Portland, Oregon Pulls Out of Anti-Terrorism Task Force

Oregonian ^ | 4/22/2005 | Oregonian Staff

[BobS]

The mayor of Portland is a national security risk with a top secret clearance background check. That is his stupid message to the world. No discipline in this message on any level. I guess it reflects on the people that elected him?

[GretchenM]

I agree, Portland's people will regret this.

Was the Portland mayor the one who pronounced legal sanction to same-sex "unions" and then the Oregon Supreme Court threw that out?

[dixiechick2000]

"Was the Portland mayor the one who pronounced legal sanction to same-sex "unions" and then the Oregon Supreme Court threw that out?"


That was the Multnomah County Commission.
What's the difference between the two?
Not much...

[GretchenM]

Thanks for the info.

Sounds like they're pretty cozy together.

Isn't Portland in Multnomah County?

[dixiechick2000]

"Sounds like they're pretty cozy together."


They are birds of a feather...


"Isn't Portland in Multnomah County?"


Yes...that's why I said there's not
much difference between the two.
One is city gov't, the other is
county gov't.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

I know for a fact liberals love oregon for it's liberalizm, especially portland. A liberal once confessed to me it's one of the best "places" to move to, it's so liberal (PUKE). That convinced me it's not the best place to move to. :)

[RippleFire]

bump

[oldfart]

I live in Portland, and while I didn't vote for Potter, I kinda agree with his action--- though not for the stated reasons.
I don't like the Patriot Act or the way it is implemented. I may very well be paranoid, but it seems to me that the federal Government is growing by leaps and bounds, all the while telling us what a great job they're doing by protecting us from the boogyman. So, if the boogyman is so dangerous, why isn't the southern border closed? Why do we have American soldiers guarding the border in Afghanistan and Iraq but not in Arizona? Why is our "protective" government so intent on disarming it's citizens instead of offering them training and ammo? Why has our "protective" government done more to protect it's own institutions than it has it's citizens?
Portland is a port city and therefore, a target. So is San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego-- and those are just the major ports on the West coast.Any of them-- and more-- are just as likely to be hit by a nuke as Portland. As a matter of fact, if I were intent on striking terror into the hearts of Americans, I'd hit a city like Boise or Reno or Boulder or Laramie or... Just to show that no one is safe.

[PzLdr]

No. The officers need the clearance to do their work on anti-terrorism, and that requires access to classified intelligence, etc. The Mayor is not part of that effort. In fact he wants to make sure that the officers don't violate lefty Oregon law regarding religions and political groups. That means he assumes that he has the power to countermand task force orders to his cops, and to interfere in task force operations. I don't think so. Personally, if the non political, secular terrorists we are at war with do mount an attack, Oregon works for me. The weather's lousy and the coffee eats it. Plus the state song should be "Am I Blue"

[Randy Papadoo]

Portland has been "dropping out" of federal task forces on a regular basis for years...at least 10. This mayoral declaration is nothing new.....for Portland. The paranoid thinking in ultra-liberal Portland has sustained this attitude.

A city mayor is a political animal, with many duties to attend to, and many loyalties to maintain. A politician also always has enemies, and it would be impossible for the mayor to get a top secret clearance because of all the derogatory information that would surface. The mayor knew he'd never get or even be considered for such a clearance (he's not entitled, for one thing). He just used it for an excuse to keep the PD out of the federal loop, for the same old reasons as always.........They're just too liberal in Portland!

[AIC]

In this or any other post I see no reason why the ACLU should be in any meetings what so ever. They are not a Gov. agency, elected by anyone. Why would they be in any type of Gov. secrecy meetings? The ACLU in these meetings is just outrageous.

[ex-Texan]

Most everything going on in Portland, Oregon is outrageous. The Mayor and police officials just busted dozens of small time methamphetamine producers. Most operated out of small labs in apartments and two were even making the drug in their broken down car. Big deal.

Oregon made buying certain over the counter medicines more difficult by requiring people to show identification and sign for the medication. Now local officials are bragging about how the have hurt the meth trade. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that major methaphetamine operators (the BIG Boys) are operating with high level protection. There are warehouses filled with meth 'precursor' chemicals being sold on the black market. All that Portland accomplished was to further protect the BIG Boys. And drive up the cost to meth users which guarantees higher profits. Local officials got tons of positive publicity over this scam. The idiots who voted for these scam artists are totally unaware of what is really going on.

Portland has been a center for criminals since the days when it was a very popular stopover for Pacific sailing captains. More people were kidnapped, held for ransom or forced into slavery on the high seas out 'Bridge Town' than any other West Coast city. 'Nuff said.

[shebacal]

Portland is the only major U.S. city to rebuke the FBI. One city out of 100. A blue city to boot. My prediction: In six months perhaps Portland will regret this decison when it becomes ground zero for a terrorist attack. 'Nuff said.

I am so ashamed of this mayor of the major city in my state. What is the mayor thinking? He seems not to realize that America is under attack by terrorists.

[kimoajax]

Problem is the Portland Police Department has been known to leak information...to political freinds, especially when Potter was running it. This rat has a long tale.

[Bernard Marx]

When visiting Oregon recently I saw a bumper sticker in Salem that covers this situation nicely:

Keep Portland Weird!

[Salvation]

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[mathurine]

And the ACLU collected its usual megabucks for masturbating on the courthouse benches.

[Nam Vet]

Living here in Portland I knew this would happen quite a while back. Potter and 65% of this area are total maroons. I wouldn't trust Potter if I was the FBI either.

Nam Vet

[Ramius]

I see it that he wants to know what is going on and as the top elected official I feel he should.

Normally, this would be a reasonable assumption. The mayor ought to be able to have the highest security clearance of anyone in his/her jurisdiction.

The problem in Portland is that from what I understand the mayor has some serious issues that popped up during his background check and the feds are *unwilling* to give him a clearance. Nobody is saying what those issues are.

Seems to me that without knowing *why* he is unable to pass the background check, any speculation beyond that is fruitless. Having had many people under me go through background checks and getting clearances in spite of some spotty past problems, I'm guessing that just maybe the concerns that the feds have might be warranted.

This strikes me as a completely juvenile reaction to a real problem. The consequences for the city could be obscene. But self-important idealogues don't care about that.

[Ramius]

He said that without more oversight, he couldn't guarantee that Portland officers would obey Oregon laws that bar police from investigating people strictly because of their political or religious ties.

So the police cannot investigate someone in Portland that has ties to Al-Queda. It's just a "political" tie.

Somehow it scares me that *anybody* in that city might have a secret or higher clearance.