SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018 | 9A
POLITICS from page 8A
“They can put stickers on
their car,” Henry continued.
“We’re certainly welcome to go
to rallies to support candidates,
post on social media and do the
things that any average citizen
would do. But I don’t think it’s
fair for a sitting city councilor
to make a decision for the city
of Florence. There’s nobody in
town that doesn’t know that
Joshua Greene [and Susy Lac-
er] are city councilors. Implic-
it, therein, is the perception
— whether it’s stated or in fact
exists — that, ‘Oh gosh, the city
council doesn’t want me on the
city council.’”
When told of the mayor’s re-
sponse, Lacer disagreed.
“I’m very intentional about
what email address I’m using
when I send messages,” she
said. “So, this message was sent
from my personal work email to
Geraldine. It was not sent from
my city council email. In my
mind, I was not speaking as a
city councilor, but as a resident
of Florence, a fellow citizen, an
acquaintance of Geraldine’s ... I
obviously didn’t intend for my
email to Geraldine to become
public record, as it has become.
It was a private communication.
I think people communicate
differently in private than they
do in official campaign litera-
ture.”
In Henry’s view, this wasn’t
about a councilor giving advice
to a candidate. This was about
a sitting councilor’s attempting
to get a candidate to drop out of
the race.
“If you read the words in that
letter, ‘there’s no shame in step-
ping down…’ Well, to me, that
infers that there’s shame in stay-
ing in the race. In effect, if Ms.
Lucio steps down, that makes it
an uncontested race where their
candidate gets elected by de-
fault,” he said.
Henry’s use of the phrase
“their candidate” was just one of
several indicators that prompt-
ed the Siuslaw News to delve
deeper into the possible parti-
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With Miltenberger cast as
the liberal and Lucio cast as the
conservative, this council race
“All politics is local”
Theories regarding the “po- could be seen as a fight for the
litical makeup” of the non-par- ideological makeup of the city
tisan council abound. Which council itself, i.e., if Lucio wins,
city council race.
“I just feel that the total story isn’t being told. And it’s being jaded
by these ‘gotcha’ politics — Maureen vs. Geraldine, the Republicans
vs. the Democrats, and Joe being so focused on thinking he needs a
partisan council — is to me distracting. I don’t want to look at it like
‘I got one Democrat, or two Democrats or three Democrats.’ I haven’t
thought about our council, in that way, until lately. ”
— Joshua Greene,
Florence City Councilor
explains why some in the com-
munity have come to place
particular importance on this
year’s race. The general consen-
sus goes like this: As it stands
right now, councilors Greene,
Lacer and Ron Preisler make
up a “liberal” voting bloc in the
council while Woodbury and
Henry make up a “conservative”
voting bloc. With Lacer leaving
the council, that would leave a
2/2 split between conservatives
and liberals (should Woodbury
be reelected.) Therefore, who
wins this election could theo-
retically tip the direction of the
council.
This leads to questions of the
political leanings of candidates
Miltenberger and Lucio.
Miltenberger is a self-pro-
fessed champion for the Flor-
ence Democratic Club. Her
political views, as well as some
of the legal and political issues
that have revolved around her
campaign, will be looked at in
part two of this series in the
Saturday, Oct. 27, edition of the
Siuslaw News.
For Lucio, she generally
speaks in nonpartisan terms,
defining her politics as inde-
pendent, though that is an as-
sumption that may be in doubt.
Lucio has a strong conserva-
tive base, is financially backed
by Republican donors and, as
the Siuslaw News has found, is
receiving help from a conser-
vative campaign manager and
treasurer — both of whom live
and operate outside the Siuslaw
region. More of that will also be
covered in Saturday’s edition.
the council tips conservative;
if Miltenberger wins, it swings
liberal.
In his initial interview, Henry
framed the argument in a way
that closely mirrors what many
agree has been a breakdown of
bipartisanship in the country.
“Just from what I’ve observed,
and I’m not a political expert,
but we have chaos going on at a
national level and, to some de-
gree, at the state level,” he said.
“It’s either one bashing the oth-
er, or another bashing them. As
I say, the 20 or 19 years I’ve been
here, we’ve never had this in our
community, but all of a sudden,
we do. I believe [the email is]
politically motivated.”
But when pressed on the sug-
gestion from his earlier com-
ment that Miltenberger was
Greene and Lacer’s “their can-
didate,” he backtracked.
“I won’t get into that,” he said.
“I think there’s clearly. … No,
I can’t answer that question. I
wouldn’t say that. I would just
say that the results of them
shaming [Lucio] into stepping
down would, in effect, get the
other candidate elected.”
There is little evidence that
Miltenberger, Greene and Lacer
are actively working together.
The councilors names don’t ap-
pear on the candidate’s adver-
tisements, and they are rarely
seen in the same circles.
“I seriously don’t know Susy,”
Miltenberger said. “She’s our
liaison to EMAC (the Environ-
mental Management Advisory
Committee), and I know her
through that, but I don’t know
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her politics. I don’t know Josh-
ua, either. I really don’t know
them really well.”
Miltenberger is openly active
in the Democratic community,
taking part in many political
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demonstrations in town. Lac-
er, on the other hand, general-
ly stays out of such endeavors,
listing herself as “unaffiliated.”
“They used to call unaffiliat-
ed ‘independent,’ but then they
formed the Independent Party,
so I’m clear to say ‘unaffiliated,’”
Lacer said. “In some areas, I’m
probably considered liberal. In
some areas, I believe I would be
considered conservative.
“… I don’t believe city council
elections should be partisan; it
is a non-partisan position for
city councilors and mayors. I
will say, recently, partisanship
is becoming an issue in this
election, and I find that unfor-
tunate.”
As to the suggestion that the
more liberal councilors vote
in a bloc together, Greene was
emphatic with his response: “I
swear to God, I don’t call Ron
or Suzy up.”
He stated he was moder-
ate-left in his political beliefs,
but tries not to make it an issue.
“Twenty-three years I’ve
seen this community, I’ve nev-
er seen partisan politics enter
this election. Not once. I’m sure
people say it under their voice,
‘Oh they’re a Republican or a
Democrat,’ but I have friends on
both sides. It’s about knowing
each other and working togeth-
er,” Greene said.
Even Henry stated that, be-
fore the email, politics did not
yet dampen the council’s ability
to work together.
“Well, obviously the people
who sit on the council have var-
ious viewpoints, backgrounds,
political affiliations,” he said.
“I have my own. To this point,
we have kept them pret-
ty much out of our feelings.
We’ve worked pretty well as a
team moving ahead.”
If there is one councilor that
would be considered liberal,
it’s Preisler, who began his in-
terview for this article with the
following statement: “I need
to say upfront, that I am a
registered Democrat, I’m blue
through and through, with the
exception of a few years where
I voted for Ronald Reagan. All
politics is local, but the council
has managed to work together
to find a balance.”
But as a Democrat who is
actively part of the Florence
Democrat Club, Preisler can
see how people think there’s a
partisan divide to the council.
“When I sit in consideration
on the council, I don’t consid-
er it as a Democrat,” he said. “I
consider it with my values, and
my thinking. You can say that
I’m a liberal, or progressive. I
would hope people would rec-
ognize that. But on the same to-
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ken, I look at what we’re doing
and try and look at my justifica-
tions.”
Preisler does not always agree
with Lacer and Greene, pointing
out that they often disagree on
major decisions. For example,
when voting on the remodeling
City Hall, Preisler was the only
council member to vote against
it.
“My concern was cost,” said
Preisler, who has also voted
unanimously with the rest of
the council and at odds with
his political leanings. One in-
stance occurred last January,
when Miltenberger applied for
a vacant city council position
to replace outgoing councilor
Lyddon, Preisler — the only
council member openly endors-
ing Miltenberger in this elec-
tion — voted with the rest of the
council to temporarily appoint
Woodbury instead.
Preisler said he was not aware
of any of the issues surrounding
Lucio, Greene and Lacer when
the email situation was occur-
ring, and that he found out
about the incident when reading
Henry’s email.
“I didn’t think it was the ap-
propriate step [to release the
email],” he said. “It’s kind of
washing your laundry in public.
If it were me, I would not have
done that.”
When Preisler was asked if
Lacer suggesting to Lucio that
she step down was inappropri-
ate, he stated “no.”
“If Susy was staying on the
board, then it could possibly
be construed that way,” he said.
“Knowing that she is not going
to be on the board, then I think
she’s looking for the best person
to take her place. … Susy did
not go out and run a campaign
against Geraldine. Susy was
talking directly to Geraldine.”
Based on the premise that
Greene was trying to help Lucio,
and that Lacer was expressing
an opinion — with neither one
looking to influence the elec-
tion politically — then where
did politics come in? As part of
its reporting, the Siuslaw News
has obtained and utilized pub-
lic records including candidate
files, court records and financial
statements in an effort to answer
that question. Unfortunately,
however, the representation of
one side of this discussion will
still be limited.
After speaking with Henry at
the beginning of this report, the
Siuslaw News began receiving
questions from the public about
his involvement with the Lucio
and Woodbury campaigns. Af-
ter gathering information from
multiple sources, the Siuslaw
News asked to speak with Henry
on that subject and others, but
he declined to comment. So too
did Katie Prosser, Lucio’s cam-
paign press agent, when asked
questions about the campaign.
Woodbury has yet to respond
to emails, and Lucio has not
agreed to be interviewed.
Which leaves Preisler to spec-
ulate where the partisanship
came in.
“Somehow, or another, the
[email] went from Geraldine
to the mayor,” he said. “That’s
where the partisanship, in my
mind, comes in.”
“I just feel that the total sto-
ry isn’t being told,” Greene said.
“And it’s being jaded by these
‘gotcha’ politics — Maureen vs.
Geraldine, the Republicans vs.
the Democrats, and Joe be-
ing so focused on thinking he
needs a partisan council — is
to me distracting. I don’t want
to look at it like ‘I got one
Democrat, or two Democrats
or three Democrats.’ I haven’t
thought about our council, in
that way, until lately. The last
eight to 10 months, I start-
ed seeing it that way, because
that’s what Joe keeps present-
ing to me. I’ve just been blind
to it.”
At that point, he paused.
“I know I’m giving you a lot
of stuff to think about,” he said.
“You have any questions here?”
In Part II of this series:
The campaigns of Lucio and
Miltenberger, and the poten-
tial precedent being set for the
future of local, non-partisan
elections.