Street Roots • Oct. 21-27, 2016
Election 2016
Page 12
SCH RO ED ER, fro m page 9
evictions and crazy inflation of rental
units. I fully support campaign finance
reform, and although I am a lifelong
Democrat, I do not toe party lines, but
rather approach each issue as unique
with critical thinking determining my
path.
When I was local president of my
union, I never once signed a collective
bargaining agreement or
memorandum of understanding
without getting insight and feedback
from the people I was representing at
the time (Veterans Affairs and had
employees who ranged from claims
adjudicators, to plastic surgeons, to
gravediggers to police officers.)
I am an Army veteran, mother,
wife, union organizer and community
mobilizer. I am a member of the
working class and have done this
campaign working 40 hours a week
because the working class needs a
seat at the table where the decisions
are made that affect our lives.
DISTRICT 1
Sharon Meieran
1. By nearly every metric, people of color are
overrepresented
throughout the criminal
justice system. What are
you going to do to correct
that?
The Racial and Ethnic
Disparities Report
clearly revealed objective
evidence of the systemic
racism that exists throughout the criminal
justice system at Multnomah County. We
must directly acknowledge and accept this
before we can move forward.
As a member of the Community
Oversight Advisory Board that oversees the
Department of Justice Settlement
Agreement regarding Portland Police
Bureau’s use of force against people in
mental health crisis, I have engaged with
community members and advocacy groups
representing communities of color about
some difficult issues, including the systemic
racism throughout our criminal justice (and
other) systems. Rather than presume to
know the best steps forward, I will listen
and work with individuals who are directly
affected and organizations representing
these individuals to create a path forward to
acknowledge and address the racial
disparities faced by people of color
throughout our justice system.
2. Across the county, there is a massive
imbalance of resources for people in need, with
services concentrated in Portland. How do you
see the county’s role in getting its various
municipalities to step up with dedicated
resources to what is a regional need?
This imbalance in resources is an issue
that is extremely important to the county as
a whole, and I will work with the mayors of
Gresham, Wood Village, Troutdale and
Fairview, along with the new West County
commissioner, to consider this issue with
fresh eyes, ears, hearts and minds. We must
learn the priorities of these municipalities
so we can work collaboratively as a board to
address the needs of ALL Multnomah
County communities and residents.
As an ER doctor, an advisory board
member of the Unity Behavioral Health
ASS ociat S
W o m a n
stress, chronic disease burden such as
diabetes, legal issues, disabilities, domestic
violence, mental illness and addiction issues.
My training and experiences have given me
a tremendous understanding and empathy
for the struggles that people go through.
Each person I treat is an individual with a
unique story and unique issues to face. The
insight I’ve gained from helping people as a
doctor is something no bureaucratic
experience can ever match. As a county
commissioner, I will bring these personal
experiences to make the right choices for all
county residents through the services the
county provides.
Eric Zimmerman
1. By nearly every metric, people of color are
overrepresented throughout the criminal justice
system. What are you
going to do to correct
that?
library of congress
Center, and as medical director of the
Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health,
I work effectively not only as a director but
as a member of a team to come up with the
best approaches to address underlying
needs. Though I would specifically represent
West Multnomah County and inner
Southeast Portland on the commission, my
view would be toward the best outcomes for
the county and the region as a whole.
3. What are you going to do to curb opiate
deaths and addiction?
This issue is something I grapple with
every day as an emergency physician. I see
people who have addictions and want to get.»
and stay clean; who have overdosed and
need treatment and compassion; who suffer
from effects of their addictions such as
devastating skin infections, abscesses,
dental emergencies, blood infections and
heart valve infections. I regularly have
patients tell me they desperately want to
stop using drugs or alcohol, and I regularly
have to tell them, “I have, nowhere to send
you. There is nowhere for you to go.”
This is unacceptable, and my experience
has prompted me to take action. I
spearheaded efforts at the state level to
address the epidemic of prescription opioid
abuse. Working with Lines for Life and other
community organizations, I have worked to
raise awareness of the extent of the
problem, and have engaged health care
providers, local, state and elected officials,
advocacy groups, and people with lived
experience, to take action.
We need to recognize as a society that
addiction is an illness and should be treated
as such. We must invest in education,
reimburse and provide alternatives to
opioids for pain management, increase
access to medication assisted treatment for
opioid addiction, increase access to reversal
agents such as naloxone for opioid overdose,
invest in alternatives to incarceration for
nonviolent drug-related offenses and invest
in long-term substance abuse treatment
centers. Only then will we be able to start
making an impact on the epidemic of opioid
addiction.
4. In addition to the issues addressed above,
what do you want to fix in the county?
Although my priorities as county
commissioner will be to address issues of
housing, mental health care and public
safety, I am not naive enough to believe that
I will be able to magically fix these on my
own. Much of what I would like to work on
at the county relates to process,
accountability and transparency.
I believe we have started on the right
path with the Home for Everyone program
and the collaboration with the city with the
Joint Office of Homeless Services to address
the deep-rooted and complex issue of
homelessness. This program uses best
practices, has a systems approach and
involves collaboration with individuals,
nonprofit organizations, local government,
the business community and others to
achieve its goals. I would like to use similar
processes to address our crises in mental
health care and the criminal justice system.
I am particularly passionate about delving
deeply into the area of mental health care
and mental illness.
I also recognize the importance of
effective communication in explaining
exactly what the county is doing to serve its
residents, and where our taxpayer dollars
are going. The county can and must do a
better job of being transparent in its
activities, engaging community members at
all levels of process, and effectively
communicating with our very diverse
population of county residents.
5. Why should people vote for you and not the
other guy?
I support Measure 97 - Eric opposes
Measure 97.1 support the county’s
campaign finance reform measure - Eric
opposes this measure. I support the holistic
and best-practices approach to the housing
crisis adopted by A Home for Everyone -
Eric focuses on Wapato Jail as the magic-
bullet solution.
But what is more important than
individual policy positions is the depth and
breadth of experience I would bring to the
office of Multnomah County commissioner:
I am a parent, a lawyer and an emergency
room doctor. In my work in the ER, I have
personally treated thousands of patients
struggling with homelessness, economic
I am deeply
concerned about the
disparate treatment that
people of color receive
in our criminal justice
system, both in terms of
arrests and prosecutions, as well as
treatment while incarcerated. The recent
audits showing how African-Americans in
county jails are disproportionately subject to
use of force by staff should be a wake-up call
to this community. I support the recent
decision by county prosecutors to move
away from pursuing felony drug charges, a
crime that has been used to target and
incarcerate people of color in this
community, particularly African-American
males. We need to do more. We must work
with county staff - both oUr criminal justice
workers and those across county programs
- to offer more training in cultural
competency. We need to move forward with
full implementation of Ban the Box to give
those who have been through the justice
system a better chance to get their life back
on track. We need to do a better job adding
diversity to the county’s workforce to better
reflect the community we serve, and that
includes our criminal justice employees. And
we need to pull out a seat and invite
communities of color to the table when it
comes to county decision making. I am
committed to running a transparent,
accountable county commission and
addressing racial inequities is a cornerstone
of that commitment to the community.
2. Across the county, there is a massive
imbalance of resources for people in need, with
services concentrated in Portland. How do you
see the county’s role in getting its various
municipalities to step up with dedicated
resources to what is a regional need?
Multnomah County faces the challenge of
balancing the needs of a major modern city
with the abilities of East County’s smaller
municipalities to serve local needs. The
truth is we need to effectively serve people
regardless of what part of the county they
live in. There are clear unmet needs in East
county. It will be vital for us on the County
Commission to work with local leaders to
identify how we can expand services and
cover gaps in the system. I am proud to be
supported by Multnomah County
Commissioner Diane McKeel and other
leaders from East County. I’ve worked with
them on county issues, and I want to use
that experience to take on the challenge of
better helping people in need.
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