Hashtag Clownworld

Chloe Eudaly is an American politician and former bookstore owner from Oregon. Before being elected to Portland's City Council in 2016, Eudaly was known as a renters rights activist, an advocate for people with disabilities, and founder of Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center.

Several months ago, an ambitious and radical Portland city commissioner tilted at the federal windmill by levying fines for the fence erected around the courthouse downtown that rioters have repeatedly attempted to burn down. The fence blocks bike lanes, which has drawn the ire of radical Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, head of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t bother to respond—until now.

The fines have grown to over $3.7 million, as Portland continues to assess $48,000 a day to DHS. The Portland Tribune reported, rather snarkily:

The Department of Homeland Security has racked up millions of dollars in fines — on paper — from two city bureaus irked by the iron barricade wrapped around the city’s federal courthouse.

The feds have no intention of paying.

In fact, Homeland Security says the financial penalties imposed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Bureau of Environmental Services are unlawful, citing an argument straight from a civics textbook: the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

In letters to both bureaus, David A. Hess, an assistant director for the Federal Protective Service, pointed to the clause — which says that, in most cases, federal law trumps a conflicting state law.

“The Federal Government is absolutely immune from fines or penalties issued by local governments unless there is a clear waiver of sovereign immunity by Congress,” Hess wrote, according to copies of the letters obtained by Pamplin Media. “There has been no such waiver here.”

Eudaly’s previous statements have placed blame for the nightly destruction squarely on Donald Trump. No word yet on how the Bad Orange Man is responsible for the latest destruction, but Portland City Council will surely find a way to absolve themselves of responsibility.

Eudaly faces a fierce challenge for reelection, with one recent poll showing her trailing her opponent 41% to 25%. Her opponent represents more of the same radical progressive policies, so even if she loses, Portland’s chances for revitalization probably won’t improve too much.

Her chances at reelection seem about as good as her chances of collecting on those fines of hers.

Feds to Portland: Take Your Fine and Shove It
BY JEFF REYNOLDS OCT 12, 2020 2:05 PM EST

[pjmedia.com]