With Barbara in, one Bob is out and one Bob remains.
Bob Stacey withdrew his candidacy for the vacant Metro Council District 6 seat Monday morning, saying he didn't think he had the votes on the Metro Council to be appointed to the seat being vacated by his next-door neighbor, former Councilor Robert Liberty.
Bob Shiprack, however, remains in the running for the seat – and said he hopes for a swift appointment process, no matter who the Metro Council picks to replace Liberty.
"I would hope they just vote," Shiprack said Monday. "That's what I would do."
The council could vote at Wednesday night's public hearing on a replacement. Or, it could wait until Thursday's council meeting, the Feb. 22 debate or the Feb. 24 meeting.
A former state legislator, Shiprack rejected the notion that the council should appoint a caretaker candidate, someone who was not interested in running for the seat in 2012. Both he and Stacey have said they'll be on the ballot next year.
Former Gov. Barbara Roberts said last week she would not run for election if appointed.
"I'm surprised someone would say something like that," Shiprack said of the 'caretaker candidate' argument. "I don't care who gets appointed, you're going to have a certain period of a learning curve. Nobody of the now seven of us (applicants) knows the day-to-day operations."
He compared it to the legislature, saying it takes two sessions for new lawmakers to learn the ropes in Salem.
"So you would lose two years of valuable experience of whoever would gain that. You lose that. Essentially you're starting over again," Shiprack said. "I don't think that's good government."
Stacey, on the other hand, said that continuing to pursue an appointment to the council would waste the time of supporters who planned to lobby the Metro Council on his behalf.
Within minutes of applying for the vacancy last week, former Gov. Barbara Roberts called Stacey, who worked for her administration. They didn't connect right away, but when they talked, she laid out the dynamics of her application.
"The first phone call came at 8:30 in the morning, from a councilor who told her that none of the applicants for the vacancy—including me—could get majority support from the council," Stacey said in a post on his website. "This councilor asked Gov. Roberts to apply, so that the council logjam could be broken. During the day more councilors called her, urging her to fill out the application form and submit it by day’s end."
She arrived at the Metro Council offices at 4:52 p.m. Wednesday to fill out an application.
With Stacey's withdrawal, there are now seven candidates for the vacancy. A public hearing, with initial interviews of the candidates, is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16 at the David Douglas School District offices in East Portland.