Candidates Mike Schmidt and Nathan Vasquez Are Afraid Of Their Shadows

The purportedly nonpartisan Multnomah County District Attorney’s race was not on my radar until I received a message in the mail from the Working Families party that implied that candidate Vasquez was a Republican, a MAGA puppet and pictured him with Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. A few days later I received another Working Families party mailer that made a point of saying that Mike Schmidt was a Democrat.

The same political climate that overshadows every public election in Oregon and America also clouds the Multnomah County District Attorney’s race. This election season is dramatically different from the past requiring a more comprehensive consideration of candidate competency.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports*:

“Schmidt and Vasquez are locked in a race that has descended into personal attacks and resembles a polarized political contest, despite the district attorney’s office being nonpartisan … Vasquez has worked as a Multnomah County prosecutor since 2001. A longtime Republican, he registered as a member of the Independent Party in 2017. In interviews, Vasquez attributed this switch to his “disgust” with the rise of Donald Trump … Schmidt is a Democrat.”

Answering ALL four of these Gatekeeper Statements will demonstrate the courage, character and values Mike Schmidt and Nathan Vasquez bring to their campaigns. This should be very easy for candidates who are “Democrats” or “disgusted with Trump” and believe in our legal system and American democracy.

1. Donald Trump is a clear and present danger and an existential threat to our American democracy including democracy in Oregon.

Mike Schmidt - NO

Nathan Vasquez - NO

2. The Republican Party has devolved into a political cult run exclusively by, for and about adjudicated rapist, anti-democracy, election denier, insurrectionist provocateur and criminal defendant Donald Trump.

Mike Schmidt - NO

Nathan Vasquez - NO

3. The blatantly unethical behavior of some judges on the Supreme Court and bad partisan decisions has meaningfully devalued:

a) the credibility of the Court,

b) the very concepts of law and justice we hold dear,

c) and endangered the lives and prosperity of Oregonians, especially women.

Mike Schmidt - NO

Nathan Vasquez - NO

4. Florida Federal judge, Aileen Cannon, whose MAGA-style judicial corruption is only exceeded by her legal incompetence, should be removed from overseeing defendant Donald Trump’s stolen classified national security documents and violations of the Espionage Act case.

Mike Schmidt - NO

Nathan Vasquez - NO

The Fulton county Georgia District Attorney, Fani Willis, stepped up and put her career on the line by criminally indicting Donald Trump and his gang of political miscreants. Meanwhile, in Multnomah county Oregon, DA Mike Schmidt and lead prosecutor Nathan Vasquez can NOT even bring themselves to publicly acknowledge that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger and an existential threat to our American democracy including democracy in Oregon. Pathetic, shameful, cowardly.

Voters may not know much about how to evaluate the political intrigue and infighting between Schmidt and Vasquez but they ALL will know how to evaluate the candidates answers to these questions.

Richard Ellmyer

Portland Voter and Citizen Activist since 1975

Campaign manager and legislative assistant to state senator Bill McCoy 1980-1981.

Campaign manager and senior staff to Multnomah county commissioner Gladys McCoy 1981-1984.

Celebrate North Portland award 2016 for Volunteer Work and Service with Political and Social Issues Impacting North Portland.

Certified Oregon Change Agent by Governor John Kitzhaber 2011.

PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2024 - Planning and Housing Markets, 500 level class

Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-two years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.

Project Champion and Data Wrangler - Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/maps

GIS for Activism conference, May 23, 2022, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

Richard Ellmyer - How I, A Citizen Activist, Used GIS To Effectively Tell A Necessary Yet Unavailable Truth About Public Housing

30 minute Video https://media.pdx.edu/media/t/1_2vrzokta

LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY

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Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Contributor: Patch news.

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Multnomah County district attorney race: A progressive prosecutor vs. a challenger colleague

By Conrad Wilson (OPB) and Alex Zielinski (OPB)

May 6, 2024 6 a.m.

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/05/06/multnomah-county-district-attorney-race/