When HB 4002 passed, it seemed that Portland breathed a collective sign of relief. The majority of the citizenry of the city – and the rest of the state’s smaller cities – believed that the individuals who were regularly seen openly using deadly drugs on the streets would finally have to accept at least some of the responsibility for their poor decisions and actions that Measure 110 aided and abetted. Rational responses to our state’s out of control homelessness, drug use and overdoses would finally occur, and the state could finally begin to heal from the nightmare of the last seven years.
HB 4002 is a scam , only slightly better than measure 110. It provides virtually no mandatory treatment and no real consequences for those found with fentanyl or methamphetamine.
The spectacular incompetence of Multnomah County's government and the unabashed leftist radicalism of some of the County's policies and programs understandably make sane voter-taxpayers wonder what make Jessica Vega Pederson (JVP) tick. PDXReal suggests that JVP is herself "completely incompetent, and more than likely stupid." Her track record supports both conclusions. JVP's decision to spend the money left over from a failed team-building contract on herself in the form of remedial* leadership education points toward stupidity as an explanation because she's had ample opportunity for on-the-job learning. Duh.
Here's another factor to consider. What if the reason the County came up with a do-nothing plan for dealing with people who are busted for possessing drugs is that Jessica Vega Pederson is a true believer in the twin frauds of decriminalization and harm reduction? Could it be that JVP has internalized the Drug Policy Alliance's platform and is taking advantage of the mile-wide loophole in HB 4002 to maintain the M110 status quo as far as users are concerned? Likewise, what if there is no daylight on homeless policy between Pederson and Khanh Pham, co-sponsor of a repudiated bill to decriminalize homeless encampments in public places and allow homeless people to sue for $1,000 if harassed? Maybe JVP and the badasses who try to disrupt homeless sweeps are soulmates. Pederson's BFF over in the County D.A.'s office is dyed-in-the-wool leftist ideologue. Why not her?
If it's too hard to accept that JVP is shrewd, calculating and bright as hell, a more likely scenario is that there are true believers among JVP's advisors and in the County bureaucracy who are at best indifferent to the needs and interests of the 80 percent of Multnomah County's residents who are not homeless addicts or members of favored ethnic, racial and gender identity groups and at worst outright hostile to us normies. Wouldn't it be great if we knew who they were and had the receipts to prove it?
In a related vein, does Multnomah County's Chief Operations Officer share any of the blame for the County's chronic inability to plan and execute competently? Her title suggests the answer is yes, but perhaps she's really just a glorified office manager in spite of her conspicuously posh advanced degrees. With those gilt-edged diplomas (master’s in public policy from Harvard and a law degree from Berkeley) she could have written her own ticket, yet she ended up where she started as a County worker.
* Multnomah County Commissioner and perennial Pederson critic Sharon Meieran gets credit for characterizing JVP's $200/hr tutoring as "remedial" education.
Well said.
HB 4002 is a scam , only slightly better than measure 110. It provides virtually no mandatory treatment and no real consequences for those found with fentanyl or methamphetamine.
JVP is, charitably, incompetent but not nearly as "incompetent" as the voters that elected her. Until that changes as HL Menchem said; Good and Hard
The spectacular incompetence of Multnomah County's government and the unabashed leftist radicalism of some of the County's policies and programs understandably make sane voter-taxpayers wonder what make Jessica Vega Pederson (JVP) tick. PDXReal suggests that JVP is herself "completely incompetent, and more than likely stupid." Her track record supports both conclusions. JVP's decision to spend the money left over from a failed team-building contract on herself in the form of remedial* leadership education points toward stupidity as an explanation because she's had ample opportunity for on-the-job learning. Duh.
Here's another factor to consider. What if the reason the County came up with a do-nothing plan for dealing with people who are busted for possessing drugs is that Jessica Vega Pederson is a true believer in the twin frauds of decriminalization and harm reduction? Could it be that JVP has internalized the Drug Policy Alliance's platform and is taking advantage of the mile-wide loophole in HB 4002 to maintain the M110 status quo as far as users are concerned? Likewise, what if there is no daylight on homeless policy between Pederson and Khanh Pham, co-sponsor of a repudiated bill to decriminalize homeless encampments in public places and allow homeless people to sue for $1,000 if harassed? Maybe JVP and the badasses who try to disrupt homeless sweeps are soulmates. Pederson's BFF over in the County D.A.'s office is dyed-in-the-wool leftist ideologue. Why not her?
If it's too hard to accept that JVP is shrewd, calculating and bright as hell, a more likely scenario is that there are true believers among JVP's advisors and in the County bureaucracy who are at best indifferent to the needs and interests of the 80 percent of Multnomah County's residents who are not homeless addicts or members of favored ethnic, racial and gender identity groups and at worst outright hostile to us normies. Wouldn't it be great if we knew who they were and had the receipts to prove it?
In a related vein, does Multnomah County's Chief Operations Officer share any of the blame for the County's chronic inability to plan and execute competently? Her title suggests the answer is yes, but perhaps she's really just a glorified office manager in spite of her conspicuously posh advanced degrees. With those gilt-edged diplomas (master’s in public policy from Harvard and a law degree from Berkeley) she could have written her own ticket, yet she ended up where she started as a County worker.
* Multnomah County Commissioner and perennial Pederson critic Sharon Meieran gets credit for characterizing JVP's $200/hr tutoring as "remedial" education.
WOW!