Portland City Council: Immature

*Update: Sam Adams' office clarified that they are interested in luring the NRA convention and they and POVA are taking a professional approach, which I greatly appreciate.*

Say what you like about their politics, but three members of the Portland City Council today demonstrated that - from a management perspective - they are woefully immature.

To take but one example, when Sam Adams was asked in passing if one of his bureaus, the Visitors Bureau, would pursue the $60 million NRA (National Rifle Association) convention in 2007, he simply scoffed at the idea.

Under mature and professional leadership, any Visitors Bureau would seek out every convention of every lawful and peaceful organization, regardless of their politics. The NAMBLA convention might not fly, but the NRA convention certainly should.

But not in Portland. Rather than focus on the bureau's proper goal, of bringing visitors and conventions to the city to directly enrich the hospitality workers and thus indirectly enrich everybody, the City's leaders would much rather take a pass on $60 million of economic activity in order to soothe their fragile political egos.

Other examples come to mind, but await another posting.