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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2004)
MOWING FOR NANCY STIRS QUESTIONS Jessica Picucci’s front lawn faces Willamette Street, just south of 29th, and looks great. The next-door neigh- bor’s grass stands two feet high. Other nearby yards are weed sanctuaries. Picucci says that a Nancy Nathanson cam- paigner mowed her lawn in ex- change for permission to place the mayoral candidate’s yard sign in full view of traffic on Eugene’s busy north-south thoroughfare. Ted Booth, long-time Nathanson friend and campaign volunteer, says offering to cut Picucci’s grass was a “lark,” and initially a joke. But when Booth returned later with his lawn mower, he found a Kitty Piercy sign stuck in the ground. He says he cut Picucci’s lawn “to get back into her good graces.” He replaced the Piercy sign with a Nathanson sign. One Eugene attorney who asked not to be identified says such activities could be construed as illegal. Oregon’s election laws (ORS 260.665) prohibits “undue influence,” defined as money, employment or anything of value, to sway votes or support candida- cies. Because people pay yard maintenance companies to cut their grass, it could fall under “a thing of value.” Another Eugene attorney, Lauren Regan, says, “It’s imperative that Oregon’s election laws are strictly enforced. If a candidate has committed or attempted to commit undue influence on Eugene citizens, their ethics should seriously be called into question.” Picucci initially agreed to the lawn mow- ing deal because she didn’t know anything about Nathanson’s politics. But after she read the April 4 EW issue on voting records, she switched allegiance — and lawn signs — to Kitty Piercy. She says the Piercy sign has been replaced by Nathanson’s three times. She eventually called Nathanson’s of- fice and asked them to leave her Piercy sign alone. For all of her yard-sign hassles, Picucci says, Booth should have cut her backyard, too. — Michele Taylor A note left at the scene. MEISNER ENDORSEMENT RAISES EYEBROWS How can a Eugene City Council member “There are questions about his record on with only a 10 percent environmental voting other environmental issues,” says Hall, “but record from the Oregon League of Scott has been there for us on federal forest is- Environmental Voters land an endorsement sues.” from another major statewide envi- Jim Baker of ONRC says the group ronmental group? relied on questionnaires, interviews, Incumbent Ward 7 committee meetings and “personal Councilor Scott Meisner knowledge.” “We knew it was was endorsed by the going to be a difficult decision to Oregon Natural make,” he says. Resources Council Baker says Ortiz does not know (ONRC) and is using much about forest issues, but she is the stamp of approval to up to speed on pesticides and toxics diffuse heavy criticism of in urban areas. “We think Andrea will his recent voting record (see be excellent on the issues once she gets on EW cover story, 4/8). His oppo- Scott Meisner board. Her heart and feelings are in the nent, Andrea Ortiz, was also en- right place, and she’s coming on fast.” — TJT dorsed by ONRC. “We endorsed Scott because he had been there for us on federal forest issues from day FUTURE OF EFN one,” says Jeremy Hall of ONRC. Hall says REMAINS UNCLEAR Meisner “championed a letter through the Not everyone is as confident as Paul Eugene City Council back in 1997” that calls Harrison about Eugene Free Network’s al- on stronger forest protection and modification liance with Emerald People’s Utility District of sales, including Blue River Face, that is (see news brief, 4/22). Former EFN employee being logged right now. “He went on to sup- Gary Frazier says, “EFN will cease to exist as port ending logging old growth and mature an independent ISP.” forests in the entire Northwest Forest Plan It seems that EFN will not be collaborating area.” so much with EPUD as with Chambers • The deadline for registering for the May 18 primary elections has come and gone and Voters’ Pamphlets are in our mail boxes. Ballots will be arriving in the next few days. Hold that pen. Our endorsements issue is next week, along with more elections stories. • City Club of Eugene is packing in standing-room-only crowds for its series of Friday lunch political programs. Coming up April 30 is the mayoral forum and last week was council candidates. It was great last week to see UO student Adam Walsh jumping into the Ward 1 fray with Bonny Bettman and Tom Slocum. He eloquently defended his youth and inexperience, and he’s right that everybody starts off a novice, but there are better places for him to plug in and learn sausage making, such as city committees or his neighborhood association. Bettman was convincing in outlining the reasons why she’s a perfect fit for Ward 1. Slocum attacked Bettman on old and debatable hospital siting issues, rather than focusing on her clear stands on important issues today. Maurie Denner (Ward 2) talked a lot about making decisions based on what’s good for kids (who can argue with that?) but didn’t say anything about sprawl and pollution being bad for kids. Slocum hedged on the big issue of expanding the UGB, calling for more study. Scott Meisner (Ward 7) was strong on the intricacies of such issues as the railyard, while his challenger Andrea Ortiz was better on vision and values. Denner complained about divisiveness on the council but we were pleased to see Betty Taylor (Ward 2) standing up to say that disagreements and lively debates serve democracy. Unopposed candidate Chris Pryor (Ward 8) gave a little speech about “leadership in the middle.” We’ll find out what that means when he joins the council in January. The City Multimedia Connection, to whom EPUD out- sources its ISP services. Says Frazier, “[EPUD] has always basically been a name on the Internet without actually being an ISP. Several of EFN’s current services, such as shell access (via telnet or SSH), mailing lists, and advanced web hosting, are not offered by EPUD or CMC at this time.” The decision to link with EPUD follows on the heels of financial woes at EFN (see 4/8 story). Harrison described EFN’s plight as “a tight financial situation.” However, now-for- mer EFN employee and IWW union rep Patrick Wade describes it more specifically: “In 2004 the staff accepted a number of cut- backs to try to make ends meet. We froze our wages and put the wage scale increases in the union contract on hold, we took 20 percent hours cut, we laid off a support technician. … however, it was clear that we were not meet- ing our goals and that our situation was deteri- orating. We explored several possibilities, in- cluding going out of business.” Wade also says EFN is now operating with more than half the original staff laid off. Employees’ hours are still down 20 percent, and changes are coming in health insurance. Either the insurance will be canceled or Club program wasn’t a real debate, but it gave us a chance to check out the candidates. Too bad it wasn’t taped and broadcast on KLCC. • Oregon’s annual “eco-prom” attracted nearly 800 fancy dressed enviros and politi- cians to the Portland convention center April 23 for dinner and talk. Put on by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, this party pulled the governor, attorney gener- al, secretary of state, state treasurer, plus more than 60 local, state, and national politi- cos. No wonder they all come. Jonathan Poisner, the talented executive director of OLCV, estimates that 150,000 Oregon voters will be contacted this fall by his 1,500 vol- unteers. That’s in addition to the money they’re raising to put into selected races. And the important environmental scorecard s they circulate to help elect friends of the environment. Speaker for the big party was John Podesta, chief of staff to President Clinton and LCV board member. You know what he said — if we care about the environ- ment, we must defeat George Bush in November. • We hear longtime Hendricks Park head gardener Michael Robert is hanging up his pruning shears soon and will be giving his last official tour of the park beginning at 1 pm Sunday, May 2. Meet at the Hendricks Park shelter. Roberts’ knowledge of the park and its plant life is astounding and inspiring and we hope he stays involved in our city’s parklands in his retirement. SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, APRIL 29, 2004 7
