I am running for mayor of Portland to advance ideas, with the cooperation of council and citizens, that will see Portland safer, cheaper and everyone housed.
Early Life and Education
As a child, my family lived in World War II housing in Portland, specifically in Kellogg Park. After a dozen moves, we ended up in Tualatin when the population was only 101 residents. At each school, as the “new kid,” I learned that those who were once the lowest were open to friendship. In Irwin, Idaho, we were called in from recess with a bell to a one-room schoolhouse partitioned for grade school and high school. There, we observed a large explosion for the construction of the Pallisades Dam foundation during the salmon run, which filled the air with thousands of Snake River salmon, quite a sight to behold. I remembered on a trip back to Portland seeing the fishermen at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River.
I graduated from Tigard High, class of ’61, then attended Oregon State University for three years, eventually continuing my studies at Utah State, Portland State University, and the
University of Oregon.
Professional Career and Activism
As a young man, I worked as a laborer for a few years before deciding to see some of the world.
I hitchhiked to Panama and then to Alaska. I found Alaska comfortable and met and married Lydia Darby, an Oregon girl. Later, we ferried and hitchhiked back to Alaska.
One of our first actions was a free bicycle program. We converted 100 bikes, painted them white patterned after The White Bike Program in Amsterdam. Upon being placed downtown, they disappeared quickly. We recollected about 20 of them and implemented a bike check out program with a $5 deposit which was refunded on return. This program was quite successful and worked for 15 years.
We had four children, bought a home, and, using no power tools, built a log cabin in the wilds.
We found perfectly good food in grocery store dumpsters, retrieved it, and with a bike and a trailer, started a free food program in our backyard. This grew to 82 volunteers giving away 1.5 million pounds per year with a budget of $0.00. There was only one rule, miss once and you are gone.
Always politically active, I began a career in litigation with nine cases brought to the Alaska Supreme Court. The Court declared that two primary ballots I opposed were illegal, a first in the United States.
I’ve traveled to Hawaii, the lower 48, Mexico, Thailand, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, England, over 36 countries in all, always looking for ideas and examples to better my community back home.
During this time, I accomplished some major things, like starting the food program, distributing 2.5 million pounds of salmon, including 120,000 pounds shipped to Portland.
We helped stop Beetle kill tree clear-cutting, stopped the addition of poison gas additives, and much more.
In 2005, I moved back to Portland and found it to be a fun and quirky place. For the last 15 years, I’ve lived as an unhoused person and, with the help of four others, started the “Right
To Dream” camp for other unhoused folks, which is still going strong.
I have litigated twice in the United States District Court. One case is ongoing, and in the other, the 9th Circuit Court declared Portland’s camping ordinance unconstitutional.
Mayor Mike 