Affordable housing touches on just about everything a city government does. That’s why it’s so complicated. Which brings me to last week’s city council meeting. Your city council attended an hour and a half work session on homelessness. City employees outlined the history of the problem and how it’s growing here in Hillsboro. The chief of police talked about how officers are approaching the issue. A couple of homeless individuals told heart breaking stories of falling through the cracks in our society. It was a comprehensive overview of the problem, from a variety of perspectives. And it was followed by a great example of why it’s so hard to do anything about it. City Council voted on what is essentially[…]

Alexander Flores (R), a relative political newcomer in Washington County, has raised just over $150,000 in cash and in-kind donations for his campaign for State Senate District 15. If you compare that to the roughly $21,000 raised by Democratic opponent and incumbent Chuck Riley, you might assume that Flores has widespread support in the district. In an April 11, 2018 press release Flores claimed to have built an “unparalleled grassroots organization.” What we found instead is that just under half of Flores’ donations ($74,842.19) was from The Leadership Fund, a PAC run by the Republican leadership in Oregon’s State Senate.  Currently, it is controlled by Jackie Winters, the Oregon Senate Minority Leader who represents District 10, and Fred Girod, an Oregon State Senator[…]