Carmen Rubio, that blister on the heel of progress at Portland City Hall, announced today that she’s running for mayor, against two of her current colleagues, Mapps and Gonzales. I couldn’t vote for her under any circumstances, and I don’t think she’ll win. But she could make Mapps look more like the middle of the road, and so I guess her presence in the race hurts Gonzales. But what do I know?
With any luck, at this time next year Rubio will be back grifting in a nice gig at a nonprofit, sucking in grants galore from the “clean energy” slush fund and Chevy Vega for god-knows-what. She’ll probably wind up collecting more public money toward her mortgage that way than she currently does as a city commissioner. But at least she won’t be making public policy for our troubled city, and funneling tax pork out to her friends. She’s not qualified to run a local government. She never has been.