PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — A local activist has posted a brazen video that appears to show himself live-streaming while stealing the city’s official photograph of disgraced ex-mayor of Portland Neil Goldschmidt.
A man with the Facebook username Jeff Thomas Black posted a video Wednesday of a man narrating the apparent snatch-and-run from current Mayor Ted Wheeler’s downtown offices inside City Hall.
Watch: Jeff Thomas Black’s Facebook post showing the picture theft
“I just got away with it,” the man says while exiting the building. “I thought I was getting arrested today, and I’m not, I don’t think.”
“That was pretty funny.”
Goldschmidt, who rose to be U.S. transportation secretary and governor of Oregon in later years, fell from grace after he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl while mayor. Nevertheless, his portrait had hung alongside almost all of Portland’s other 53 mayors in the office’s unlocked foyer.
The video was first reported by The Oregonian. It begins with the man filming a City Council meeting, then walking outside the meeting room and complaining about Mayor Wheeler’s tone regarding recent police shootings.
Mayor Wheeler’s office confirmed to KOIN 6 News that the photo was stolen. The Tribune has reached out to the Portland Police Bureau for comment.
‘This was a deliberate act of civil disobedience’
In an interview with KOIN 6 News reporter Lisa Balick, the civil rights activist said he had been planning the heist for months.
“I was appalled and shocked to see his face up there,” Black said, “and I made a note that something would happen someday.”
Black said over the years people asked for Goldschmidt’s picture to be removed, and said it was appalling it was still on display.
“It is indefensible. I dare the city to prosecute me. This was a deliberate act of civil disobedience. It was breaking the law.”
