Mayoral campaign When Potter announced his campaign for mayor on October 14, 2003, running in a field of 22 candidates, he was not widely considered as a likely contender because Potter limited his individual campaign donations to 25 dollars per person. His slogan was "It's not about dollars, it's all about sense." He worked by the moral guidelines of "listen, listen, listen," and people according to Potter told him he listened too much as a leader. He believed that all residents should have equal access to their politicians. Political insiders considered this a crazy move that made him unelectable. Nevertheless, he won the primary in 2004, having raised only $65,000 in campaign funds, versus other candidates who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. For the
runoff election, he raised the limit on his contributions to 100 dollars per individual. In the months following the 2004 primary election, Potter maintained a 2–1 lead over City Commissioner
Jim Francesconi in polls with roughly 25% of the electorate still undecided through October of that year. Francesconi, who raised a city-record $1 million and outspent Potter 6-to-1 during the campaign. Potter won the general election in November 2004 over Francesconi with 60% of the vote. Potter was inaugurated on January 3, 2005, succeeding Mayor
Vera Katz (who had served for three terms, but did not run for a fourth).
Actions as mayor Portland is unlike most large United States cities, in that the
Portland City Council performs many duties that are more typically in a
mayor's purview. That is sometimes called the "weak mayor" system, in which the mayor and the four members of the City Council each supervise the various agencies of the city. When Potter took office, he declared that he was taking centralized control of all city bureaus for a period of six months. He later redistributed them once the adjustment period was completed. Potter advocated for a change to that system, advocating for a "
strong mayor" initiative in the May 2007 election. The measure was defeated by a 3-1 margin. Together with wife Karin Hansen and with the help of several hundred young Portlanders, Potter led Portland to become the first major U.S. city to produce a children's bill of rights. Our Bill of Rights: Children and Youth was created by the children and youth of the Portland area to advise community leaders of what support and access they needed to reach their full potential. It was adopted as an advisory document by both the Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Commission. Also during 2006, Potter initiated the development of a new Office of Human Relations, dedicated to combating social issues such as race and sexual identity discrimination, hate crimes and human rights abuses through the establishment of a Human Rights Commission and police Racial Profiling Committee. The new Office officially commenced in January 2008. Early in 2007, Potter proposed four changes to Portland's city charter requiring a vote by the electorate. The changes included language providing for: A regular review of the charter every ten years, increased control of the Portland Development Commission by the City Council, exclusion of some city government job classes from civil service protections, and the most dramatic of the proposed changes, the establishment of a new form of government that provided greatly increased authority for the Mayor relative to the existing system. Of the proposed changes to the charter, the form of government switch was the most debated and was characterized by opponents as a power grab. In May 2007, Portland voters passed three of the proposed changes, but rejected the change to the city's form of government by a decisive 3-to-1 margin. After months of speculation, Potter announced on September 10, 2007, that he would not run for re-election as mayor of Portland in 2008. He cited a desire to spend more time with his family. In May 2008,
Sam Adams was elected as the next mayor. Potter's term ended when Adams took the oath of office on January 1, 2009. ==References==