Portland commissioner Dan "Legend" Saltzman's voting of $600,000 of public money to his girlfriend's employer

Saltzman's previous nonprofit girlfriend

This week's scandal involving Portland commissioner Dan "Legend" Saltzman's voting of $600,000 of public money to his girlfriend's employer evokes memories of another woman with whom Saltzman was romantically linked in the 2000's. Reports were that it was Teresa Dulce (real name: Joanna Berton Martinez), a stripper and self-proclaimed "sex industry worker" who for many years ran a respected nonprofit organization that she formed to help other nude dancers and prostitutes. There was a fair amount of lobbying involved, including of the Portland City Council, of which Saltzman was a member.

The nonprofit group, Danzine, gave out condoms and clean hypodermic needles to people on the streets. Dulce appeared several times before the council, including one speech that is forever etched in bureaucrats' memories:

Tribune: The most absurd thing you’ve witnessed at City Hall?

Kovatch: It was kind of a visual thing. We had Teresa Dulce, who was a sex worker. She crafted and recited a performance piece before the City Council. The performance had good meter and rhyme, but it was very sexy. The words of the poem were about sex workers’ rights, but the performance of the poem was the buildup that would (match) the trajectory of (a sexual climax). And the best part was, (after the performance) Randy says, "Madam chair, can she have three more minutes?"

More recently, Dulce has become a more established figure; she is currently listed on one website as managing a needle exchange program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was also identified as one of Jeff Cogen's supporters in his run for Multnomah County commission several years back.

It is not clear that the city or the county spent any significant money on Dulce or Danzine during the time she was reportedly dating Saltzman. But if indeed "Legend" was intimate with a nonprofit organization figurehead back then, around the same time that the organization was actively lobbying the City Council, then taken with this week's events, it could indicate a pattern that some voters might find a concern.

There's also the question whether Saltzman has violated the children's levy bylaws by accepting gifts from his girlfriend. Those bylaws forbid accepting "any contribution, gift, bequest or devise valued at greater than $10 from any organization, or any individual representing an organization, that is currently seeking funding from the Allocation Committee." Whatever his current amour has given him, his old girlfriend doubtlessly used to charge people more than $10 for it.

Posted at 5:56 AM | Permalink

http://bojack.org/2010/05/saltzmans_previous_nonprofit_g.html