2012 ELECTION COVERAGE
Handy
Vs.
Farr
Distinct choices in the
North Eugene commish race
By Ted Taylor
ane County’s sometimes dramatic conflict between
environmentalists and resource extraction interests is reflected in
the race for the North Eugene position on the Lane Board of
County Commissioners. Incumbent Commissioner Rob Handy is
challenged by Eugene City Councilor and former state lawmaker
Pat Farr and interpreter Nadia Sindi. Sindi is not raising money
and is running a low-key campaign and, for lack of space, is not included in this
discussion.
The sources of funding for the Handy and Farr campaigns reflect very
different constituencies in Lane County. Handy’s campaign is financed primarily
from hundreds of individual donations averaging $69 each, while Farr’s fewer
contributions are dominated by business and industry donations averaging
$1,000 (see News Briefs this week).
The following comparisons are based on the candidates’ public debates, past
statements and interviews with EW.
L
Mary Leighton (right) outlines the rules to Nadia Sindi,
Pat Farr and Rob Handy at a City Club forum April 12.
On budget and the economy:
On the DeFazio forest plan:
Handy has several specific plans. One is to ask the Legislature
to raise the very low taxes currently assessed on large private
timberlands that make up 21 percent of the acreage in the
county. “We are missing $20 million a year in Lane County,
and that would be a big boost to our budget, because corporate
timber is not paying their fair share of taxes,” he says. “It’s
now time for us to work with our Legislature, and that’s more
likely to get accomplished than looking to our federal
government for help.” Handy also proposed cutting $1
million to $1.5 million a year from county overhead by
requiring the highest-paid county employees to take a pay cut
equivalent to the cuts negotiated with unionized workers, a
proposal that the conservative majority on the commission
would not allow to be discussed. Handy is also pushing local
food production and processing as a way to provide jobs, keep
more money circulating locally, raise the tax base and make
the county more resilient in the event of a natural disaster.
Farr says, “The best way to increase revenue in Lane
County is to put people to work. People who work pay taxes
and more people working means more taxes.” He also blames
the current crisis in part on former county commissioners who
failed to set aside money for hard times. The commissioners
“knew it [federal timber money] was going to go away, and it
did, and now we’re going hat-in-hand every year begging the
feds for money. We need to start using our forests.”
Handy does not support the plan, saying it “will degrade
water, and the privatization of public assets will be under the
Oregon Forest Practices Act, which has no teeth in it. We’re
seeing clearcuts and our timber and jobs are being shipped
overseas … This super-sized mega-mechanized timber
program won’t benefit our rural communities. We’d be much
better off operating under BLM and the 1937 O&C Act than
the Oregon Forest Practices Act.”
Farr supports the forest plan, saying, “Trees grow and
logging will be on a sustained basis. The best part about the
bill is it puts money back into the system; it brings in dollars
for schools, dollars for roads, dollars to operate general
government in Lane County and the city of Eugene.”
‘We saved Lane County
$1 million ... to keep
deputies on the streets.’
- Rob Handy
On public safety:
Farr would like to see
revenues stabilized for public safety. “Something needs to be
looked at in terms of guaranteeing revenue for public safety in
Lane County on an annual basis,” he says. “People are being
turned out of the jail every single night. They are turned out
on 5th Street in Eugene and where do they go from there?
Sometimes they go kill people. Sometimes they go rob
people. They should be staying in jail. We need to make sure
our jail’s funded, the DA’s office is funded, the sheriff’s
funded and very significantly that youth services are funded.”
He wouldn’t say what county services he would sacrifice to
maintain public safety, other than “all services are considered.”
Handy says, “We try by every means possible to fund the
most expensive service that Lane County provides.” He cites
his leadership in “initiating and passing a supplemental
budget in March 2009 that backfilled some of the initial holes
we had in community corrections, parole and probation, and
in youth correctional services.” Handy also takes credit for his
role in working with ODOT to “right-size” the Coburg I-5
interchange project. “We saved Lane County $1 million that
we got back from ODOT that went to the road fund that is
now being used, along with other road fund money, to keep
deputies on the streets.” Handy also sees support for social
services now as a way to reduce the future need for
prosecutors and jail beds.
UNITY OF THE VALLEY • 39TH & HILYARD
presenting a benefit for
THE UNITY ARTS COOPERATIVE
featuring:
SCOTT COSSU
HALIE LOREN • LAURA KEMP
MARTY CHILLA & FRIENDS • MY FATHERS GHOST
Friday May 4
Dinner 5:30pm • Show 7:00pm
Tickets at Star Gate and online at brownpapertickets.com
All proceeds to benefi t our new arts organization featuring
concerts, workshops, lessons, theater, visual arts
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
EUGENE WEEKLY MAY 3, 2012 15