For more than four years candidate, commissioner, mayor-elect and mayor Sam Adams repeatedly told me that:

A. You can't make good public decisions without good public data.

B. He supported a public policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing which required authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data.

After more than four years as candidate, commissioner, mayor-elect and mayor Sam Adams has publicly demonstrated that:

A. Gathering good public data is irrelevant to his decision making process. (As evidence I cite the Hacienda CDC public housing project on N. Newell Street which adds more public housing to the already overloaded Portsmouth neighborhood and the John Ball School property theft and fiasco which Sam knew would add more social pressure to the already overstressed Portsmouth neighborhood. Sam Adams supported both of these projects without good public data and due process.)

B. He supports the discredited and abhorrent public policy of UNLIMITED neighborhood concentration of pubic housing. (You'd think that Sam lives in a 0 % public housing client NIMBY neighborhood like his colleagues Amanda Fritz, Dan Saltzman, Nick Fish and Randy Leonard. But no, he lives in Kenton, next door to Portsmouth in North Portland. Hard to believe. Wouldn't be surprised if he's ready for a move to the Pearl.)

After more than four years as candidate, commissioner, mayor-elect and mayor it is now abundantly clear that Sam Adams pretended to have one set of values while acting out another completely opposite set.

Mea Culpa 

You might guess that after more than 30 years toiling in the political vineyards that Richard Ellmyer couldn't be fooled in his ability to judge the truthfulness of a professional politician. You would be wrong. Sam Adams is very very good at deception. (He certainly fooled me, for years. Thanks for making me look like a neophyte Sam.)

A red flag should have gone up when commissioner Adams twice asked the Housing Authority of Portland for public housing statistical data and they gave him only 18,000 of 33,000 records and even those were incomplete and Sam did nothing. Insulted and disrespected Sam Adams just shrugged his shoulders. Think about this. Sam Adams, Chief of staff to mayor Vera Katz for three terms known as the "bad cop", the "heavy" and the "enforcer" now as city commissioner morphs into a spineless wimp. (A believable metamorphosis? NO. Sorry, I bought it.)

Alarm bells should have been sounding as Sam Adams continued to commit a serious public deception by using the term "affordable" housing to mean both PUBLIC and non-public housing. Adams knows that the government controls ALL aspects of PUBLIC housing i.e. means tests, government subsidy and rental agreement. The government may or may not be involved at all in so-called "affordable" housing. Using language to deliberately deceive and confuse the public about the dramatic and meaningful differences between PUBLIC and non-public housing is yet another example exposing Sam's pretend honesty. (I closed my ears and wouldn't hear it. My bad.)

Sam Adams passed up several opportunities to guarantee that he would have access to HAP's public data by supporting Richard Ellmyer for the HAP board. Adams wouldn't even talk to Ellmyer about it. (How dense am I. That really should have been a clue.)

Sam Adams voted time and again for HAP board members that would deny him access to public data. (Ellmyer was in serious denial of the facts here.)

Sometimes you just can't see the forest for the trees.

For The Record

Sam Adams dismissed the requests of the following volunteer citizen organizations that support Equitable Distribution Of Public Housing as a public policy which requires authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data for a 15% cap on public housing density in Urban Renewal Area neighborhoods - The Portsmouth Residents Action Committee, the North Portland Business Association, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, the Lents Neighborhood Association, the Argay Neighborhood Association and the St. Johns American Legion Post #98. 

Sam Adams continues to allow the Bureau of Houisng to pretend that it abides by its website published policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing when in fact the BH has always executed an operational policy of UNLIMITED neighborhood concentration of public housing.

Despite the fact that mayor Adams has the statutory responsibility and authority to remove any HAP commissioner for failure to perform their duties as determined by the mayor of Portland, Adams refuses to ask them as nominees and HAP commissioners to publicly state their opinions on public housing policy, before, during or after the nominating process. It is inconceivable that any HAP commissioner would refuse a request by the mayor of Portland, who can fire them in a heartbeat, to explain their public housing policy views before, during or after the nominating process. 

Adams refuses to tell HAP nominees that they will be held accountable for their official behavior and their votes in the spending of millions of dollars of the people's money. It is inconceivable that any HAP commissioner would ignore a warning by the mayor of Portland, who can fire them in a heartbeat.

Despite the fact that mayor Adams has the statutory responsibility and authority to remove any HAP commissioner for failure to perform their duties as determined by the mayor of Portland, mayor Adams refuses to ask them for the same public housing statistical data they twice refused him as commissioner. It is inconceivable that any HAP commissioner would refuse a request by the mayor of Portland, who can fire them in a heartbeat, for public housing statistical data.

In a face to face meeting in July 2008 mayor-elect Sam Adams told Richard Ellmyer that he remained his ally in support of a public policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing which required authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data. He promised that he would task commissioner Nick Fish with gathering the required information from HAP by November 1st. Fish failed/refused to deliver and Sam shrugged his shoulders, again. (With allies like this who needs adversaries?)

Mayor Adams sent one of his staff to meet with Richard Ellmyer to discuss Sam's obviously hypocritical public housing policy positions. The staffer knew absolutely nothing about public housing nor Sam's views nor for that matter much about government. After a 2 1/2 hour political science tutorial the novice staffer left promising to give Ellmyer a report on what public housing actions Sam intended to take in light of their conversation. After five weeks Adams and his staffer remain silent. (I asked for and expected a staffer with whom I could do serious business. Instead I got an eager "student" albeit without experience in housing policy and government with minimal access to the boss and no influence whatsoever. What's the point of meeting with such a person? None.)

In January mayor Adams confiscated 42 employees and more than a hundred million dollars in public housing funds from the Portland Development Commission. Thanks to mayor Adams details of the merger with the Bureau of Housing and its budgetary and policy consequences are unavailable. Requests for basic information to Sam Adams and those who serve at his pleasure to deal with such matters, Nick Fish, William White and Andy Miller, have been ignored. Staff from the office of Management and Budget report that it is possible that no information may be available until after the budget has been adopted. So, Sam Adams continues to coverup even more public housing data making legitimate, reasoned and defensible budgetary decisions and public housing policy development impossible.

Sam Adams' indefensible, counterproductive, obfuscatory and secretive behavior compels one to ask, exactly what level of incompetence, waste, fraud and abuse is being covered up at the Housing Authority of Portland and the Bureau of Housing by Sam Adams and how does Adams benefit? Without a Quid Pro Quo there is no reason for Sam Adams to impose self-inflicted public housing data ignorance on himself, his elected colleagues and most importantly the taxpayers, voters and citizens of Multnomah county.

After 51 Months Of Arduous and Thoughtful Deliberation The Verdict Is In

Based on the hard evidence of what he does NOT what he says, Sam Adams has NO credibility and is NOT to be trusted on the issue of public housing. 


Richard Ellmyer