Sho Dozono
Encyclopedia
Sho Dozono is a Portland, Oregon
businessman and was a candidate for the 2008 Portland mayor
al race. Portland City Commissioner
Sam Adams was the front runner throughout the race. Dozono, who would have faced Adams again in November if neither candidate had cleared 50%, lost to him in the primary when Adams won 58% of the vote.
A prominent member of the Portland business community, Dozono served as chairman of the chamber of commerce
, and he has been the CEO and owner of the regional travel agency
Azumano Travel since 1987. He has not previously held public office, but was considered one of the top two candidates. Dozono ran on a platform centering on fiscal responsibility and his history of civic and educational activism. Dozono was denied public campaign financing, and scrutiny was directed at his financial history.
. He was born in Japan
, and his family moved to Portland when he was 10. He attended Cleveland High School and received a B.A.
in education and history from the University of Washington
. After a three-year period with the U.S. Army, Dozono went on to earn a Master's degree
in education from Portland State University
and taught social studies
for five years at Grant High School. In 1976, Dozono joined his father-in-law's business, Azumano Travel. He became president in 1981 and owner in 1987. Azumano has 215 agents in three states and holds several large corporate and government travel contracts. Dozono and his wife Loen have five children.
, Dozono organized the "Flight for Freedom", a group of Oregonians who flew to New York City
to support the city's tourist economy, in response to a plea by Mayor
Rudy Giuliani
. The trip was led by Vera Katz
, who was then Portland's mayor. Initially Dozono had only expected 200 people to participate, but estimates of the number of participants ranged from 800 to more than 1000. Similar "Flight of Friendship" trips were organized to Thailand
following the 2004 tsunami
and to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
. In 2002, Dozono was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Torch to Portland.
endorsed Dozono's candidacy, as did the Multnomah County Republican Party
. Throughout the campaign, Dozono primarily emphasized his experience as a businessman, and ran on a platform of general fiscal responsibility. The Oregonian
described him as progressive
on social issues such as gay rights, public safety
, race
and class. Multiple news sources criticized Dozono for failing to speak on detailed policy issues in his campaign.
More than a dozen candidates ran in the Portland race, but news outlets called Dozono the only candidate to provide a serious challenge to front-runner Sam Adams. An automated telephone poll
of approximately 600 Portland residents in early April suggested that Dozono was within a percentage
point of Adams in supporters. In the official results of the vote, Dozono garnered the second most votes of any candidate, around 34%, while Adams won with over 50%. Winning over 50% ensures that no run off vote
is required in November to confirm the result. According to Dozono's campaign manager, it is not expected that he will run for office again.
's decision to award Dozono public financing
, and found Dozono in violation of the city's campaign finance law. At issue was a poll
testing Dozono's electability, which a lobbyist had conducted on Dozono's behalf in December 2007, the month before he officially announced his candidacy. Dozono was subsequently denied $161,171 in public funds as a result of the judge's ruling. Dozono continued in the race despite the lack of public financing, and stated that he would cap individual contributions to his campaign at $500, similar to a limit set by Adams.
in the Willamette Week six years earlier, which also alleged that Dozono had borrowed $1.25 million against the trust fund of a child to companies he controlled, an amount that was subsequently repaid with interest.
In April, it became public that Dozono owed the City of Portland more than $18,000 in back rent on a downtown restaurant which he owns. Several sources cited the incident as a contradiction to his claim to fiscal responsibility. In a press conference on the first of May, Dozono displayed check
s intended to pay the amount owed and stated that the withheld rent was an intentional act meant to be used as leverage in negotiations with the city over nearby construction and lack of parking. The amount was later paid in full.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
businessman and was a candidate for the 2008 Portland mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
al race. Portland City Commissioner
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...
Sam Adams was the front runner throughout the race. Dozono, who would have faced Adams again in November if neither candidate had cleared 50%, lost to him in the primary when Adams won 58% of the vote.
A prominent member of the Portland business community, Dozono served as chairman of the chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and he has been the CEO and owner of the regional travel agency
Travel agency
A travel agency is a retail business that sells travel related products and services to customers on behalf of suppliers such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and package holidays that combine several products...
Azumano Travel since 1987. He has not previously held public office, but was considered one of the top two candidates. Dozono ran on a platform centering on fiscal responsibility and his history of civic and educational activism. Dozono was denied public campaign financing, and scrutiny was directed at his financial history.
Personal life and career
Sho Dozono is Japanese AmericanJapanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
. He was born in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and his family moved to Portland when he was 10. He attended Cleveland High School and received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in education and history from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. After a three-year period with the U.S. Army, Dozono went on to earn a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in education from Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
and taught social studies
Social studies
Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...
for five years at Grant High School. In 1976, Dozono joined his father-in-law's business, Azumano Travel. He became president in 1981 and owner in 1987. Azumano has 215 agents in three states and holds several large corporate and government travel contracts. Dozono and his wife Loen have five children.
Community service
Dozono has a long history of participating in community and business activities in Portland and serving on organizational boards. In 1996, he organized a 30,000-person march in support of funding for the Portland Public Schools. He also established the Portland Schools Foundation, a private fundraising organization. Following the September 11, 2001 attacksSeptember 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, Dozono organized the "Flight for Freedom", a group of Oregonians who flew to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to support the city's tourist economy, in response to a plea by Mayor
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
. The trip was led by Vera Katz
Vera Katz
Vera Katz is a Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City, she moved to Portland in 1962 and was elected to the Oregon...
, who was then Portland's mayor. Initially Dozono had only expected 200 people to participate, but estimates of the number of participants ranged from 800 to more than 1000. Similar "Flight of Friendship" trips were organized to Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
following the 2004 tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
and to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. In 2002, Dozono was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Torch to Portland.
Mayoral election race
Dozono has not previously held public office, and was recruited by Portland business and civic leaders to run for mayor. Incumbent mayor Tom PotterTom Potter
Tom Potter is the former Mayor of the city of Portland, Oregon in the United States. He was elected in 2004, and left office in January 2009. He was succeeded by City Commissioner Sam Adams. Prior to Potter's service as mayor, he was Portland's police chief....
endorsed Dozono's candidacy, as did the Multnomah County Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. Throughout the campaign, Dozono primarily emphasized his experience as a businessman, and ran on a platform of general fiscal responsibility. The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
described him as progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
on social issues such as gay rights, public safety
Public Safety
Public safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-See also:* By nation...
, race
Race in the United States
The United States is a racially diverse country. Modern issues of "race", as well as its impact in the political and economic development of the nation, have been examined by numerous historians and researchers across a variety of academic disciplines....
and class. Multiple news sources criticized Dozono for failing to speak on detailed policy issues in his campaign.
More than a dozen candidates ran in the Portland race, but news outlets called Dozono the only candidate to provide a serious challenge to front-runner Sam Adams. An automated telephone poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
of approximately 600 Portland residents in early April suggested that Dozono was within a percentage
Percentage
In mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100 . It is often denoted using the percent sign, “%”, or the abbreviation “pct”. For example, 45% is equal to 45/100, or 0.45.Percentages are used to express how large/small one quantity is, relative to another quantity...
point of Adams in supporters. In the official results of the vote, Dozono garnered the second most votes of any candidate, around 34%, while Adams won with over 50%. Winning over 50% ensures that no run off vote
Exhaustive ballot
The exhaustive ballot is a voting system used to elect a single winner. Under the exhaustive ballot the elector simply casts a single vote for his or her favorite candidate. However if no candidate is supported by an overall majority of votes then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated...
is required in November to confirm the result. According to Dozono's campaign manager, it is not expected that he will run for office again.
Campaign financing
Following a lawsuit, a judge reversed the Portland City AuditorAudit
The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation.- Accounting...
's decision to award Dozono public financing
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...
, and found Dozono in violation of the city's campaign finance law. At issue was a poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
testing Dozono's electability, which a lobbyist had conducted on Dozono's behalf in December 2007, the month before he officially announced his candidacy. Dozono was subsequently denied $161,171 in public funds as a result of the judge's ruling. Dozono continued in the race despite the lack of public financing, and stated that he would cap individual contributions to his campaign at $500, similar to a limit set by Adams.
Financial history
Although fiscal responsibility was a central theme of Dozono's campaign, a March 2008 story by The Oregonian noted issues that had been raised about Dozono's business dealings during his 20-year career. The report stated that Dozono had occasionally mixed friendship with business, by accepting loans from personal connections for his travel agency, and raised ethical questions about Dozono's involvement in several business dealings, one of which resulted in a lawsuit and an $800,000 settlement. These questions had previously been raised in an investigative report by Nigel JaquissNigel Jaquiss
Nigel Jaquiss is an American journalist who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, for his work exposing former Governor of Oregon Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl while he was mayor of Portland, Oregon...
in the Willamette Week six years earlier, which also alleged that Dozono had borrowed $1.25 million against the trust fund of a child to companies he controlled, an amount that was subsequently repaid with interest.
In April, it became public that Dozono owed the City of Portland more than $18,000 in back rent on a downtown restaurant which he owns. Several sources cited the incident as a contradiction to his claim to fiscal responsibility. In a press conference on the first of May, Dozono displayed check
Cheque
A cheque is a document/instrument See the negotiable cow—itself a fictional story—for discussions of cheques written on unusual surfaces. that orders a payment of money from a bank account...
s intended to pay the amount owed and stated that the withheld rent was an intentional act meant to be used as leverage in negotiations with the city over nearby construction and lack of parking. The amount was later paid in full.
External links
- Personal Biography on Azumano Travel website