Yeah, so I mentioned this in the last item, but I'm too amused by it not to give it a post of its own. The treasurer for the Citizens to Reform City Hall (supporters of the Mayor's preferred "curiously-strong mayor" proposal), according to The Oregonian, will be "Kyle Chisek, a Potter staffer on temporary leave". In other words, it's basically "Team Potter" running the show, and not, despite the committee's name, some "citizens" group.

The "coming soon" message is gone, and the Citizens to Reform City Hall website is up and running (although it says "full site is coming soon"). There isn't much there, but it's a better placeholder than before. Me, I'm looking forward to seeing what they put in their Charter FAQ section. Now if only they'd report their campaign financials, too. Note: That last bit only means I am impatient for them. If I'm reading the new campaign finance rules correctly, contributions have to be reported within 30 days of receipt, but this committee's statement of organization is dated 22 February. So even if they've been receiving contributions since they started up, the first potential 30-day period hasn't hit yet. As I said, I'm just impatient, because the other two committees appear to be posting their contributions more or less as they get them.

Breaking News: After weeks of speculation as to who would actually be campaigning for the mayor's charter reform package, word comes that a political action committee is finally being filed.

The PAC is called Citizens to Reform City Hall. (The website is here, although it's currently under construction.) It's composed of seven of the former Charter Review Commission Members--including real estate developer Bob Ball, who headed up a failed "strong mayor" campaign in 2002.

So far, the public face of the pro-reform camp has been limited to the Portland Business Alliance, Mayor Potter, and the Oregonian editorial board--not exactly the populist face of a campaign that normally rules elections in Portland. Among their many challenges to convince Portlanders to vote to change our form of government, the initial one will be for the Citizens to Reform City Hall to distance themselves from the moneyed power brokers who are influential, but politically unpopular.

The campaign is being billed as citizen-led, and "up against the establishment."

How "against the establishment" you can be with the PBA and Oregonian on your side is a question that will be fun to see answered.

We're in the home stretch of the May 15 special election to determine Portland's form of government -- Measure 26-91. Presumably, this is when the misnomered "Citizens to Reform City Hall" will be ramping up the rhetoric they've honed at least since the day City Council voted to refer the measure to the ballot in the first place. With the ballots in hand, the mailers in your mailboxes, and the last chance for what I call Team Potter to make its case, it's a good time to take a look at what you probably should know about the proposal and...

Back on 16 March in The Oregonian, Mayor Potter told the paper that he didn't want the tram's cost overruns to "become a question of whether the form of government was to blame", despite the fact that it was he and the rest of Team Potter who were trying for months to tie the two issues together. Today comes an emailed message from Potter via Citizens to Reform City Hall which includes this argument for changing Portland's form of government: "Establish clear and transparent decision-making that holds managers accountable - and end the excuses that allow the price tag for the OHSU tram to quadruple, and no one knows why or is held accountable." If you want to know what I really think, see this post elsewhere, whose title is far more blunt than I will allow myself to be here. To the media: Will you please call him on this crap, once and for all?

Jack says I'm "overheating" when I harp on the treasurer for Citizens to Reform City Hall being a Potter staffer on a lave of absence. But given today's Oregonian, which further establishes that Potter is "likely to be a central part of the campaign" and has the pro-change campaign releasing from a recent poll only the information that th Mayor's approval is at 70% (with their political strategist calling the reform "his issue"), I don't find it unreasonable to focus on the suggestion that it's primarily his interests driving the effort.

Over in our current open thread is a response to a campaign letter that's apparently out for Citizens to Reform City Hall, signed by Mayor Potter. Anyone have a copy of the letter they can scan and send me?

More cash against -- and for -- charter change Finally, Some Numbers From The Strong Mayor Camp Live Blogging: Charter @ Concorida Business ponies up Follow The Money: A New Blog! Campaigns Use System Strategically Citizens to Reform City Hall Plays Transparency Catch Up