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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2016)
ction Endorsements by ew staff (I) really has a record of holding higher office or there- fore of course a voting record. Mclean has run before and has a pro-environment history. Incumbent Cedric Hayden does have a voting record, and we are not im- pressed. He voted for taking wolves off the endangered species list and against extending the background check waiting period on gun sales. He voted against paid sick leave and requiring electric companies to eliminate coal power. Both Mclean and Portulano are for Measure 97, as is EW, and Hayden is against it. You can register your displeasure with Hayden by voting for a more progres- sive candidate. District 8 Paul Holvey (D) vs. Mary Tucker (R) District 9 Caddy McKeown (D) vs. Teri Grier (R). Guy Rosinbaum (L) District 11 Phil Barnhart (D) vs. Joe Potwora (R) Republicans are pouring money in against Phil Barn- hart. District 11 can be a tough one for progressive Demo- crats. Barnhart says his top legislative priorities include “promoting job growth in the short term by being an ad- vocate for small businesses that hire Oregonians and in the long term by working to fully fund our kids’ educa- tions, supporting struggling families and creating more fairness in our tax system.” He’s a valuable legislator who needs our votes. District 12 John Lively (D) vs. Robert Schwartz (R) District 13 Nancy Nathanson (D) vs. Laura Cooper (R), Christopher Tsekouras (L) District 14 Julie Fahey (D) vs. Kathy Lamberg (R) For House District 14, Julie Fahey gets our vote. We respect her vocal support for access to reproductive health care, her strong backing of labor unions and her experience with the Democratic Party of Oregon and as a graduate of the Emerge Oregon program, which teach- es women Democrats how to run for office. According to a Sept. 18 survey by The Oregonian, Fahey’s opponent, Kathy Lamberg, supports Trump for president, and although she professes to support educa- tion, she does not support Measure 97, according to The Register-Guard. Both these stances concern us. We believe Fahey and her progressive values will serve the Oregon Legislature well. Nonpartisan races Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis Although Lucy Vinis won the primary elec- tion for mayor of Eugene by a wide margin — wide enough that she avoided a November runoff — we re- iterate our support of her. Her combination of values and life experience make her extremely qualified for the position, from her concern for preserving the envi- ronment to her understanding of homelessness and the complex factors that surround it. We’ve heard that Scott Landfield, owner of Tsunami Books, is running a write-in campaign, but we stand by our endorsement of Vinis. Eugene City Council Ward 1 Emily Semple vs. Josh Skov Even with the Clinton-Trump chaos playing out in real time, the race for Eugene’s Ward 1 City Council seat is still the most important election facing Eugeneans this season. The council often splits six-to-two when voting, with its staunchest progressive members, Ward 2’s Betty Taylor and Ward 1’s George Brown, doing their damned- est to resist the steady creep of municipal-level neoliberalism. In the past year alone Taylor and Brown opposed the destruction of Kesey Square, the renewal of tax breaks for the landed gentry (Multi-unit Property Tax Exemp- tion) and ad infinitum extension of the troublesome Downtown Urban Renewal District. With Brown stepping down, the city needs a stalwart progressive to take his place in order to act as the city’s lefty conscience. We like Emily Semple for the job. A former Occupy activist and an advocate for the rights of the unhoused who runs her own graphic design business, Semple says she sees herself as “the people’s candidate” in this race. And that bears out when you look at who’s got her back, and who doesn’t. The human pillars of Semple’s campaign are a who’s who of fierce City Council progressives, past and pres- ent. Former councilors Paul Nicholson, Bonny Bettman- McCornack and David Kelly stand with Semple. Brown hand-selected Semple to carry the torch and Taylor is in her corner, too. Lane County’s left-most commissioner, Pete So- rensen, is for Semple. And so is Occupy Medical man- ager Sue Sierralupe. Semple has her eye on “shelter first” policies to help Eugene’s homeless. She wants Eugene to have free-to- ride public transit, like Corvallis. Additionally, she says City Council wastes a lot of time discussing climate change when it could easily support planting more trees and aiming to reduce carbon emissions. The Eugene City Council doesn't function well, Sem- ple says, and has a steep road ahead if it wants to earn back the public’s trust. One easy way to begin, Semple says, is for the city to publish written minutes immedi- ately following council work sessions. The best thing about Semple, though, might be her long-term goal: Attract like-minded progressives to run for other council seats. Two councilors, Ward 7’s Claire Syrett and Ward 8’s Chris Pryor, are running unopposed this election. That sends up red flags, Semple says, that we could be doing more to encourage civic participation. Springfield City Council Ward 3 Sheri Moore vs. Sean Dunn NOTE: EW DOES NOT ENDORSE IN RACES IN WHICH WE FEEL WE HAVE NOT GOTTEN ENOUGH INFORMATION ON THE ISSUE OR THE CANDIDATE. tion funding, legislators have argued back and forth for decades about how to fund schools with little to show for it. And kids continue to suffer the consequences. Ultimately, if Oregon doesn’t find a way to invest fully in its public education system, Oregon businesses will suffer an undereducated workforce and struggle to at- tract talent to the state when prospective employees don’t want to bring their kids here. Education is one of the most important investments Oregon could possibly make. For the past two decades, our state has shortchanged its future by selling our pub- lic school system short. Enough is enough, and it’s time to fund schools with a “yes” vote on Measure 97. Measure 98 would require state funding for drop- out-prevention and career and college readiness pro- grams in Oregon high schools. Yes. Measure 98 sets out to tackle the issue of high school graduation, and we agree that it’s an important matter to address. Only about 74 percent of Oregon high school students graduate on time, and we have third worst grad- uation rate in the country. Measure 98 proposes requiring public high schools in Oregon to offer more opportunities for career and tech- nical education (CTE), which has suffered cuts because of underfunding. Research shows that kids who take CTE courses are more likely to graduate on time. The measure resolves to use “proven dropout-prevention strategies” to improve Oregon’s graduation rate, creating a special fund for the purpose of providing these resources. The Legisla- ture would allocate $800 per high school student per year. The measure is effectively an unfunded mandate in that the money would come from the general fund. This isn’t a faultless solution and might work better for some school districts than others. When the state forces school districts to allocate money in a certain way, it takes away their ability to individualize funds toward district-specific needs. If Measure 97 passes, however, schools will grow closer to being fully funded, and additional resources can be al- located toward increasing graduation rates. We agree that overall, funding dropout-prevention programs seems an important strategy in tackling our dismally low graduation rates. Because of this, we support Measure 98. Measure 99 would create an “Outdoor School Ed- ucation Fund,” sourced from state lottery proceeds, to support outdoor school programs. Yes. It’s challenging to find pitfalls in Measure 99, which would use unallocated lottery funds to provide a full week of Outdoor School for all fifth and sixth graders. As the “yes” campaign points out, kids experience nu- merous benefits from getting outdoors, including exer- cise and exposure to nature. Even in Oregon, not all kids have access to the outdoors, and a week outside as part of a school program provides students with foundational skills to explore their world and gain an appreciation for it. After all, it’s up to our youngest generation to fix the planet — how will they want to save it if they never see it? This one gets a definite “yes” vote from EW. Measure 100 would prohibit the sale of products from and parts of 12 species of endangered animals. Yes. The measure plugs a hole in Oregon law that doesn’t prohibit the sale of wildlife parts and products from non- native species, except shark fins, and it supports a na- tional movement to restrict the ivory trade. eugeneweekly.com • October 20, 2016 13
