a debt of gratitude for one of the most memorable election moments this year. When, at the September League of Pissed Off Voters debate, Schulman answered a question about whether "big, large, multinational chain corporations" belong in Portland’s downtown by saying he loves Starbucks because "You need to get your coffee somewhere," we couldn’t help but enjoy the gasps and stunned silence that followed. We give Cohen credit for keeping a straight face and refraining from stomping his feet gleefully.

Even without Schulman’s missteps, Cohen is a good candidate. A partner with the Verrill Dana law firm in Portland, Cohen was chair of the city council’s Transportation Committee (where he’s shown a real commitment to improving the Metro bus service) and a member of the Community Development and Legislative Committee. Backed by mayor Jill Duson and state representative Joe Brannigan, among others, Cohen is clearly on his way to Augusta. Let’s take advantage of him while he’s still small-time.

The Phoenix endorses Jim Cohen for District 5 representative to the city council.