FILE: Portland City Commissioners Rene Gonzalez and Dan Ryan make final preparations for the City Council public work session on July 18, 2023. Gonzalez and Ryan sought to have Portland voters consider a ballot measure that would rewrite voter-approved changes to the city charter.
Caden Perry / OPB
Portland city commissioners won’t pursue a ballot measure this May that would allow future Portland mayors the ability to veto City Council decisions.
This proposal was previously floated by Commissioners Rene Gonzalez and Dan Ryan in June, at the tail end of a heated City Council discussion. The commissioners had jointly proposed tweaking three components of the voter-approved plan to change the city’s form of government, much to the chagrin of Portland voters and their fellow commissioners. Hearing clear opposition, the commissioners retracted their proposal — but pledged to advance one idea that received the least amount of criticism.
“I am still steadfast in bringing the Mayor veto … to the voters,” Ryan wrote at the time in a press statement. Gonzalez also said he looked forward to discussing the potential of a similar ballot measure in the spring of 2024.
But, with the May election on the horizon, the politicians are singing a different tune. Neither is planning on advancing that ballot measure.
“Where I’m at right now is seeing this [change in government] through,” Ryan said Friday. “I got a lot of clarity from people in July.”
Portland plans to sunset its current form of government in December 2024. A plan approved by voters last year replaces that government with one that triples the size of City Council, divides Portland into four voting districts, and introduces a ranked choice voting system. The plan, which must be in place by the November 2024 election, also removes the mayor from council. The mayor would only intervene to cast a tie-breaking vote.
In July, Gonzalez and Ryan said they had heard concerns from Portlanders about the details of this plan, and wanted to give voters a chance to revise the strategy. Specifically, they were interested in placing three new ballot measures on the November 2023 ballot — one that would have reduced the 12-person council to eight, another to alter the specific style of ranked choice voting, and a third to give the mayor veto power.
Their proposal faced immediate disapproval from Portlanders who voted in favor of the initial government changes last year, as well as from other Portland-area lawmakers.
They were also told by election officials that administering a special election in November could cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Less than a week after pitching the idea, the commissioners withdrew the proposal. Yet they both stressed interest in carrying the mayoral veto measure to the May ballot.
At the time, Ryan said it didn’t seem like good governance to keep the mayor from keeping council policies in check. He echoed that thinking last week.
“I couldn’t find one example in democracy where you have an executive branch and a legislative branch that doesn’t have a veto,” Ryan said.
But last week, Ryan said he’d rather wait to see how the new government system operates before tinkering with it.
“I think we need to roll this out and then learn from it, and then have the willingness to notice what’s working, what’s not working,” he said, “and bring an edit to the voters after we have a chance to see how it’s implemented.”
His new reasoning reflects what Mayor Ted Wheeler told the public in July. While Wheeler was initially skeptical of a system that didn’t give a future mayor veto power, he said he trusted the months of community discussion that shaped the voter-approved measure. He said that the city can change any issues with the government revamp in the years to come, but that the new system deserves a chance to operate first.
“This is not the opportunity for elected officials to tell the public how we think they should be governed,” Wheeler said in July. “This is their opportunity to shape their government in the way they want, for better or for worse.”
Gonzalez told OPB that he is also not working on a ballot measure to propose a mayoral veto. He declined to be interviewed for this story.
Their change of heart follows additional council debates around the coming government switch. Since dismissing their proposed overhaul of the voter-approved government plan, both Gonzalez and Ryan have butted heads with Wheeler over plans to move out of City Hall while council chambers and offices are renovated to accommodate a larger council.
It’s not clear if either commissioner will remain in City Hall to oversee the coming transition. Per the initial ballot measure, all current city commissioners’ terms end in December 2024. In November, all 12 new council offices are on the ballot, along with the mayor and auditor. Their terms begin in January 2025.
Gonzalez has not said whether he plans to run for reelection or seek a different elected office.
On Monday, Ryan announced he would not run for mayor — but he didn’t discount a council seat. He expressed interest in running to represent a district over participating in a citywide race. Under the new form of government, the mayor and auditor will be elected citywide, while City Council members will be elected to represent geographic districts.
But Ryan didn’t dismiss the possibility of running for a seat on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, a body that also appoints members by district. Ryan currently lives in the county’s District 2, making him eligible to run in a May election to fill the District 2 commissioner seat.
Ryan said he will make a final decision on which race to join in late January.