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
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