Portland's new Mayor has asked the current head of the city's Bureau of Transportation to clear out his office. Tom Miller, who got a 50% raise after his buddy Sam Adams appointed him to the $150,000-a-year job and then proceeded to stop paving roads due to a tight budget, is out, and some new flack's coming in. Given that Mayor Charlie Hales' claim to fame was peddling streetcars, while Tom's was "skateboard advocate", one might have thought that they'd get along smashingly. Apparently, not so.
Although Miller had graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School prior to becoming a skateboard advocate and Adams loyalist, many viewed him as completely unqualified for the PBOT job, and his performance - or lack thereof - amply reinforced the critics' view. Miller's appointment was widely seen as nothing more than a political favor.
Earlier this year, with Adams having decided not to seek a second term, Miller tried to jump ship. He applied for a transportation director job in Tucson, Ariz. and was briefly awarded the position—before Tucson rescinded the offer in August after Miller failed a background check.
That such luminaries as Tom Miller and Monica Lewinsky are laureates of Lewis & Clark should give career-minded students pause, as the quality of education proferred there may not withstand a cost/benefit analysis.
