Editor’s note: Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Stay informed with OPB on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other local contests and ballot measures in Oregon and Southwest Washington at opb.org/elections.
Portland is facing an historic election involving a new voting system and an unusually high number of candidates. Journalists at The Oregonian/OregonLive and Oregon Public Broadcasting share a goal of ensuring that Portland voters have the information they need to make informed choices, and we also know candidates’ time is valuable and limited.
That’s why the two news organizations teamed up this cycle to solicit Portland mayoral candidates’ perspectives on the big issues in this election. Here’s what they had to say.
For each of the following questions, we asked candidates to limit their answers to 150 words.
About the candidate
Name: Dustin Witherspoon
Neighborhood: Downtown Portland
Renter/homeowner: Renter
Education: Classically educated in the Roman style. I have a trade degree and bachelor’s degree, but it’s not relevant for this job. Being a leader is. Being a good human being is. Someone with imagination is.
Occupation: Maintenance supervisor
How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: On and off my entire life. I was born here
Age: 39
Pronouns: Male
Why are you the best candidate to serve as mayor at this time? Please point to specific accomplishments as part of your answer.
Because I don’t want the job. I have no lust for gold, power nor influence. Past accomplishments have no bearing on this job. This is part of the problem. I have countless wins and losses under my belt, as we all do. Are you a good leader? Are you exceptional in your steadiness? Are you a good human being? Will people be inspired by you every waking moment of every day to become better themselves? Will you not lie to the general public at every opportunity? This is what matters. These are the things we must and will have.
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What are one or two issues that you’d like to draw attention to or champion as mayor that are overlooked or receiving less attention than they deserve?
One or two issues? Oh, my. We’re at the threshold of hell here. I count no less than hundreds of major issues. Corruption, apathy, incompetence, indifference, drug abuse and deaths, abandoned mentally ill left to rot on the streets without free medication, mismanagement of funds, broken vehicle windows, rampant alcoholism, meth psychosis, excessive taxes, sky high electricity costs, out of control rents, food prices, every single person losing faith in the social contract from the Pacific to the Atlantic are major issues. We will have better. I will have better. Oregon will have better. This is an affront. It’s repugnant. I keep wondering if one day I’m going to bump into Abraham on his quest to find at least one righteous person before “God” levels the city.
Dustin Witherspoon, Portland mayoral candidate, in an undated provided photo.
Courtesy of the candidate
What specific examples do you have that demonstrate your competence to oversee a city with an $8.2 billion budget?
I played a lot of SimCity 2000 as a kid. I would demand a line-item budget on day one. We have to be more fuel efficient with tax dollars. Our combined taxes are some of the highest in the nation with nothing to show for it. We have crumbling roads, bridges. Our students are failing upward at an alarming rate. None of them can read, do math or read an analog clock. This is unacceptable. We cured polio, landed on the moon. I will have people’s jobs, and I would have them immediately. Where is all this money going? Into corrupt people’s pockets who care nothing for you. They only care about how long they can hold onto their outrageous salary, while doing the least amount of work, while holding the most power possible. We have nothing more than career opportunities at every level of government, charity, business, public works.
What are your biggest concerns, if any, about the new form of government? What role do you think the mayor should play in it?
Do you think any of that actually matters? None of those who will be elected are leaders. They don’t care about you. No one in any elected office in the past 50 years has represented you. All they do is stoke the flames of division every few years to get reelected. You can fake many things in this life, but you can’t fake being a leader. You either have it, or you don’t. You can either inspire people to make a charge against an enemy that will almost certainly seal your fate, or you won’t. … All you will have with this new form of government is more bottom feeding parasites sucking the last drops of tax dollars, hopes and dreams from tired, overworked, underpaid peoples who are desperately crying out for someone to be nothing more than a conduit for their collective will.
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How would you work to promote and boost Portland nationally as mayor and reinvigorate people’s sense of civic pride?
That’s not going to happen in my four-year term. I would say to potential tourists, only come to Portland if you want to bear witness to active drug dealer arrests, the ouster of corrupt public employees, those who are weak and filled with apathy, zero conviction and paycheck cashing at the expense of every citizen whom they represent. I only plan on one four-year term and I will right the ship. That ship will be named the SS accountability & compassion. “I will then go back home to my quiet life to engage in personal thought and reflection that I enjoy so much.” You can’t have one without the other. Much like the ying and the yang. What we have in Portland is a complete and total lack of any accountability, not only for the lawless, but for the gainfully employed as well.
Mayor Ted Wheeler has already warned that next year’s budget will be a difficult one as costs rise and forecasts call for lower revenue. What would guide your decisions in developing a budget, what specific ideas would you explore to minimize service reductions and are there specific areas where you would look to make cuts?
They got fat on Covid funds, as well as not accounting for inflation and businesses laying off workers. Some majors left town, Walmarts and Targets. It shows that the Stanford grad was inadequate at the job. It’s almost as if his parents’ timber money got him placement and not the merits. I digress. Abraham Lincoln had less than one-year grade school education. He not only cured slavery, but had the fortitude to let the war happen amongst ourselves at a terrible cost in order to achieve it. He also had the foresight, intelligence and lack of vengeance, to not hang every Confederate for treason. Why didn’t he do this? Because the end draconian result of WWI caused WWII. It caused the Weimar Republic, which was rife with inflation and insufferable living standards that led to resentment, that eventually lead to a mediocre, angry person almost taking over the European continent.
Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'
How can the city of Portland and Multnomah County improve their existing partnership to more effectively address the homelessness, addiction and behavioral health crises?
Fire the inept. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Bring back accountability, force it if necessary. Oregon is running out of time, the United States is running out of time. If they won’t resign because they aren’t a good human being, cut off all funding to the entire organization. See, this is the problem. I will have better. Oregon will have better. The U.S. will have better. Oregon’s house is already on fire, I would be willing to let it burn completely to the ground. Nothing but ashes. I will have change at any or all costs. The time for talk and weak, apathy-laden individuals who only care about large paychecks is over. You don’t do what I say for the collective good, you won’t resign when you fall short, fine. I’ll punish everyone for your shortcomings as a human being to get what the people demand and must have.
If elected, you will oversee the police chief. What is your opinion of police bureau priorities and operations and what changes, if any, would you make? Would you push for the city to fund hundreds more police officers than the City Council has already authorized? If yes, where would you find the money?
Fire everyone in middle and upper management. Hire back those who left because this working environment was untenable for someone with convictions. Say to every drug dealer, we’re coming for you. The days of open-air drug markets are over. From sun up to sun down we’re coming for you. The scourge of meth and fentanyl will be stamped out. You start the arrests, it affects the supply, people will be forced into treatment “that we will build.” No more $3 dollar “blues,” no more $5 “shards”. I would make it more sole occupation among many others, to make that price $60 higher. So, it is written, so it shall be done as was once said. No more profiting off selling death and psychosis, misery, broken car windows, burglaries, stolen bikes, broken families and dreams. That day is over. We must speak together and in one voice. That day is over.
For the five remaining questions, we asked candidates to answer in 50 words or fewer:
Do you favor arresting and jailing people who camp on public property in Portland who have refused repeated offers of shelter, such as the option to sleep in a city-designated tiny home cluster?
Yes. After we build cheap pallet homes for the actively addicted with police monitoring in centrally located villages. This must be done with treatment centers with no less than 90-day programs that are mandatory with the threat of 30 days in jail. No person in the U.S. should be unhoused.
Have the problems impacting downtown Portland received too much or too little attention among current city leaders? Are there other specific neighborhoods in the city that have not received enough attention?
All of our problems are caused by human weakness, decadence, lack of character and resolve.
Do you support the decision to use millions from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to backfill budget holes in various city bureaus? Would you seek to continue, expand or halt that practice?
No. I would pull any and all funding for anything involving wind or solar. I would seek to buy back PGE. The rate increases are outrageous. I would then demand at least one 1000-megawatt nuclear reactor be built along the Oregon, Washington border around Pendleton. Safe from any earthquakes, floods.
Do you support a potential change to the region’s homeless services tax that would direct some of the program’s unanticipated revenue to construct more affordable housing? Why or why not?
We need to reel in our taxes. We have to claw back some of what we’re spending. We have far too many regulations on multifamily to make it profitable for anyone to make money for the general public, let alone for subsidized housing. This is why starts have collapsed.
Describe the qualities and experience you will seek in a city administrator. Describe the working relationship you plan to build with the top administrator and their half dozen deputies.
I will demand excellence, humility, candor and humor and nothing else. Dress code will be whatever you feel like wearing, as long as it’s not sleep clothes or a robe. My staff will represent the best and brightest of every color, creed and stripe.