I’ve heard Jessie “Ozone” Sponberg say a lot of crazy stuff… So when I heard he was running for Sheriff of Multnomah County (i.e. Portland), I thought he was blowing well intentioned steam. Then THIS came out and I realized that he was dead serious.
For those who watched the Tea Party’s rise to political influence, tactics like challenging uncontested and unpopular incumbents can be key to changing the power structure in an area. Jessie, with his long history of political involvement, understands this. His goal to “steal” the seat (an interesting term to use in a democratic election) through a write-in campaign still sounds wild, but let him explain, and it makes a lot more sense.
I had a chance to chat with the rebel-rouser earlier today. Here’s how it went down.
Mac: I thought you were running for mayor, where’d this sheriff thing come from?
Sponberg: The sheriff thing just popped up the other day actually. I was shocked to discover that such a sinister incumbent was running unopposed. I was like “Man, there’s nobody in this city willing to stand up to this guy?”
This guy who has signed off the violent evictions of families from houses they have lived in for generations? This guy who is facilitator in the destruction of our community? This guy who strikes fear into the hearts of anyone of indigenous decent by participating in deportation so that he can get some extra money from the feds? This guy who went $4,000,000 overbudget for police overtime, in one year. Man, somebody needs to stand up to this bully and say enough is enough, so now here I am in WOHM!
Funny how that happens… I cant wait to say “come out that badge” in my O-Dog voice.
Hahaha… So are your future plans for the mayor’s office still intact?
The OZONE2016 mayorship is most definitely still on. The end-goal has not changed. The gavel shall be MINE. If nothing else, running for sheriff will only benefit my mission in the long run. If I win the sheriff’s seat, I will probably make a bunch of changes and then resign, leaving the county in better shape then when I showed up. But make no mistake, I plan on winning this one. We just crunched the numbers and I can steal the badge with 40,000 votes. That’s it. And I know Jess Hadden from the Portland Intelligencer plans to vote twice, so I got that going for me.
You’ve been actively supportive of Nicholas Caleb for City Council. How did that relationship come about?
Nick is that dude!
I’ve known Nick for a while now and I’ve always admired his ability to keep one foot in each half of the dialog. He can speak revolutionary ideas to the establishment, and at the same time explain the establishment to a revolutionary who can only identify that things are wrong, but not necessarily why they are wrong. Does that make sense? I should have Nick explain it. He’s good at that shit.
Did Nick put you up to this? Why should we vote for you?
*laughs* He did influence me unintentionally, and so did Teressa Raiford. Watching those guys bust their asses campaigning is inspiring. Portland should consider itself lucky to have such fantastic folks wanting to represent them. I get tired just watching them.
Word. Not to be overshadowed, how’s the preparation for Food Wars coming along?
You always do such a great job of reminding me what I should be talking about! Yes, Foodwars 7 is on deck for the 31st of this month at the Bossanova. This year we are adding a twist to the festivities by throwing an art show earlier in the day. It will be called “Art of War”, a “can only” art show where local artists donate original works of art which will be sold at discounted prices to community members who would enjoy some new art. Here’s the catch though – the only currency will be canned food. No money exchanged.
Big thanks to Samantha Chavez of Maddening Designs for not only the idea, but agreeing to do almost all of the organizing. And thanks to the Bossanova for always letting me do crazy things!
A lot of people know you from the successful fight you put up against fluoride in our water. Can you talk about your continuing work with the People’s Water Trust?
Oh man… You had to ask a water question. It’s all bad. Everybody is bad. Everybody is shady! Everybody has dirty corporate money backing them. Holy crap, it’s maddening. Neither side gives a shit about the indicator species. Everybody only cares about money and saving a metaphorical nickle. But fortunately there are 3 sides to this nickle! The People’s Water Trust was born under the shade of a tree, in front of a historic reservoir, on an extinct volcano, by some of the brightest activist minds I know. There’s not a bad thing you can say about our initiative. We are trying to get it on the ballot for November but we need more help getting signatures. Once this election comes and goes we will be able to focus on it without the confusion.
P.S. vote NO on the PPWD. For more info about the PWT visit www.peopleswatertrust.org.
You always have something important to say, and everybody doesn’t watch Fight Church. Anything you want to get off your chest?
I’m gonna use this opportunity to reinforce the idea of making me the Sheriff. It doesn’t matter if I lack experience, I value integrity and community servitude over experience. The over-inflated value of experience is why these bullshit incumbents stay in their jobs performing horribly. I don’t know why the peasants are so afraid of change. Probably because misaligned stratification values have you feeling that you are somehow in higher strata. Status quo sonsabitches, somebody should let you borrow a window so you can look out of it…
Please write in Jessie Sponberg for Multnomah County Sheriff. My name is Jessie Sponberg and I approve this message!
Now gimme that badge, bully.