Uproar continues to grow over Multnomah County hiring a negotiator in the Portland Trail Blazers arena renovation fight who has a curious resume:
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson disclosed Thursday that she had tapped former Trail Blazers executive Chris Oxley to represent the county as it worked with Portland officials on a framework aimed at keeping the NBA franchise in town for at least the next 20 years.
Okay, that’s a little weird, hiring an ex-Blazers exec. But maybe it’s not so bad to hire someone who knows the opposition’s side of things; after all, local governments way too seldom have people with actual sports business expertise on their side, and it’s not like this guy is currently working for —
Oxley also happens to be board president of nonprofit Sport Oregon, which has led a coalition that’s lobbied city and county leaders to back the proposed $600 million arena facelift requested by the team, which would be exclusively bankrolled by taxpayers.
Welp.
County commissioners were predictably gobsmacked when they heard about the hiring of Oxley, with commissioner Meghan Moyer interjecting, “I’m sorry, did I mishear? He is on the board of Sports Oregon that is currently lobbying us on how much we should contribute to this deal? We hired a negotiator that’s on the board of an organization that is lobbying us on this issue? How is that not a wild conflict of interest?” Vega Pederson replied that it’s not a conflict of interest because Oxley isn’t paid for his role as board president of the group that is behind the pro-arena-spending We Are Rip City campaign (which has most recently been paying influencers to stump for the public arena funding plan); that didn’t convince Moyer, but apparently placated the other commission members, who approved the hire by a 4-1 vote. Congratulations on your new job, Chris, and I’m sure you will have no trouble balancing the demands of your new paid gig to get the best deal for taxpayers and your unpaid gig getting the best deal for Blazers owner Tom Dundon.
As the kids say, I cant…
Jesus wept.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Darth Dundon is altering the deal. Pray he does not alter it any further.
“He did not get paid.” will be my new response to any gripes from co-workers and friends.