4 union members running for ‘freeholder’ spots in Clark County
VANCOUVER — Four union
members from Clark County are
among 110 candidates vying for 15
spots as charter “freeholders” in the
Nov. 5 general election.
Jamie Hurly is a member of the
Battle Ground Education Association,
where she serves on the union’s Exec-
utive Board and as a building rep.
Hurly is one of seven candidates run-
ning for District 2, Position 1 free-
holder.
Jim Moeller, a state representative
for District 49, is running against eight
other candidates in District 3, Position
3. Moeller is a member of the Oregon
Federation of Nurses and Health Pro-
fessionals Local 5017 and works as a
mental health specialist at Kaiser Per-
manente.
Temple Lentz, running in District
3, Position 4, is a member of United
Food and Commercial Workers Local
555, the staff union at the Oregon Fed-
eration of Nurses and Health Profes-
sionals Local 5017. Lentz is the com-
munications organizer for Local 5017.
There are 12 other candidates in her
race.
Bob Carroll is a business represen-
tative for the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers Local 48. He is
running against 12 other candidates in
District 3, Position 5.
The Southwest Washington Central
OCTOBER 18, 2013
Com-
mis-
sion-
e r s
unan-
JAMIE HURLY
Dist. 2, Position 1
JIM MOELLER
Dist. 3, Position 3
Labor Council and the Columbia Pa-
cific Building and Construction Trades
Council have endorsed candidates for
all 15 positions — including Lentz,
Carroll, Moeller, and Hurly.
“The people who get elected free-
holders are going to have a big say in
what our county government will look
like for the next 100 years,” said Shan-
non Walker, president of the Southwest
Washington Central Labor Council.
“We have an opportunity to elect peo-
ple who will work for the best, long-
term interests of our county.”
The state of Washington has two
forms of county government. One is the
statutory, or “code” county, which was
set in the constitution in 1889. The
other is the home rule, or “charter”
TEMPLE LENTZ
Dist. 3, Position 4
county. Washington voters amended
the constitution to allow for charter
counties in 1948.
As a code county, Clark County op-
erates with three commissioners who
have both policymaking and executive
administrator responsibilities. (They
share the executive branch with other
county-wide elected officials, including
assessor, auditor, clerk, and others.)
Proponents of a home rule charter
say the code county form of govern-
ment was fine in 1889, when Clark
County’s population was just 11,000.
Today, however, with a population of
approximately 438,000, they believe a
three-person county board of commis-
sioners has too much power.
“Charter counties give the citizens
of those counties some options, some
flexibility as to how they can design
their county government,” said Repub-
lican Clark County Auditor Greg Kim-
sey in a video posted on YouTube.
Six of Washington’s 39 counties are
home rule counties. They include King
(1968), Clallam (1976), Whatcom
County (1978), Pierce (1980), Sno-
homish (1980), and San Juan (2005)
counties.
Several counties have tried, but
failed, to pass home rule charters that
were proposed by a board of freehold-
ers. They include Cowlitz, Ferry, Is-
land, Kitsap, Skamania, Spokane,
Thurston, and Clark counties.
Clark County voters rejected a ref-
erendum in 1982 to approve election of
freeholders for a city-county consolida-
tion effort. In 1997, voters rejected a
referendum to approve election of free-
holders for a county charter. In 2000,
the Board of County Commissioners
referred election of 21 freeholders to
voters. Fifty-two candidates filed to
run. They did form a draft charter,
which was placed on the 2002 general
election ballot along with three alterna-
tive provisions:
1) Increase board of county com-
missioners from three to five.
2) Include in the charter the powers
of referendum and initiative.
3) Have commissioners elected by
district only.
The results of the election were that
the charter failed (by 187 votes) and
two of the three alternatives failed. The
one measure that passed was election
of commissioners by district only. It
was approved 58.32 percent to 41.68
percent.
Last June, the Board of County
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
BOB CARROLL
Dist. 3, Position 5
imously approved a resolution calling
for the election of a 15-person Board of
Freeholders to draft a home rule charter
for Clark County.
On Nov. 5, voters will elect free-
holders depending on what commis-
sion district they live in. There are three
districts in Clark County, and each dis-
trict has five positions to fill. Lentz,
Carroll, and Moeller, for example, live
in District 3, which is represented by
Commissioner Steve Stuart. Voters rep-
resented by Commissioner Tom Mielke
will vote in District 1, and voters repre-
sented by Commissioner David
Madore will vote in District 2.
The elected Board of Freeholders
has a deadline of Dec. 31, 2014, to
come up with a draft charter. If they
can’t agree on a proposal, Clark County
will continue as a statutory code
county. If they do agree on a proposal, it
will be presented to voters in 2015.
W HAT OPTIONS
DO FREEHOLDERS HAVE ?
In other counties, according to Kim-
sey, freeholders have typically in-
creased the number of commissioners,
changed elections from countywide to
districts, modeled government after the
state model — with a separate branch
of government to create checks and bal-
ances, sharing power between the ex-
ecutive branch and legislative branch,
whether offices are partisan or nonpar-
tisan, and initiative and referendum
powers at the county level.
“This is an incredible opportunity
for Clark County — to be in a position
to create what we want our local gov-
ernment to look like,” Lentz said.
“Right now we’re dealing with a gov-
ernment from the 1800s.”
Carroll, a 35-year member of the
IBEW, said he put his hat into the ring
after watching “too much partisanship”
take over the county council. “I’m dis-
turbed by what I see happening in the
county. There is too much partisanship,
too much turmoil,” he said.
Hurly and others are concerned that
some candidates running for freeholder
would like nothing better than to keep
the county’s government the way it is.
“It’s ludicrous that a county of this
size has only three commissioners,”
Hurly said. The social studies and
world history teacher would like to see
the county commission expanded.
The following freeholders have been
endorsed by the Southwest Washington
What is a
freeholder?
Freeholder is an old-world term
that once referred to ownership of a
“clear estate.” This meant a person
truly owned a piece of property,
free of others, for as long as they
wanted, and ownership would not
revert to anyone else (as opposed to
the renting or leasing of property).
This status allowed those men (not
women) to vote or serve in elected
office.
However, this old-world mean-
ing has no relevance to county free-
holders in Washington since prop-
erty ownership is not required to
run for office.
Rather, freeholder is just a term
that is used, and the only two re-
quirements to be a freeholder are to
be a registered voter and a resident
in the county for a minimum five-
year period preceding the election.
There can be as many as 25
freeholders elected to a Board of
Freeholders or as few as 15, and
they must equitably represent the
county’s population.
Freeholders are unpaid volun-
teers who have a singular, constitu-
tionally mandated duty: to write the
home rule charter and propose it to
the countywide electorate. Free-
holders are essentially a branch of
county government while in exis-
tence, so all freeholder meetings
must be noticed and held as an
open public meeting. Likewise,
freeholder records are public
records.
(Editor’s Note: This information
is from “County Charter and Free-
holders Explained,” by Kelly Sills,
Clark County’s economic develop-
ment director.)
Central Labor Council and the Colum-
bia Pacific Building and Construction
Trades Council:
DISTRICT 1
Position 1 — Morris Foutch
Position 2 — Tom Lawrence
Position 3 — Rob Lutz
Position 4 — Steve Foster
Position 5 — Patricia Reyes
DISTRICT 2
Position 1 — Jamie Hurly
Position 2 — Lloyd Halverson
Position 3 — Judie Stanton
Position 4 — Paul Dennis
Position 5 — Tony McMigas
DISTRICT 3
Position 1 — Pat Jollota
Position 2 — Val Ogden
Position 3 — Jim Moeller
Position 4 — Temple Lentz
Position 5 — Bob Carroll
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