(Jo Ann Hardesty, pictured outside Portland City Hall on April 11, 2018. Mark Graves/Staff)

BY GORDON R. FRIEDMAN

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Portland City Council hopeful Jo Ann Hardesty launched a searing criticism of Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday over his opposition to an initiative petition that would tax large retailers operating in Portland to benefit people of color and eco-friendly jobs.

The proposed tax, which Hardesty has helped to write and promote, would levy a 1 percent surcharge on businesses with at least $1 billion in total sales and $500,000 in Portland. Supporters say it would raise tens of millions a year to fund eco-friendly building projects and job training for low-income residents and people of color.

Late last month, Wheeler made public his plans to keep the tax off Portland ballots. The mayor praised the Oregon Just Transition Alliance -- a coalition of social justice and environmental groups behind the tax -- as “trying to do the right thing.” But Wheeler said he is “not a fan” of taxing businesses’ before-profit earnings.

Hardesty, in the email blasted out to supporters Sunday from her campaign account, wrote that Wheeler is “trying to kill three years of work by communities of color” by working against the tax with the Portland Business Alliance. The Alliance, which is the city’s preeminent business lobbying group, has said it would back Wheeler’s own plan to increase business taxes by $15 million, but only if the bigger potential retail tax is withdrawn.

In her email, Hardesty slammed the mayor’s dealings with the business group, saying, “Mayor Wheeler has decided that he and the Portland Business Alliance know what’s best for the city rather than the residents themselves.” She said private negotiations between the mayor’s office and the Business Alliance “threaten the public’s faith in our government’s transparency and democratic process.”

Asked Monday what Wheeler should have done differently, Hardesty said he ought to have consulted Just Transition members. Hardesty said she believes Wheeler’s stance against the Just Transition’s petition is about winning approval from the business community for his own tax increase, which would help fund more police officer positions.

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(Mayor Ted Wheeler pictured at Portland City Hall on April 30, 2018. Gordon R. Friedman/Staff)

Wheeler spokesman Michael Cox refuted Hardesty’s characterizations Monday, defending the mayor as seeking only to broker a compromise. Cox said the mayor’s office was in contact with the Just Transition group before Wheeler went public with his opposition to their initiative petition.

“He didn’t talk about killing anything,” Cox said of the mayor. “He talked about finding a solution that is a win for all parties without an expensive and damaging ballot fight.”

It’s unclear where the other council race frontrunners -- Commissioner Loretta Smith and mayoral aide Andrea Valerrama -- stand on the tax. Smith’s campaign said she is “still reviewing” the petition, but supports carbon reduction efforts, clean energy usage and workforce programs targeted at the low-income and people of color. A campaign representative for Valderrama did not return a request for comment.

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During the press conference at which Wheeler made clear his opposition to the retailer tax, he proposed a deal where the Energy Trust of Oregon, a non-profit that promotes energy conservation, would direct some of its $150 million annual budget toward the Just Transition group’s goals. He expressed his desire for an “amicable, agreed-to solution.”

Hardesty said Monday that she wouldn’t back Wheeler’s deal because Energy Trust doesn’t specifically serve low-income people.

Energy Trust spokeswoman Hannah Cruz said the organization is aware of the Just Transition’s initiative and Wheeler’s comments. She said the Energy Trust does not comment on policy proposals. She said expanding energy efficiency and renewable energy programs to low-income people and people of color “is integral to our mission.”

With a series of favorable court decisions last week, backers of the eco-related tax can now begin to collect the 34,156 valid signatures needed to put their initiative on the November 2018 ballot. Signatures are due in early July.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com

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