Tom Hughes spent Wednesday evening at a conference room six miles from, and a light-year to the right of, central Portland.
The Metro Council President was meeting with the conservative Executive Club, a group that included a who's-who of Republican and libertarian activists and politicians.
The host, Don McIntire, was the architect of Oregon's property tax limits. Cascade Policy Institute boss John Charles recently proposed privatizing libraries. Pro-freeway gadfly Jim Karlock was on hand with his ubiquitous video recorder. Conservative Rep. Matt Wingard, R-Wilsonville, and Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas sat amidst the group of about 100 people.
McIntire started the meeting with two pledges – the Pledge of Allegiance, and a pledge to "reverse the plunge toward European socialism."
Hughes, a self-described progressive Democrat, was definitely not in the friendly confines of The People's Republic of Portland.
So why did he make the trip to a conference room near the Portland Airport on a soggy November night?
In nearly a year, only about 750 self-identified Republicans have signed up for Opt In, Metro's online opinion panel designed to provide the agency with a more comprehensive gauge of opinions in the region.
By comparison, more than 4,600 self-described Democrats have registered. The panel is about three-quarters to its goal of 10,000 members region-wide.
How did Hughes, the Metro Council's de facto conservative liaison, pitch Opt In to an audience skeptical of regional planning?
"Public hearings are an avenue for getting public input, but they're imperfect at best," Hughes said. "They're usually repetitive, not very helpful and usually the people who show up are the people who are absolutely directly involved – you don't get a sense of what the public wants."
Hughes said he wouldn't promise that Opt In would lead to Metro making "vastly better decisions." But, he said, it will influence discussions – particularly if it has a more balanced representation of the region's residents.
"I think at the end of a year, we can look back on our decisions and say here's how this decision changed because of the kind of input people like you give on these kinds of issues," Hughes said.
During a question-and-answer session, Hughes said the group had nothing to lose by signing on.
"You don't have a very good mechanism now for getting us information," Hughes said. "We don't do what John (Charles) says, but he has an impact on what we do." The crowd grumbled.
"If we don't have a good way to get your opinion and we're going in the wrong direction, and we offer a good way to get your opinion, what's your danger in participating?" Hughes said.
There wasn't much dialogue about Opt In. But Eric Winters, a Clackamas County activist, wanted to know about opting out.
"If our county came up with a way to remove itself from Metro, would you stand in its way?" Winters asked.
"There are days when I would answer differently from other days," Hughes said. "Clackamas County is part of the region. It's part of the jobshed, it's part of the airshed, part of the watershed, it shares transportation with all of us. So I think it would be a mistake for the region and for Clackamas County to opt out."
Dan Phegley, a leader of Ask Damascus, questioned Metro's limits on development in his city. The limits are in place until Damascus' planning is complete, and the state and Metro say it meets their standards.
Hughes said the limits only preclude subdividing large lots, and they exist to protect taxpayers.
"The several billion dollars of expenses that are going to be charged to develop the infrastructure that's required in Damascus … should be borne by developers," he said. "If you allow large lot development on an interim basis… you're going to give up the opportunity for those developers to contribute."
Craig Flynn asked Hughes about traffic congestion in the region.
"We haven't seen a new freeway built since I-205, 30 years ago," Flynn said. "What are you going to do to reduce congestion and add capacity to our freeway system that will improve our lives and make it easier for us to work and get around?"
The crowd applauded.
Hughes pointed to freeway widening projects in Washington County, such as the widening of U.S. 26 and Highway 217 in Beaverton and Interstate 5 near Tualatin as examples of freeway projects that are ongoing in the region.
And, he said, Portland is the only city in the country where people are driving less than they were in the 1990s. When Hughes started talking about taking transit to work, in part because he got a free pass as a Metro employee, the crowd started to grumble and murmur.
Flynn was unconvinced.
"Every time we built (a freeway), life has gotten better," he said. "We haven't done anything since 205, and our lives have gotten worse since then."
Charles, of the Cascade Policy Institute libertarian think tank, said his analysis shows the cost of the region's proposed light rail projects has more than quadrupled on a per-mile basis compared to the completed lines. He criticized TriMet's continuing to add light rail lines while it's cutting service in other areas, and called it the Enron of the transit industry.
"If you think that's sustainable financially, I'd love to hear how," Charles said.
The region's transportation priorities, Hughes said, have to follow federal funding priorities. It's easier to get federal money for rail transit projects than for highway projects, Hughes said.
Later in the session, Hughes acknowledged that discussions about transportation choices have become charged.
"We as a region have created an atmosphere where people think there are morally superior ways of getting from here to there," Hughes said. "We need to pay as much attention to people using a vehicle as those who use a bicycle or light rail."
The conversation wasn't entirely based on facts. McIntire asked Hughes to justify why the average compensation of Metro's 750 full-time employees is $102,000 a year, when the per capita income in the metro area is about $25,000 a year.
Including benefits, the average Metro employee makes about $65,000 before benefits ($93,000 with benefits); the per capita income in the three-county area, before employer-paid benefits are factored, is $40,822.
McIntire's false comparison led to a more interesting question – is Metro necessary?
Hughes said companies have paid more to set up shop in the Portland region because its quality of life is better, and the quality of planning in the region is better because Metro exists.
"If Metro didn't exist, Portland would dominate the planning field to a greater extent than it does with Metro's existence," Hughes said.