Suslovic Votes to Break the Law

Portland At-Large City Councilor Ed Suslovic was just trying to keep his fellow City Councilors moving along on what turned out to be a very long night, but appears to have cast the lone vote on April 19th in favor of the Council ignoring the law.

Suslovic’s vote for illegality came in the middle of an hour-long dispute between West End City Councilor Karen Geraghty and Councilor Cheryl Leeman, who represents the Deering neighborhood.

Geraghty had submitted a resolution to the Council regarding City spending and state or federal approvals. Leeman proposed an amendment to the resolution which appeared to gut the resolution and replace it with Leeman’s amendment.

A furious Geraghty said she had never seen such an action in her nine years on the Council, and the fight was on.

Leeman called Geraghty’s accusations inaccurate and accused her of resorting to ‘a bag of tricks.’

After an hour of dispute, Geraghty apologized for a ‘misunderstanding’, Mayor Jim Cohen declared all forgiven, and Suslovic practically begged them to move on. Then Suslovic voted against the amendment, more out of frustration than principle, effectively voting to spend City funds even if the state or federal government does not approve the expenditure.

The overall resolution passed by a 5-4 vote. Not everyone was exactly sure what they had voted on.