NEWS
B Y T E D TAY LO R
RETIRED AUDITOR GARY BLACKMER
and activities without supervision or direction by the city
council or manager?”
The next step will be for the city recorder to certify the
amended petition, then petitioners can begin collecting the
required 8,091 signatures of registered voters, but they will
have just 100 days. Delays in scheduling the court hear-
ing kept petitioners from gathering signatures during the
Fourth of July celebrations.
This case appeared to be new legal territory for Ras-
mussen and the judge asked the parties what they expected
him to do. “You get to write your own ballot title,” said
Margaret Olney, attorney for the plaintiffs.
Attorneys Ben Miller and Lauren Sommers represented
the city in court and defended the proposed ballot lan-
guage, saying, “There are lots of different ways to craft
a ballot title that complies with the standards,” and “the
language should be left alone.”
Miller said the city attorney “believes that this is an im-
portant change in city government,” and is concerned that
it creates a new salaried position that is “not accountable to
city rules” and city oversight.
Olney disagreed and said the auditor office is “not
a fundamental change in city government,” and that the
city manager’s language leaves out any reference to peer
review, credentials, the whistleblower function and other
important elements.
“Voters need to know that the auditor follows well-es-
tablished standards,” Miller said, noting that the city man-
ager’s language focuses only on what the manager sees as
an invalid perception of lack of accountability.
City Manager Jon Ruiz and other conservative mem-
bers of city government have long opposed such a charter
amendment providing independent and professional evalu-
ation of city management, department by department, with
the purpose of improving management, transparency and
accountability.
Performance auditors occasionally clash with manage-
ment, but more often work closely with city staff and elect-
ed officials to assure best practices and “get at problems
when they are small and before they become newspaper
headlines,” says Gary Blackmer, a retired state and Port-
land auditor who spoke on May 17 in Eugene.
Blackmer says elected auditors have much more inde-
pendence than appointed auditors, and he advocates giving
auditor offices an adequate budget to attract highly quali-
fied and professional candidates. He says performance
auditors typically save cities five times their cost, even in
relatively well-managed cities.
Back in 2002, an ad hoc charter review committee
unanimously called for the creation of an independent per-
formance auditor in order to address long-standing man-
agement issues, excessive power by the city manager and
eroded trust in city government. But a string of city manag-
ers and elected city leaders have kept the topic off the City
Council agenda, saying such auditing is not needed and is
too costly. ■
out that many important wins for the working class came
out of socialist movements, including the 40-hour work-
week, social security and unions. “None of us here are
Stalinists,” he says, adding that he instead admires Ameri-
can socialists. “DSA encapsulates a lot of ideas of the left,
but the basic idea is that we work to make significant prac-
tical reforms based on socialist ideology that will lead to a
more egalitarian society.”
The Eugene chapter is a new entity — chapter chair Jen
McKinney says the first gathering to start a local chapter
was in February, and the national DSA only granted chap-
ter status a few weeks ago. McKinney has been there since
the beginning.
She says she joined DSA out of frustration over the fact
that the two major parties did not represent her ideologies.
“The Democrats are certainly pro-capitalism and that just
doesn’t fit my views,” she says. “Capitalism has destroyed
workers, has destroyed women and destroyed minorities.”
While the DSA is not a political party, it works to influ-
ence the Democratic Party from the left.
The Eugene chapter is focused on single-payer health
care, access to higher education, workers’ rights and fight-
ing social inequality.
“The DSA is a big tent,” McKinney adds. “We welcome
anyone who is questioning the Democrats, who is question-
ing capitalism, who wonders why they have to work more
and more hours but their paychecks are not getting higher.”
Evans says he joined partially out of concern about stu-
dent loan debt. By the time he finishes school, he’ll have
$20,000 in debt, he says. “I have no illusions that the Dem-
ocratic Party cares either, because if they did, they’d do
something about it,” he says.
Evans also hopes for campaign finance reform because
officials are “beholden to their donors, not their constitu-
ents,” he says.
The DSA has chapter meetings every other Sunday at
609 E 13th Avenue. The next one is 6 pm Sunday, July 16.
Those interested in supporting the cause can also show
up at the Wyden town hall 11 am Saturday, July 8, in the
Springfield High School gym at 875 7th Street.
Chair McKinney says the DSA plans to exert pressure
on Wyden to clarify his stance on single-payer health care.
She says they’re seeking a “yes or no” answer from him,
and “if we can get enough people, we can ask some follow
ups on that if he doesn’t give us a straight yes.”
To join DSA, visit dsausa.org. Dues vary from $27 for
low-income members to $175 a year for “sustainers.” ■
JUDGE FIXES
BALLOT TITLE
Court rules on ‘biased’ petition
language
V
oters will see more precise and inclusive language
in the initiative petition, Voters Pamphlet and bal-
lot measure to create an Office of Independent
City Auditor for Eugene, thanks to a July 3 court
decision.
The judge’s ruling followed court arguments June 29,
which in turn were followed by multiple revisions by the
opposing attorneys.
The judge “ruled in our favor for the most part,” says
David Monk, one of the petitioners, along with Bonny Mc-
Cornack and George Brown.
In the case before Circuit Court Judge Karsten Rasmus-
sen, the plaintiffs complained that City Attorney Glenn
Klein’s proposed ballot language was “biased” and “fails
to sufficiently, concisely or fairly describe the initiative.”
The judge agreed with most of the plaintiffs’ concerns
but also wanted to maintain some of the original language
referring to the auditor not being subject to City Council or
city manager direction or supervision.
After the hearing, McCornack noted the difficulty of
the process, saying, “It’s not a level playing field. The city
manager’s attorneys have the power to frame the language
that voters see on the petition, Voters Pamphlet and on the
ballot. They can determine for themselves whether it is in
their best interest.”
The ballot question, written by the city attorney, reads,
“Shall Charter create elected auditor to audit city spending
NEWS
B Y K E L LY K E N O Y E R
SOCIALIZING
WITH SOCIALISTS
The Eugene chapter of the
Democratic Socialists of America
makes plans over drinks
C
olton Evans of the Democratic Socialists of
America (DSA) says it might be easier to define
the organization by what it is against rather than
what it’s for. “We’re anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-
imperialist, anti-colonialist — and anti-capitalist,
of course,” he says over drinks on Friday, June 30 at The
Paddock.
More than a dozen DSA members and supporters gath-
ered for this group happy hour, chatting about their dai-
ly lives and Marxist theory in equal measure. They also
planned upcoming actions, especially for next weekend’s
town hall with Sen. Ron Wyden.
Adam Kishel is a dues-paying member. Kishel points
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July 6, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com