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has been replaced by Nathanson’s three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