American Dream

The discovery that former Oregon Governor and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt had an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was mayor of Portland is leading to all sorts of revelations about insder relations in Northwest transportation programs. As a consultant for the last 15 years, Goldschmidt helped Bechtel Corporation and other transportation contractors get sweetheart contracts with no bidding.

Bechtel, for example, built Portland's airport light-rail line on a no-bid contract, meaning no other company had a chance to compete. Similar no-bid contracts were initially approved by the Washington Department of Transportation, but later rejected when opponents argued that this process was ripe for abuse.

Various Goldschmidt cronies -- sometimes known as the "light-rail mafia" -- are mentioned in this story. So-far untainted by the Goldschmidt scandal is Portland's current mayor, Vera Katz. Katz, who grew up in Brooklyn, seems intent on recreating her home town on the West Coast, complete with a major league baseball team (recall the original name for the Brooklyn Dodgers was the "Trolley Dodgers"), trolleys for them to dodge, and four- and five-story walk-up apartments.