“I don’t define people by their failings, and I hope that people don’t define me by mine.”
– Carmen Rubio
As I sat down for my interview on Wednesday with City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio to talk about her shocking number of parking tickets, the latest story about her troubling record as a driver popped up on my screen.
According to The Oregonian, this past Friday Rubio hit another car with her small Nissan SUV as she pulled into a parking space. Rubio then got out of her car, glanced at the cars, and walked away. The incident was caught on video cameras installed on the car she hit (a Tesla). And despite relatively significant damage that’s clearly visible in photos shared with The Oregonian by the victim, Rubio didn’t leave a note and continued on her day.
Rubio addressed that incident and expressed deep regret for her record of parking tickets. “These are things that are mistakes in my life. And they also are things that I’ve learned from and I’ve paid dearly for,” Rubio shared in our 20-minute interview. “It was wrong, and that’s not how how I am operating right now.”
About the recent incident in the parking lot, Rubio said she didn’t think she did any damage to the other car. “I parked my car, I felt the bump, I got outside, I looked, I did not see anything,” Rubio explained. “I went into my appointment and I came back out and I had a note and I immediately called, I immediately texted, and we engaged from there.”
“I did not leave a scene. I did not. Had I known, I would have done something more, but I did not see it,” she continued. “I took accountability. I called right away, and I definitely exchanged information, and was right away trying to resolve this and take responsibility if it was something that I did.”
“I did not leave a scene. I did not. Had I known, I would have done something more, but I did not see it.”
On the issue of her long record of parking tickets, the vast majority of them were given to Rubio between 2010 and 2015 while she was executive director of the nonprofit Latino Network, whose offices were located at the Leftbank Building in the Lloyd District (where N Broadway and Weidler split). In addition to saying parking spaces around that location were known to be “heavily patrolled” and it was common for workers and visitors to receive them, Rubio said that time in her life was particularly challenging.
“During that time I was really focused on making sure that no matter what tough times I was experiencing in my family side — and I’m going to keep it at that — the priority for me was the organization and the work,” Rubio shared. “And I let my personal responsibilities on that side get put off. And that was wrong, and I regret that.”
“At that time I just made the bad choice to prioritize my work responsibilities, to the exclusion of my time that it would take to go and deal with that [the meters] immediately.”
Rubio also wanted to clarify that she received 90 tickets since 2006, not the 150 that has been reported by BikePortland and other outlets. Of those, she says she paid 50 of them, and that 20 of those were ticketed again the same day because she overstayed the parking meter.
Asked why she felt like she didn’t have to pay to park, Rubio said, “I always knew I was going to have to pay for them. At that time I just made the bad choice to prioritize my work responsibilities, to the exclusion of my time that it would take to go and deal with that [the meters] immediately.”
Rubio said back in those days when Latino Network was growing quickly, she lost focus on other responsibilities, including parking her car legally. “I now have done so much personal work and have learned about work-life balance, and I have these skills about how you need to take care of yourself first so that you can do this other stuff even more effectively. And so I learned those hard lessons.”
When asked if it was a financial problem that led to her lack of settling these tickets in a timely manner, Rubio referred to how this was a time in her life that was, “really tough” and she was experiencing private matters that strained her ability to take care of this issue.
“And I think that for most women,” she continued, “and anyone who provides or cares for family members when they’re going through rough patches probably knows the various kinds of things that are hard that I’m referring to. So there were other costs associated with that as well. I’m gonna leave it at that, because that involves other people, and that is not my story to tell.”
It’s only been in her past few years in her role as a city commissioner, Rubio said, that she’s made the connection between something as ostensibly harmless as a parking ticket or an expired registration tag, with the erosion of norms and lawless culture among many Portland drivers that has a real impact on public safety.
“I’m human and I made mistakes, and I’m taking accountability for them.”
“I did not make that connection so directly until… this role,” Rubio said. “I absolutely do in terms about the social contract we all have to uphold and and are being responsible to the system… it does have a connection to that sense of, you need to be responsible, and it is interconnected in a way that didn’t crystallize for me until this job.”
“I’m not perfect, that’s not something that I’ve ever professed to be. I’m human and I made mistakes, and I’m taking accountability for them. I took accountability years ago, and I’m taking accountability now.”
With her campaign for mayor on the ropes, Rubio hopes her past accomplishments at Latino Network and track record on City Council overshadow her mistakes.
“I don’t define people by their failings, and I hope that people don’t define me by mine,” she said.
“And hopefully balance their perspective with the good I’ve accomplished. I also believe in a world in which people can run and win elected office without being perfect. But everyone has a right to their own opinion will cast their vote accordingly, and that’s their right.”
Listen to the full interview in the player above or on YouTube. It should also be on our podcast feed by the end of today.