Dave Lister files for city council

The Eastside Guy, Dave Lister, is running against Eric Sten for city council.

He's known as the Eastside Guy because he writes a column for BrainstormNW Magaizine by that name, in which he comments on Portland issues. I've known Dave for several years. He's a business owner - he and a partner run a small software development company that specializes in billing systems for businesses.

Ironically, one of Eric Sten's biggest failures was the mismanagement of converting Portland's water billing system to another software provider. Lister's company develops precisely this kind of software. He wrote a feature length article for Brainstorm about how badly Sten bungled the conversion.)

Which cost the city about $40 million.

Dave Lister is exactly what the city of Portland needs on the council: common sense. A small business perspective. Someone who has signed the front of a paycheck. Someone who understands that incentives drive behavior, and high taxes discourage capital and job formation.

Give the guy a look. I think what you'll find is a plain speaking, refreshing, informed and intelligent person who is motivated not by ambition for a political career, but by changing the political culture of the city that he has spent entire life loving.

Let's give Eric Sten the chance to get the private sector experience he so desparately needs.