This week I sat down with Marina Kaminsky, Research Director at the North Star Civic Foundation, to get past the political spin and into the real numbers. Marina has spent years researching Oregon’s fiscal health — what local governments owe, what they collect, and what happens to communities when the math doesn’t add up. She brought receipts.

Here’s what we covered:

The 59th percentile. When you account for the full picture — income taxes, property taxes, utility charges, fees, and the fact that Oregon has no sales tax — Portlanders land in the 59th percentile for total tax burden compared to 150 similarly sized cities. That puts Portland around 80th on that list. Not first. Not worst. Solidly in the middle. That stat comes from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and it’s post-Preschool for All and Supportive Housing Services. If someone’s telling you a different story, ask them what they’re leaving out.

The income tax nuance. Yes, Oregon taxes people in the $4,000–$70,000 income range at one of the highest rates in the country for income taxes alone. But Minnesota charges a comparable income tax rate and a 6% sales tax on top of it. When you look at total state tax burden, Oregon’s no-sales-tax policy changes the picture significantly — especially for working families who spend most of what they earn.

The migration question. New research from Reed College economist Professor John Roarke tried to isolate the impact of Preschool for All on high-income migration. The findings: some high earners have left the county. But the data is noisy — PFA launched in the middle of a pandemic, a homelessness crisis, and racial justice protests. Separating the tax signal from all that other noise is genuinely hard. The immigration numbers into the county have held steady.

What the surveys don’t yet show. Marina’s team at North Star is launching a public survey in mid-April to understand how Portlanders actually perceive their tax burden, the quality of services they receive, and their appetite for future investment. The data doesn’t exist yet — and that’s exactly why this survey matters.

👉 Take the survey here

The cost of cutting. Rising PERS obligations are squeezing budgets statewide — this isn’t only a Portland problem or even just an Oregon problem. Public employee retirement promises made in the 1980s and 90s, premised on investment returns that never materialized, are now coming due everywhere. Understanding that context matters before blaming current elected officials for budget pressure that was baked in decades ago.

The bottom line: Be skeptical of anyone who gives you a one-number answer to a complicated question. Oregon’s tax system is a full basket — income taxes, property taxes, utility fees, charges, and the absence of a sales tax. When someone pulls out a single rate and says we’re the worst in the country, ask them what they’re not showing you. And when you hear that taxes should be cut, ask what services disappear with them — because that cost is just as real, even if it doesn’t show up on a balance sheet.

Links & Resources

• Portland 2026: Your City, Your Choice Survey

• North Star Civic Foundation: northstarcivic.org

• Our Next 20 (Oregon fiscal health research): ournext20.org

• Stumptown Stats (civic data dashboard): stumptownstats.org

• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (city tax comparison data): lincolninst.edu

• Episode sponsor: theliferecording.com

Found this useful? Share it with a friend! That’s how we build an informed city.

Subscribe for free to SchmidtShow PDX on Substack. Or consider signing up to support the show with $5/month or $50/year - your financial support keeps the lights on — the studio, the software, and the prep that makes every episode worth your time. Shoutout to Anthony and Adrian, our two newest paying subscribers!

Whether you’ve experienced Oregon’s criminal justice system firsthand, worked inside it, or just watched it from the outside wondering how any of it actually works — this episode is for you.

This week on the SchmidtShow PDX, I sat down with Professor Aliza Kaplan — Director of the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, co-founder of the Oregon Innocence Project, and one of the most consequential criminal justice voices in this state — to dig into a system under serious strain. We’re talking about a constitutional crisis, judicial races in a primary most voters will skip, and a local power struggle that raises some uncomfortable questions about who’s really in charge of justice in Multnomah County.

We covered a lot of ground. And I want to give you the full picture before you listen, because this stuff matters — and it’s more connected than it might look at first glance.

The Right to a Lawyer. It’s Not Optional.

In February of this year, the Oregon Supreme Court handed down a unanimous ruling in State v. Roberts. The holding was simple: if the state fails to provide you with a court-appointed attorney within 60 days on a misdemeanor or 90 days on a felony, your charges must be dismissed.

The case traces back to a Multnomah County man named Allen Rex Roberts, charged with driving a stolen vehicle in 2021. His case was dismissed in 2022 — no public defender available. Prosecutors refiled in 2024. Dismissed again — still no lawyer. The Supreme Court said, plainly: this is a constitutional violation. Oregon violated his right to counsel.

The fallout from the ruling was enormous. More than 1,465 criminal cases statewide became eligible for dismissal. Over 900 of them were here in Multnomah County. The charges weren’t all minor — drug trafficking, weapons offenses, felony DUII, strangulation. By late February, the DA’s office had reviewed roughly 772 cases and dismissed 623 of them.

Here’s what I want you to sit with: prosecutors have known about this crisis for years. They’ve watched the unrepresented docket grow. They’ve continued filing cases — bragging very recently in fact, about how many cases they charge — while fully aware that a significant percentage of those defendants had no lawyer waiting for them. You don’t get to hold the fire extinguisher behind your back and then cry fire in the theater. The Supreme Court didn’t create this problem. They just said Oregon can no longer pretend it’s acceptable.

The Legislature passed a $707 million public defense budget in 2025 — a nearly 15% increase, 180 new positions. And still, as of the Roberts ruling, roughly 2,500 Oregonians charged with crimes had no attorney. That’s a system failure with a lot of authors. Prosecutors are among them.

Aliza has been watching this up close — through the lens of her clinic, her clients, and her years fighting for a fairer system. She helped build the Community Law Division at Metropolitan Public Defender. She knows what it looks like when the system works, and she knows what it looks like when powerful actors let it fail. I wanted her perspective on what the ruling means for real people, and what a real solution requires.

Judicial Races. Please Pay Attention.

Oregon’s May 19, 2026 Primary includes judicial races. And I know — I know — many people will skip the primary elections altogether - or that when they get to the judicial section of their ballot, they either skip it or flip a coin.

Please don’t do that this year.

Judges decide what evidence a jury hears. They shape the culture of a courthouse — how defendants are treated, how victims are heard, how the law is actually applied day to day. These races matter. They’re just really hard to vote on because candidates are limited in what they can say publicly.

Aliza walks us through how to think about judicial candidates — what to look for, what questions to ask, and why judicial independence is not an abstract concept right now. It’s being tested in real time, right here in Portland.

The Standoff Brewing

Here’s the story I think deserves more attention than it’s getting.

DA Nathan Vasquez has directed his prosecutors not to send serious felony cases to Judge Adrian Brown’s courtroom. He’s effectively sidelining a sitting, elected Multnomah County Circuit Court judge from the county’s most high-stakes prosecutions.

This grew out of an internal memo cataloging eight rulings by Judge Brown that the DA’s office found problematic, backed by a May 2025 affidavit from one of his prosecutors. Under Oregon law, a party can seek to have a case reassigned by claiming they can’t get a fair trial — but using that mechanism as a blanket boycott of an elected judge is something else entirely. It’s rare. And law professors who’ve looked at this aren’t confused about what it is: an aggressive use of prosecutorial power to neutralize a sitting judge the DA doesn’t like.

Here’s what I know about Judge Brown: a veteran who served as a Judge Advocate in the Air Force, a former federal prosecutor who spent 13 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney focused on civil rights enforcement, elected to the bench in 2020.

Presiding Judge Judith Matarazzo has been quietly reshuffling court calendars behind the scenes to keep the standoff from boiling over. That workaround keeps things moving, but it leaves a serious constitutional question sitting on the table: how long can a prosecutor’s office effectively nullify an elected judge — and who holds them accountable when they try?

I asked Aliza to help us understand what the law actually allows here, what the ethical limits are, and what it means for all of us when prosecutorial power is used to sideline the judiciary. In a moment when we’re watching the federal executive branch wage war on judges across the country, this local story hits differently.

Why This Episode

I made this episode because I want people to be informed. Not alarmed — informed.

When you understand how the public defense system actually works — and why it’s failing — you can have a real conversation about solutions. When you know what’s at stake in judicial races, you can make a real choice at the ballot instead of skipping the page. And when you understand what it means for a prosecutor to sideline an elected judge that you likely voted for, you can talk to your neighbors about it, ask hard questions, and hold people accountable.

The courts aren’t a partisan issue. The right to a lawyer isn’t a partisan issue. Judicial independence isn’t a partisan issue. These are the foundations that everything else rests on — and they work better when more people understand them.

Aliza Kaplan has dedicated her career to making sure those foundations hold. I’m grateful she joined me for this conversation.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. And if this episode informs you — share it. Talk about it with your neighbors. Show up and vote in May. The courts belong to all of us.

— Mike

Read more

We sat down with two elected officials who are both doing real things for real people — and both navigating campaigns where opponents would rather traffic in vibes than engage with substance. We’re not doing that here.

Mitch Green | Portland City Councilor

The Portland Housing Bureau keeps finding money. Millions of dollars. And most Portlanders have no idea it exists, where it comes from, or where it’s going. Councilor Mitch Green joins us to unpack all of it — how these funds work, what they can legally be used for, and what it would actually take to deploy them in ways that bring down housing costs and get more of our neighbors stably housed. This is the conversation the city should be having out loud.

Support Mitch and his campaign! Click Here

Nafisa Fai | Washington County Commissioner, Candidate for County Chair

Commissioner Nafisa Fai is running for Washington County Chair — and some people would rather define her by association than engage with her record, her vision, or her qualifications. We’re not interested in that. We talked about her background, her experience, what she believes Washington County can and should be, and what her plans actually are. We also tackled the endorsement question head on — what it means when I endorse a candidate.

Support Nafisa and her campaign! Click Here

Community Spotlight: PDX Saints Love

A special shoutout to Kristle Delihanty and the incredible team at PDX Saints Love. We attended their gala and left inspired. Hearing directly from community members whose lives were changed by this program — and who are now paying that love forward — is exactly the kind of thing that reminds us why this work matters. Positivity breeds positivity. Check them out and support if you can.

Thank You to Our Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Leif Olson and The Life Recording — theliferecording.com. We are grateful for his continued support of this show. Go check out what he has to offer.

Stay Connected

The SchmidtShow PDX lives on Substack — subscribe there for episodes, commentary, and everything in between. You can also find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

• 👍 Like, follow, and subscribe

• 💬 Leave a comment — it genuinely helps

• 📩 Reach out with guest suggestions or topics you want us to cover

• 📢 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it

This is your show too. Let’s build something together.

Damon Motz-Storey is a climate and environmental justice advocate with the Sierra Club’s Oregon Chapter, where they work at the intersection of clean energy policy, racial equity, and community power. They have been a consistent voice in Portland’s ongoing debates over how climate dollars get spent — and who gets to make those decisions.

Jami LeBaron is a program director at the Friends of Leach Botanical Garden, the nonprofit working to preserve and sustain one of Southeast Portland’s most beloved green spaces. She brings years of experience in community engagement and environmental stewardship to the fight to keep Leach alive and accessible to all Portlanders.

Segment 1: The Fight Over Portland’s Clean Energy Fund

Guest: Damon Motz-Storey, Sierra Club

Portland’s Clean Energy Fund was born from a grassroots vision — a first-of-its-kind tax on large retailers that would direct millions toward climate action, green jobs, and environmental justice for frontline communities. But a recent court ruling has thrown open a door that many of its original champions never wanted unlocked.

A judge has cleared the way for the Portland Police Association to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would dedicate 25% of PCEF dollars toward law enforcement funding. For advocates like Damon Motz-Storey of the Sierra Club, the implications are serious. That’s not a small slice — it represents hundreds of millions of dollars over time that could be redirected away from the climate and equity work the fund was specifically designed to do.

Damon joins us to break down what the ruling means, why the Sierra Club and other environmental justice organizations are pushing back hard, and what Portlanders who care about climate action need to know before this potentially lands on the ballot. We also dig into the broader question this fight raises: when a community-built fund becomes a target, what does that tell us about who has power in Portland — and who gets to define what “public safety” really means?

🔗 Learn more & take action: Oregon Sierra Club — Portland Clean Energy Fund

Segment 2: The Garden at the Edge of Closing

Guest: Jami LeBaron, Leach Botanical Garden

Tucked away in outer Southeast Portland, Leach Botanical Garden is one of the city’s quiet treasures — 16 acres of native plants, old-growth trees, and a history rooted in the remarkable botanical legacy of Lilla and John Leach. But this beloved community space is facing a threat that could silence it for good.

Jami LaBaron sits down with us to talk candidly about the financial pressures and organizational challenges that have put Leach Botanical Garden’s future in jeopardy. The nonprofit that supports the garden has been working to sustain programming, education, and community access — but the road ahead is uncertain, and the window to act may be closing faster than people realize.

This is exactly the kind of story that gets lost in the noise of bigger headlines, which is why we think it matters. A botanical garden isn’t just a pretty place — it’s a living classroom, a community gathering space, and in Portland’s case, a living tribute to two pioneering naturalists who spent their lives cataloguing the plants of the Pacific Northwest. Losing it would be a loss felt for generations.

Jami talks about what the garden needs, what community members can do right now, and why she still believes Leach can be saved — if enough people show up.

🔗 Support Leach Botanical Garden: leachgarden.org

A Word From Our First-Ever Sponsor 🎉

We are so proud to introduce Word Is Bond as the very first sponsor of SchmidtShowPDX.

Word Is Bond shares our belief that words matter — that the stories we tell, the commitments we make, and the way we show up for our communities define who we are. Their support makes it possible for us to keep doing this work, and we couldn’t be more grateful to have them in our corner. Please show them some love and check them out. When an organization puts their name behind a show like ours, that means something — and we don’t take it lightly.

🔗 Check out Word Is Bond

Support the Show

SchmidtShowPDX exists because of community — plain and simple. If these conversations matter to you, here’s how you can help us keep them going:

Follow & Subscribe — Find us on Substack and hit that subscribe button. It’s free, it helps the algorithm, and it means you never miss an episode. Every new subscriber sends a signal that Portland stories are worth telling.

Join Our Supporters — A growing group of Portlanders are making this show financially possible by becoming paid subscribers on Substack. If you’re in a position to contribute, even a few dollars a month goes a long way toward keeping this show independent, community-driven, and advertiser-accountable. We answer to you — not to a corporate parent.

🔗 Subscribe & Support on Substack: schmidtshowpdx.substack.com

Share This Episode — Know someone who cares about Portland’s future? Send them this episode. Word of mouth is still the most powerful thing in podcasting.

SchmidtShowPDX is dedicated to amplifying the community builders and civic stewards who make Portland worth fighting for. Thank you for listening, for caring, and for showing up.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Who the Portland Frog Brigade is and how you can too!

• Why street theater works when speeches don’t

• De-escalation, safety, and keeping actions grounded

• The Gray Panthers’ long view: organizing across generations

• How to turn frustration into action without burning out

• Why local politics is where the leverage lives

Learn more:

• Portland Frog Brigade:

https://www.portlandfrogbrigade.com

• Portland Gray Panthers (Facebook group):

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/166228307381091

Follow / support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with one person, and follow/subscribe wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews help more than they should in a civilized society, but here we are.

So we’re doing what we still can: turning our attention to what’s in front of us. Oregon State Representative Rob Nosse joins the show to break down how federal tax policy ripples into Oregon’s state budget—and what that means for health care and other essential services here in Portland. We also talk about the challenges ahead in the short legislative session, and how to stay grounded and constructive in a moment that’s trying its best to knock us flat.

Rob Nosse is an Oregon State Representative focused on health care policy, budgets, and delivering practical results for communities in and around Portland.

Topics We Cover

• How federal tax policy can squeeze (or stabilize) Oregon’s state budget

• What budget constraints mean for health care access and affordability

• The biggest pressure points heading into the short legislative session

• What “realistic wins” look like when time is short and stakes are high

• Finding hope without denial—and focusing on local action that counts

Calls to action

• Subscribe/follow for more conversations that stay practical in chaotic times

• Share this episode with someone who cares about Oregon’s health care future

• Leave a rating/review—it helps the show reach people who need it

  Schmidt Show PDX is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Listen Here —> Season 2, Ep 4.

Then I’m joined by my good friend Mac Smiff to talk abo…

Read more

Listen Here —> Season 2 - Ep. 5

Portland doesn’t just debate policy—we debate reality. Local author Donovan Scribes joins me to break down his “Top 10 Takeaways” from a chaotic 2025, and we talk about how vibes (and media narratives) can drive big decisions on Measure 110, police budgets, and the so-called “doom loop”—plus what feels genuinely hopeful h…

Read more

What we cover

• Vibes vs. evidence: how hype forms, spreads, and becomes policy

• Portland’s journalism landscape: where Donovan goes to get grounded and verify what’s real

• 2025 in review: the moments and patterns Donovan thinks mattered most 

• Memory, protest, and power: what Portland learned (and didn’t) since 2020

• Hopeful 2026 governance bets: “boring competence” wins that could change daily life—sidewalks, storefronts, AI accountability, and harm reduction tools

  Portland 2026: initiatives we highlight

• Sidewalk Improvement & Paving Program (Loretta Smith / Mitch Green / Olivia Clark)

• Small business storefront support (Dan Ryan)

• AI + housing / algorithmic systems (Angelita Morillo)

• ERPO focus + youth suicide prevention framing (Steve Novick), including discussion of emerging “smart gun” concepts

Referenced work from Donovan

• Donovan’s Portland Mercury piece: “THE BLACK BYLINE: Top 10 Takeaways from 2025, A Wild Year in Portland” 

• The Portland Mercury x Donovan Scribes project: BlackOut — A Five-Year Retrospective on Portland’s Racial Justice Movement 

Support the show

Like, follow, and subscribe—and share it with one person who cares about this city.

I’d love to hear what 2025 felt like to you, and what you’re hoping (or bracing) for in 2026.

December 31, 2025

Read more

It landed perfectly in the news cycle.

The framing …

Read more

In this episode, Mike is joined by guest co-host Jennifer Williamson, attorney, former Oregon House Majority Leader, and co-founder of Swift Public Affairs, for a wide-ranging conversation on law, politics, and what’s about to hit Oregon’s healthcare system.

Then we bring in Mac Smiff, organizer and host of Thesis, one of Portland’s longest-running independent music showcases, to talk about building a more accessible and exciting local music scene.

Segment 1 – The AG, Kristi Noem, and Federal Misconduct

Mike and Jennifer kick things off by unpacking Oregon Attorney General Rayfield’s recent press release and letter to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, flagging concerns about:

• Allegations of potential criminal misconduct by federal agents in Oregon

• What it actually looks like to investigate possible federal misconduct at the state level

• How fighting via press releases, and threats of investigation may fall flat without more.

Referenced links:

• • AG Rayfield press release

  • Portland DA balked

Segment 2 – What’s Coming for Oregon Health Care & OHP

Next, Jennifer draws on her recent conversations with Oregon lawmakers and policy folks to talk about the real-world impacts of federal funding decisions on Oregon’s healthcare system, including:

• What’s at stake for Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members

• How impending federal funding shifts and cuts might show up at the local level

• What this could mean for providers, hospitals, and families trying to stay insured

• Where the political fights are happening—D.C. vs. Salem—and who actually has leverage

Referenced links:

• Article on federal funding changes & Oregon

• Coverage of impending OHP cuts

• OHP / Medicaid & Snap implications

Segment 3 – Building Portland’s Music Future with Thesis (with MAC Smiff)

Then we’re joined by MAC Smiff, who runs Thesis, one of Portland’s longest-running recurring music shows.

We dig into:

• The origin story of Thesis and why it’s stuck around so long

• How the show is designed to bring new, young artists onto the stage

• The work behind the scenes to remove barriers to performing — cost, logistics, access, and gatekeeping

• Why Thesis aims to be the place where Portlanders can say
  “I saw them first,” at their cocktail parties, and what that means for building a real, sustainable scene

• How people who care about Portland’s culture can actually show up and support the artists coming next

Learn more / follow Thesis & MAC:

• Thesis info / tickets

• News coverage of Thesis

• IG @thethesispdx

Thanks for Listening

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Schmidt Show PDX.

Do all the podcast things to help keep this going:

• Follow / subscribe to the show

• Rate and review us on your podcast app

• Share this episode with a friend who cares about Oregon politics, healthcare, or Portland music

• Reach out with feedback or guest ideas – who should we talk to 

Follow and connect with us on our substack! 

This holiday week, we’re breaking from our usual co-hosted format and bringing you two back-to-back conversations with people doing deeply local work in Portland:

• Tyler Pell from Tennis Courterly

• Katie and Nicki from Sisters of the Road, talking about the Finding Home report authored by the Welcome Home Coalition.

Tennis Courterly with Tyl…

Read more

This holiday week, we’re breaking from our usual co-hosted current events + one-interview format and bringing you two back-to-back conversations with people doing deeply local work in Portland:

• Tyler Pell from Tennis Courterly

• Katie and Nicki from Sisters of the Road, talking about the Finding Home report authored by the Welcome Home Coalition

Tennis Courterly with Tyler Pell

First up, Mike talks with Tyler Pell, founder of Portland Tennis Courterly – an analog, paper newsletter devoted to all things tennis in Portland. While it’s technically about tennis, it’s just as much about community, public space, and how we use shared resources like parks and courts.

In this conversation, they discuss:

• Why Tyler started an analog tennis newsletter instead of going online

• How Tennis Courterly is trying to “rebrand” tennis in Portland and build political consciousness around public courts and budget priorities

• What it looks like when a sport becomes a vehicle for community-building, not gatekeeping

Where to find Tennis Courterly (in the wild):

• Select public tennis courts in Portland

• Players Racquet Shop

• Old Town magazine store Chess Club (downtown Portland)

• Mother Foucault’s Bookstore (Where I got mine)

Online:

• Website: https://tenniscourterly.com

• Instagram: @tenniscourterly  

Sisters of the Road & the Finding Home Report

Next, we bring you part of a wide-ranging conversation with Katie and Nicki from Sisters of the Road, a long-standing Portland organization that centers the dignity and autonomy of people experiencing poverty and homelessness through meals, organizing, and advocacy.

We highlight the new report Finding Home: Lasting Solutions Rooted in Community Expertise, produced with Welcome Home Coalition that captures the perspectives of 650+ people experiencing homelessness in the Portland region.

One stat that cuts through the noise:

91% of people surveyed said they would move into housing if they could afford it.

This challenges the myth that people on the streets “don’t want housing” or “prefer tents.”

In this conversation, they dig into:

• What the Finding Home study asked

• Why most respondents strongly prefer stable housing over shelters or living outside

• How a shelter-heavy response misses what people actually need

• The importance of peer support, rent assistance, and eviction prevention versus pouring more money into mass shelters and sweeps

• The broader myths and tropes about houselessness that this research dismantles

Sisters of the Road & Finding Home & Welcome Home Coalition

• https://www.sistersoftheroad.org

• Finding Home report (overview, toolkit, and links)

• Welcome Home Coalition

Extended Conversation on Substack

We only included part of the conversation with Katie and Nicki in this episode.
To hear the full, extended interview and explore more of the Finding Home data and policy implications, head over to our Substack and become a subscriber.

Subscriber support helps cover production costs and lets us grow so more people can hear stories about folks working to make Portland a better place.

👉 Extended interview and subscriber extras: Schmidt Show PDX Substack

Stuart Chase once wrote: “Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat.”

We laugh at that now. Of course the world isn’t flat. But we still build criminal justice policy on the same kind of “obvious truths” that feel right, sound tough, and are often completely wrong.

Read more

We begin by remembering the late Representative Hoa Nguyen — her life, her leadership, and what her loss means for our community. From there, Steph walks us through how Oregon fills a vacant legislative seat, breaking down the appointment proces…

Read more

This week on Schmidt Show PDX, Mike is joined by guest co-host Steph Routh for a timely and emotional episode.

We begin by remembering the late Representative Hoa Nguyen — her life, her leadership, and what her loss means for our community. From there, Steph walks us through how Oregon fills a vacant legislative seat, breaking down the appointment process in plain language and offering a smart idea to make that process more democratic and transparent.

In the second half of the show, we sit down with Xander Schultz, co-creator of Defiance.org. We dig into:

• What collective action really looks like today

• Why strong democratic institutions still matter

• Historical protest movements that actually worked — and what we can learn from them now

If you care about how power works, how people organize, and how to build a more just democracy, this episode is for you.

In This Episode

• Remembering Rep. Hoa Nguyen

• How Oregon fills a vacant legislative seat — and how it could work better

• The story behind Defiance.org

• Collective action, solidarity, and shared interests

Stay Connected

• 💌 Subscribe to our Substack for episodes, extras, and show updates: https://schmidtshowpdx.substack.com 

• ▶️ Like, subscribe, and share Schmidt Show PDX on your favorite podcast platform

• 🔁 Send this episode to a friend who cares about democracy, protests, or Oregon politics

Special co-host: Candace Williams (Family Forward Oregon)

Guest: Greg Raisman (Awesome Portland)

What’s inside

A no-fluff convo with Candace Williams (Family Forward) on what’s really happening in Portland right now—plus an invitation to Dance Like a Mother on November 8. Then an interview with Greg Raisman (Awesome Portland) on your zany ideas into $1,000 micro-grants that make Portland smile. Want $1,000? Have a plan to make Portland more awesome? Ever wished for a cooler, lower-stakes version of Shark Tank? This episode is for you.

Candace’s plug: Dance Like a Mother (tickets available)

When/where: Sat, Nov 8, 2025 • 6:30–9:30 pm • Holocene (PDX). Tickets are available now to power Family Forward’s care-justice work.

Get Your Tickets HERE

Today’s interview: Greg Raisman, Awesome Portland

What they do: Awesome Portland gives out $1,000 micro-grants—no strings attached—for scrappy, community-boosting ideas in the Portland area. They fund across art, culture, community, environment, and more.

Apply for $1,000 HERE

Follow + subscribe (do this part)

Believe in Portland and the good people and stories that make this place special? Subscribe on Substack. Free gets you show notes and links; paid powers studio time, editing, and more episodes. It’s the most direct way to keep this thing rolling.

Season 2, Episode 1

Special co-host: Candace Williams (Family Forward Oregon)

Guest: Greg Raisman (Awesome Portland)

What’s inside

A no-fluff convo with Candace Williams (Family Forward) on what’s really happening in Portland right now—plus an invitation to Dance Like a Mother on November 8. Then an interview with Greg Raisman (Awesome Portland) on your zan…

Read more