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: Martin Ward
Neighborhood: Laurelhurst
Renter/homeowner: Squatting at my parent’s house
Education: Bachelor’s, almost a master’s
Occupation: Running for mayor, political campaigning, unemployed, research
How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: All my live long days
Age: 33
Pronouns: Prince, Tyee, Mayor
Why are you the best candidate to serve as mayor at this time? Please point to specific accomplishments as part of your answer.
I have actual policies, that are cost efficient, with details all drawn up, these can all be found on my website: www.martinward4mayor.com.
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?
Issues that are overlooked that I plan to champion as mayor are education reforms. I have several reforms at the K-12 and college level, as well as free college. These seem to be issues that are generally overlooked at all levels of government. There are jurisdiction limits at the city level that limit the ability of the city to reform K-12 education and possibly college as well. I plan on applying for charter status for all Portland public schools which will allow us to directly control the curriculum while still receiving state funds. Starting in 6th grade, education will become more occupation focused, with students focusing more on learning the skills needed to be involved in their desired occupation. This will mainly be done by replacing English courses with research courses. I also have a cost efficient way to make college free without raising taxes.
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What specific examples do you have that demonstrate your competence to oversee a city with an $8.2 billion budget?
First off, the budget isn’t actually 8.2 billion, there are several factors that inflate the budget, specifically contingency funds, beginning fund balances, ending fund balances and intergovernmental transfers. This leads to what accountants call double counting, where the same funds are counted twice. Beginning fund balances for example is just money left over from last year, so it is included on the budget side of the balance sheet, the money, however, is often never spent and it either becomes part of the ending fund balance or a contingency fund on the expense side of the balance sheet. This revenue is counted over and over year after year, hence double counted. It would be more appropriate if this revenue was listed separately. Some of this double counting has to do with state’s local budget laws, see page 42 of Portland’s 2023-24 Adopted Budget, Volume 1: Citywide Summaries and Bureau Budgets.
Martin Ward, Portland mayoral candidate, in an undated provided photo.
Courtesy of the candidate
What are your biggest concerns, if any, about the new form of government? What role do you think the mayor should play in it?
The mayor has too limited power. I would like the mayor to have ultimate veto power, laws only being passed if the mayor agrees with them. This makes it easier for the people to communicate with the mayor and understand the direction of the government, as they know the mayor has to approve everything. If policy is passed that the mayor doesn’t support this can make it difficult for the mayor, as they essentially just become a member of the bureaucracy serving the City Council. This can become awkward as policies they are required to implement may come into conflict with their morals and views. The mayor may also take blame for bad policy even if they don’t support it, since residents don’t necessarily understand the role of the mayor.
How would you work to promote and boost Portland nationally as mayor and reinvigorate people’s sense of civic pride?
With my policies we will become a lighthouse to the nation. Leading in innovation due to my education reforms. Having the lowest crime rates due to my police reforms, and other reforms. Having the lowest rent relative to income ratio due to my affordable housing solutions. Having no homeless on the streets by the end of my first term due to my homeless policies. And many more great things.
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?
I have around a billion dollars of budget cuts based on last year’s budget, this can be found in the budget cuts section on my website. The largest source of cuts is from capital projects, as well as the Portland Housing Bureau, as well as some other small cuts. I will continue to find more cuts as I get more details about the budget.
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How can the city of Portland and Multnomah County improve their existing partnership to more effectively address the homelessness, addiction and behavioral health crises?
I am not as educated about the county’s budget, and the exact role they play in all these issues. Metro plays a role in some of these issues, as well as the state. I will take care of the homeless situation myself here in Portland. Addiction and mental health will probably take a little longer as many people have these issues but they’re not always debilitated by them. With the proper environments we will be able to prevent the next generation from developing these issues and slowly help this generation reform and build new habits.
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?
I have quite a few police reforms on my website, much of them have to with reforming the judicial process as well. Most of the reforms have to do with increasing efficiency of policing either by using technology, or cutting out unnecessary parts of the judicial process such as grand juries and ideally trial juries, both of which inhibit our ability to convict criminals as well as cost us millions a year. I have several other reforms as well. I will work with police chief with an open mind and listen to any ideas he has as well, and make sure we are on the same page moving forward.
Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'
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?
Case-by-case, I’ll be building new prisons and jails at some point that are cleaner and more efficiently run, as well as new homeless shelters that will be more appealing to the homeless. As these options are made available, we may use force.
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?
There have been a lot of problems since Covid, downtown’s issues have been addressed, just not solved. There are plenty of neighborhoods that don’t receive enough attention if not all of them. Outer East Portland has the highest poverty rates, homicide rates are generally the highest as well, apart from downtown.
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?
I plan on cutting the Portland Clean Energy Fund completely. I have an initiative filed with the state to move Oregon to 100% renewable energy that uses a better tax system and more efficiently uses the funds. I have plenty of budget cuts to solve the city’s revenue issues.
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?
I have plans to build new homeless shelters, most of the funds will come from elsewhere. Most of the homeless service tax goes to rent assistance, which I don’t want to cut right now. But possibly some of the revenue could be used.
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.
Someone who agrees with my policies so they are dedicated to their implementation. Someone who might have experience working for the city so they know their way around the bureaus.