Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, was overheard saying that he “can’t wait for the next 24 months to be over,” suggesting he may not seek re-election.
“If you know me, you know I mutter quite a bit,” Wheeler said in a statement issued later on Nov. 15 in response to the comment, The Oregonian reported. “Not one of my most redeeming qualities. I will make a decision next year with my family if I am running for re-election.”
“The buck stops with me on all of this. I will be held accountable and I should be held accountable for our own performance on our own streets,” Wheeler said on Nov. 15.
Wheeler Under Pressure
Wheeler, meanwhile, received harsh criticism from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency regarding how it handled a monthlong protest by a group calling itself Occupy ICE. According to The Oregonian, a union representing ICE personnel asked the federal government and Oregon government to investigate Wheeler over his direction of the police response, or lack thereof.“Make no mistake. They are coming after me because I am a vocal opponent of the administration’s policy of separating kids from their parents,” Wheeler said in a statement in response to ICE’s comment. He faulted a lawyer who wrote letters to police not to respond to some calls for service during the anti-ICE demonstrations at the ICE field office in Portland.
Meanwhile, the leader of Portland’s police union, slammed Wheeler for how he’s responded to Portland’s rampant problem with the homeless.
“Our city has become a cesspool,” Officer Daryl Turner, head of the Portland Police Association, said on Facebook. “Livability that once made Portland a unique and vibrant city is now replaced with human feces in businesses doorways, in our parks, and on our streets.”