Amanda Fritz
Encyclopedia
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Before being elected to Portland's City Council
Government of Portland, Oregon
The Government of Portland, Oregon, a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, is based on a city commission government system. Elected officials include a Mayor, a City Council, and a City Auditor. The mayor and commissioners are responsible legislative policy and oversee the various bureaus that...
in 2008, Fritz was known as a neighborhood activist, a critic of City Hall, and a seven-year member of the Portland Planning Commission. She was also the first candidate to win public financing under Portland's Clean Elections
Clean elections
"Clean Elections" is a term used to describe a particular system of government financing of political campaigns, in which the government provides a grant to candidates who agree to limit their and private fundraising efforts and limit their campaign-spending.- In the United States :Clean Election...
system in 2006, though she lost to incumbent Dan Saltzman
Dan Saltzman
Dan Saltzman is an elected commissioner serving in the City Council of Portland in Portland, Oregon.-Background:Saltzman is a Portland native who attended schools in the Portland area and on the east coast before entering a career in environmental engineering. He graduated from Beaverton High...
in the first round of that year's election.
She was elected to City Council in the November 2008 election. She succeeded Commissioner Sam Adams, who vacated the seat to run for mayor.
Fritz was born in England. She has two sons and a daughter. In 1999, Fritz was noted as a Planning Commission member who valued an emerging online list for contributing to the discourse on planning in the city.
In 2008 Fritz became the first non-incumbent to successfully run under Portland's public financing system. She took the most votes in the May primary election (43%) in a field of six candidates, and faced second place finisher Charles Lewis (13%) in a November runoff election. Fritz and Lewis were among the candidates who each qualified for $150,000 in public financing by collecting over 1,000 five-dollar contributions, and pledging to accept no other campaign contributions. Each received an additional $200,000 for the runoff election. Fritz defeated Lewis with 70% of the vote in the runoff. Fritz was also the first candidate to qualify for public funds under the program, in her first race, when she challenged incumbent Dan Saltzman
Dan Saltzman
Dan Saltzman is an elected commissioner serving in the City Council of Portland in Portland, Oregon.-Background:Saltzman is a Portland native who attended schools in the Portland area and on the east coast before entering a career in environmental engineering. He graduated from Beaverton High...
in the 2006 election. In the 2008 race, her decisive victory in the primary enabled her to reach out to new classes of constituents; she was noted for expanding her appeal from neighborhood activists to the business community, and placing a strong emphasis on fiscal responsibility.
She has been an advocate of the system since that first race, and wrote in support of it after winning the 2008 election. Voters overturned it via referendum in 2010.. Fritz credits the Public Campaign Finance system for allowing her the independence that led to saving Portland ratepayers $500 million by changing policy choices in the Portland Water Bureau in 2009.