Portland Chamber endorses Rathband for mayor

Just a few moments ago, the Portland Community Chamber’s political action committee announced it’s throwing its weight behind consultant Jed Rathband as its top choice to become the first popularly elected mayor of the city in 88 years.

I’ll write more about this as the day goes on, but we knew there’d be some key endorsements handed out this month in what has been billed as a historic — and crowded — mayoral race. This was one of the endorsements race watchers have been waiting for, and comes the day after the Chamber held a morning candidates forum.

According to a Chamber announcement, Rathband appeals to the business group in part because he’s “one of the few candidates to acknowledge the failure of the Housing Replacement Ordinance, which adds a $55,000 liability to most multi-tenant properties in Portland.”

Other candidates received positive mentions in the Chamber’s announcement as well, namely David Marshall, Nicholas Mavodones and Ethan Strimling.

Rathband has scheduled a press conference this afternoon to highlight this announcement, but to start off, he’s issued this statement:

This endorsement underscores what I’ve been saying since the start of this race. We need new leadership to bring much needed economic development that will help Portlanders find jobs, address rising property taxes, and provide the tax base to help improve our schools.

There is no single endorsement in this race that better separates me from the other candidates when it comes to helping Portland residents weather these tough economic times. The Chamber recognizes that I have the skills and experience to make the best use of the new position to move Portland into the next decade.

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.