{{Short description|British-American politician and retired psychiatric nurse}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Amanda Fritz | image = Amanda Fritz (cropped).jpg | image_size = | caption = Fritz in 2008 | office = Portland City Commissioner | term_start = January 1, 2009 | term_end = December 31, 2020 | predecessor = Sam Adams | successor = Carmen Rubio | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1958|4}} | birth_place = England, United Kingdom | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | spouse = Steve Fritz (1982–2014; his death) | occupation = Politician, nurse | alma_mater = University of Cambridge (BS, MS) | signature = Amanda Fritz Signature.png }} '''Amanda Fritz''' (born April 1958) is a British-American politician and retired psychiatric nurse from the U.S. state of Oregon.<ref name=OregonianProfile>{{cite news |title=Fritz an activist who makes herself heard |date=March 30, 2006 |first=Ryan |last=Frank |work=The Oregonian }}</ref> Before being elected to Portland's City Council in 2008, Fritz was a neighborhood activist and seven-year member of the Portland Planning Commission.<ref name=OregonianProfile/><ref name=Oregonian2008Profile>{{cite news |title='We're helping keep kids off the streets' - It's here. Here is part of Portland |date=October 16, 2008 |first=Mark |last=Larabee |work=The Oregonian }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Democracy can collapse if people don't participate |date=August 22, 2003 |first=S. Renee |last=Mitchell |work=The Oregonian }}</ref> She was also the first candidate to win public financing under Portland's Clean Elections system in 2006, though she lost to incumbent Dan Saltzman in the first round of that year's election.<ref name=WWQA>{{cite news |title=Amanda Fritz: The long trip of Portland's first council candidate to get public cash. |first=Zach |last=Dundas |date=December 7, 2005 |orig-year=online date December 6 |url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-5107-amanda-fritz.html |work=Willamette Week |access-date=September 4, 2016 |archive-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924002919/http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-5107-amanda-fritz.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
She was elected to City Council in the November 2008 election. She succeeded Commissioner Sam Adams, who vacated the seat to run for mayor.
==Early life and education== Fritz was born in England and grew up in Leeds, West Yorkshire.<ref name="TribuneVictoryProfile">{{cite news|last=Redden|first=Jim|date=November 4, 2008|title=Fritz wins Portland City Council seat|work=Portland Tribune|url=http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=122565764658111300|access-date=September 4, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608042935/http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=122565764658111300|archivedate=June 8, 2011}}</ref> After graduating from the University of Cambridge, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in Biological Sciences. She moved to the United States in 1979, where she attended nursing school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and then moved to Rochester, New York.<ref name="oreg-2014sep">{{cite news|last=Schmidt|first=Brad|date=September 24, 2014|title=Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz credited husband, Steve, with helping her to second term in office|newspaper=The Oregonian|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/portland_commissioner_amanda_f_8.html|accessdate=September 4, 2016|archive-date=September 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921030607/http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/portland_commissioner_amanda_f_8.html|url-status=live}}</ref> She relocated to Portland in 1986.<ref name="oreg-2014sep"/>
==Career== Upon moving to Portland from New York, Fritz began working at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) as an inpatient nurse in the hospital's psychiatry department.<ref name="oreg-2014sep"/>
In 1996, she was appointed to the city's Planning Commission, and served on the Commission until 2003. 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Planners use online forum to swap ideas |date=November 29, 1999 |first=Joseph |last=Rose |authorlink=Joseph Rose (journalist) |work=The Oregonian }}</ref>
===City council=== thumb|Fritz at a meeting of the City Commission 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.<ref name="Dworkin">{{cite news |title=Fritz, Lewis in council runoff |date=May 22, 2008 |first=Andy |last=Dworkin |work=The Oregonian }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dworkin"/> Fritz defeated Lewis with 70% of the vote in the runoff.<ref>{{cite news |title=Metro area results |work=The Oregonian |date=November 6, 2008 }}</ref> Fritz was also the first candidate to qualify for public funds under the program, in her first race, when she challenged incumbent Dan Saltzman 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Business credentials could decide race for City Council |work=Portland Business Journal |first=Andy |last=Giegerich |date=October 3, 2008 |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/10/06/story8.html |access-date=April 6, 2009 |archive-date=May 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526143911/http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/10/06/story8.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
She has been an advocate of the public financing system since that first race, and wrote in support of it after winning the 2008 election.<ref>{{cite news |title=Beholden to all but indebted to none: public campaign financing |date=November 21, 2008 |first=Amanda |last=Fritz |work=The Oregonian }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hall Monitor: A good round |first=Amy J. |last=Ruiz |work=Portland Mercury |date=November 13, 2008 |url=http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/hall-monitor/Content?oid=939353 |access-date=April 6, 2009 |archive-date=May 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527012503/http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/hall-monitor/Content?oid=939353 |url-status=live }}</ref> Voters overturned it via referendum in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|first=Brad|last=Schmidt|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2010/11/city_hall_portlands_publicly_f.html|title=City Hall: Portland's publicly funded campaign system ends without reaching aspirations|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=November 3, 2010|accessdate=September 27, 2022|archive-date=September 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928041354/https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2010/11/city_hall_portlands_publicly_f.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hi, I'm Amanda Fritz |date=August 11, 2009 |first=Beth |last=Slovic |work=Willamette Week |url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-12332-ldhi_irsm_amandard.html |access-date=September 4, 2016 |archive-date=September 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909113307/http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-12332-ldhi_irsm_amandard.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In June 2013, a shuffling of bureaus among the commissioners by new Mayor Charlie Hales saw Fritz assigned the Parks Bureau and the Bureau of Development Services, in place of her previous assignments.<ref name=oreg-2013jun>{{cite news|last=Kost|first=Ryan|title=Hales shuffles city bureaus<!-- (print-edition headline)-->|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=June 4, 2013|page=B1|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/06/mayor_charlies_hales_assigns_c.html|accessdate=June 7, 2013|archive-date=June 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611134410/http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/06/mayor_charlies_hales_assigns_c.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Fritz won re-election in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|first=Douglas|last=Perry|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/05/oregon_kentucky_primary_live_u.html|title=Amanda Fritz has won re-election to the Portland City Commission|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=May 18, 2016|access-date=May 17, 2016|archive-date=May 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517220137/http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/05/oregon_kentucky_primary_live_u.html|url-status=live}}</ref> During the city's fiscal year of 2017-2018, she cast the deciding vote on the Council to adopt the campaign financing reform program "Open and Accountable Elections", which would award public matching funds to candidates who agreed to not take large contributions, or any contributions from corporations and PACs. The system was launched in the 2020 election cycle.<ref name="opb.org">{{cite web|first=Amelia|last=Templeton|url=https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-oregon-amanda-fritz-retiring-election-2020/#:~:text=April%205%2C%202019%202%3A45%20p.m.%20Your%20browser%20does,of%20her%20current%20term%20on%20the%20City%20Council.|title=Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz Will Not Seek Reelection|website=OPB|date=April 5, 2019|accessdate=September 27, 2022|archive-date=September 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928044723/https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-oregon-amanda-fritz-retiring-election-2020/#:~:text=April%205%2C%202019%202%3A45%20p.m.%20Your%20browser%20does,of%20her%20current%20term%20on%20the%20City%20Council.|url-status=live}}</ref>
On April 5, 2019, Fritz announced that she would not seek re-election to Portland City Council, saying that she hoped a larger field of candidates would run for her seat using the Open and Accountable Elections system.<ref name="opb.org"/> She retired in January 2021.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Crystal|last1=Ligori|first2=Jenn|last2=Chávez|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/01/commissioner-amanda-fritz-looks-back-on-her-12-years-on-the-portland-city-council/|title=Commissioner Amanda Fritz looks back on her 12 years on the Portland City Council|website=OPB|date=January 1, 2021|accessdate=September 27, 2022|archive-date=September 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928044720/https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/01/commissioner-amanda-fritz-looks-back-on-her-12-years-on-the-portland-city-council/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Personal life== Fritz's husband, Steve, whom she married in 1982, died in a car crash in September 2014. Steve Fritz had worked for 27 years as a psychiatrist at Oregon State Hospital in Salem. The couple had three children.<ref name="oreg-2014sep"/>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://www.portlandoregon.gov/fritz/ Commissioner Amanda Fritz] on City of Portland website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritz, Amanda}} Category:People from Leeds Category:Portland City Council members (Oregon) Category:Oregon Democrats Category:American nurses Category:American women nurses Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:British emigrants to the United States Category:Women city councillors in Oregon Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:21st-century American women