FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 55
Event of the day Rounding out MLK Tribute Week at PSU is a free screening of The Ku Klux Klan in Oregon: 1920-1923. The film looks at how the Klan influenced state politics early last century and their eventual downfall. When: 6 p.m. Where: SMSU, room 228
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INSIDE OPINION
E-Board betterment ASPSU’s Elections Board working to avoid last year’s mistakes Vinh Tran
Is the Pearl in peril? Why you should care about Portland’s snobby district PAGE 3
ARTS
What lies in the basement Bailey’s Taproom unleashes special brews from their cellar PAGE 5
Breakfast, lunch and dinner A meal that can stretch for days in so many ways PAGE 6
Vanguard staff
There are months to go before the 2010 student government election, but the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) is working to get the elections process moving, starting with the appointment of Debra Porta to chair of the Elections Board, the body that oversees all campus elections. Two other students were appointed to be members of the Elections Board at Tuesday night’s Student Senate meeting: Jacob Voegele, a new member of the Senate, and Amina Ali, a former member of the Senate. According to ASPSU Vice President Rebekah Chitsaz, both Voegele and Ali have histories of community involvement that make them a good fit for their new positions. They both have a very strong work ethic, and Ali was involved with ASPSU last year as a senator and served on the coordinating committee, Chitsaz said. “Jacob is an excellent kid, he has volunteered a lot in the community and I have absolute faith in his ability,” said Eddie Hallman, administrative director of ASPSU.
“Amina is definitely an ‘A’ in my book, she’s very smart and a topnotch person.” Hallman noted that the new board’s chair and its members’ previous involvement with ASPSU are important assets to the E-Board. A veteran at ASPSU, Hallman still remembers problems with past years’ boards. The most recent hang-ups occurred in last year’s election, which was postponed after it was discovered that only half of the candidates running for elected office had profiles on the online ballot. Several other mistakes were made, including the misspelling of names and broken links to amendment revisions that were to be voted on. Nearly 100 votes were thrown out after the mistakes were caught and ASPSU had to restart the entire voting process. The end result of those mishaps was the lowest voter turn out since 1998: Only 800 students voted in the 2009 election. “The problem we had last year was that the people who were hired to work on the E-Board were wholly unprepared in terms of understanding the constitution. There was such a huge learning curve for them and they failed,” said Judicial Board President Brad Vehafric. He called last year’s election a
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Marni Cohen/Portland State Vanguard
Portland State gets political
NEWS Campus Connections News for students, by students PAGE 8
Two of the candidates running for a city commissioner seat have close ties to the university Rudy Soto
Jesse Cornett
Liana Shewey/Portland State Vanguard
Tamara K. Kennedy Vanguard staff
Two for the road Vikings head out to face Wildcats, Bengals PAGE 10
at the start of fall term every year, which would give its members some time to learn the dynamics of working within the student government. But, due to a shortage of money for stipends, there are insufficient funds to pay the board for a whole school year, Lyons said. The E-Board is the last branch of ASPSU to be hired, usually
Jacob Voegele
Byte-sized reviews For the gamer on the go PAGE 7
SPORTS
“collective failure” on the part of the executive staff as well as the individual board members and the chair. “There was a problem with meeting times being posted inconsistently and lack of oversight and accountability from the executive,” Vehafric said. Pro tempore Senate President Daniel Lyons said, ideally, he wants the E-Board to be up and running
Rudy Soto knows what it’s like to face challenges. The former juvenile delinquent became student body president at Portland State, is an honors guard in the National Guard and he plans to run for city commissioner, though he is only a college senior. Soto, a 24-year-old liberal studies major, who plans to graduate this spring, filed for candidacy this month with the Portland auditor’s office to run against incumbent Dan Saltzman for a city council position as commissioner of public affairs. “Portland deserves better,” Soto said. “Bold leadership is needed.” Soto, currently an intern for Commissioner Nick Fish, lists his reasons for running as a current environment of “toxic politics,” a
lack of leadership, a lack of diversity, a lack of public engagement and a lack of public trust and confidence in Portland leadership. Soto said he believes that Portland has helped transform his life and he wants to give back. He made a formal announcement of his candidacy at PSU in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom on Martin Luther King Day, “because these are the values [King] stood for,” Soto said. A primary election for the position is scheduled for May 18, 2010. If no single candidate receives a majority of the votes, the two candidates with the most votes will appear on the general election ballot on Nov. 2, 2010, according to the City of Portland Web site.
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Amy Staples Vanguard staff
Portland State’s former director of government relations is no stranger to public service. Jesse Cornett— who announced in late December that he is entering the race for the third seat on Portland’s City Council—spent eight years in the National Guard, serves as a reserve deputy sheriff and co-founded the Bus Project and Blue Oregon. Cornett, 34, received his bachelor’s degree in political science from PSU in 2001 and his master’s of public affairs in 2003. His run for Oregon Legislature last year illustrates his desire to serve voters and change things from within. “The priorities in City Hall need to be tightened,” he said. Cornett cites retaining jobs and
Photo courtesy of Vanguard Archive
creating good business spaces as important goals, as well as creating a strong tax base, reducing homelessness in downtown Portland and creating more bike lanes so students can travel safely to school. He left his position at PSU because, he said, the timing was right. He did not discuss his consideration with PSU President Wim Wiewel. “Wiewel has a great relationship with City Hall and going to him about running would have put him in a very uncomfortable position,” Cornett said. President Wiewel, who declined to publicly support any candidate, said, “It’s great to have former students interested in public service. It speaks well of our students.
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