Bernie Giusto

10. John Frohnmayer – Find a credible pollster.

9. Greg Macpherson – Take the Sierra Club off my Christmas card list for next year.

8. Kate Brown – Share my exciting poll results with Wally Edge.

7. Vance Day – Find some statewide candidates to put on the ballot or find my own replacement.

6. Peter Defazio – Ruin all the SOS candidates future hopes by announcing my 2010 gubernatorial bid.

5. Sho Dozono – Come out of the campaign closet and officially announce my Portland mayoral candidacy.

4. Ted Kulongoski – Check for television cameras before pouting off stage.

3. Martha Schrader – Wait until the incumbent is out of the hospital before gunning for her congressional seat.

2. Gordon Smith – Hold my tongue at retirement parties.

1. Bernie Guisto – Learn when to fold ‘em.

The Oregonian is reporting that Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto may retire amid a messy controversy surrounding a sexual abuse case involving former Governor Neil Goldschmidt.

Giusto has endured relentless bad news recently, including a report highly critical of the management of the county’s two jails, and a proposal by County Commission Chairman Ted Wheeler to shift control of the jails away from the sheriff’s office.

Giusto was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon. 

Life has got to be a bit uncomfortable these days for Governor Ted Kulongoski, who finds himself under some pressure to talk about what he knew (and didn't know) about ex-Governor Neil Goldschmidt's sexual relationship with his fourteen-year-old babysitter. There are calls for Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto to step down.

Now Goldschmidt's former speechwriter, Fred Leonhardt, is back in the news with renewed claims that he twice told Kulongoski, who was Attorney General when the scandal broke in 1996, about allegations of child abuse charges committed by Goldschmidt while he was serving as the Mayor of Portland in the early 1970's.