About Mike

Mike and his wife, Lori have lived in Laurelhurst since 1988. They have 2 daughters, Claire and Jill who attend Fernwood Middle School.

Mike was raised in Portland and is a graduate of University of Washington. After a short stint in Washington, D.C. working for the Democratic National Committee and as a scheduler for President Carter’s re-election, he took a job as a lobbyist for the Seafarers International Union in Seattle. In 1983, he returned to Portland to run the family retail business, as his father recovered from heart surgery. Mike managed 11 employees and assisted in bargaining for maximum coverage of benefits with the UFCW (Retail Clerks) union. Mike took a lobbying position with AFSCME in the late 80’s and became Commissioner Gary Hansen’s chief of staff in 1990. Mike worked on the Kennedy School transfer and request for proposal that resulted in McMenamins developing that site, created the Auto Theft Task Force, assisted on the National Association of Counties Conference, helped repeal the regressive utility tax, found support for funding the Veterans Service Coordinator position, creating and funding the HIV Planning Council with Ryan White funding, the citing and development of the North Portland Health Clinic and maintenance of county foreclosed properties. He also worked as an intergovernmental affairs coordinator in the sheriff’s office and a strategic planning coordinator in the County Aging and Disability Services department. He also worked as a planning director for the Jewish Federation of Portland. He currently is the public affairs director for the Portland Habilitation Center.

Mike was raised in an environment of community service from both parents. His Mom, Berta was the first Caucasian board member of the Albina Art Center and his father, Jay was a founding board member of the Immigrant and Refugee Center Organization (IRCO). Mike was a treasurer and vice-chair of the Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association, a volunteer for Multnomah County Health Help, Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism, C-Spot, Laurelhurst and Fernwood schools, Save PIL Sports and a mediator with the Victim-Offenders Reconciliation Project (VORP). He also was a youth group advisor, umpire and referee. He currently serves on the Portland Citizens Disability Advisory Committee (PCDAC) and the Multnomah County Human Services Citizen Budget Advisory Committee. He currently coaches youth softball and basketball and is extremely proud of captaining the Flying Pie coed softball team since 1991. He’s also pleased to serve as a Multnomah County democratic precinct committeeperson since 1986.

I believe we need to strive to create the opportunity to learn and succeed in our community, the opportunity to get decent medical care, live healthy lives and the opportunity to earn a decent wage that can support a family.

About Multnomah County District 3