6A | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS
Greene, along with
former councilor Susy
Lacer, said they became
concerned about the par-
tisan nature of Prociw’s
campaign after they were
approached by a former
member of the campaign.
That individual painted a
dire picture of Harvey and
Prosser, who she accused
of stating that “libtards”
weren’t welcome in the
campaign, and that Prociw
was planning on only vot-
ing how Henry voted.
The two councilors ap-
proached Prociw, ques-
tioning her on whether
she was prepared to do the
job. Greene voiced his con-
cerns in person at Prociw’s
place of business. Lacer
chose to contact Prociw in
a personal email sent Oct.
12, 2018, with the subject
line “A request.” In it, Lac-
er strongly suggested that
Prociw drop out, listing the
need for public speaking as
a primary reason:
“… I have been told by
multiple folks in town that
you are struggling with a
fundamental requirement
of being a city councilor:
Public speaking. If that
is true, and you are not
comfortable speaking to
a room full of people, I’m
asking that you withdraw
from the election now,
Geraldine.”
Lacer went on to say that,
while she believed Prociw
cared about Florence and
wanted what was best for
the community, “It would
be a terrible disservice to
our citizens for you [to]
continue in the election, if
you are unable to serve ef-
fectively.”
Henry found out about
these attempts and went
public in correspondence
with both Siuslaw News
and KCST, describing
Greene and Lacer com-
ments as partisan attempts
to influence the election.
Henry’s supporters, in-
cluding Beveridge, public-
ly asked Greene and Lacer
to resign, going as far as
claiming Greene and Lacer
broke the law in attempt-
ing to get Prociw to drop
out of the election.
When Greene and Lac-
er spoke on record with
Siuslaw News at the time,
neither went into specif-
ic details regarding what
was told to them by the
ex-campaign
volunteer.
Instead, after it became
known that we were inves-
tigating the issue, the vol-
unteer came to speak with
Siuslaw News. Though it
has been suggested that
Greene sent the individual
to the newspaper, Siuslaw
News has not been able to
verify that accusation.
Though an on-record in-
terview was conducted, it
was decided there were too
many credibility concerns,
including
hyper-liberal
partisanship, financial dis-
putes with the campaign
itself, and personal issues
between the individual and
Prociw. The interview was
not printed and Siuslaw
News pursued other ave-
nues for the investigation,
including public records
and interviews with others
directly involved.
The findings of that in-
vestigation were included
in the series “Chaos in the
Community.”
After Prociw won the
election, the bad blood was
never fully dealt with on
the council — and contin-
ues today.
Henry has publicly
blamed Greene’s decision
to send the former cam-
paigner to Siuslaw News
as a root cause of council
conflict, while Prociw has
accused the newspaper of
printing “anonymous false
accusations,” as stated in
her recent resignation let-
ter from the council.
While the election and
resulting coverage may
have stoked tensions with-
in the council, it was the
committee selection pro-
cess that provoked an all-
out-war.
As will be discussed lat-
er this month, councilor
involvement with the se-
lection process was limit-
ed. Public discussion sur-
rounding applicants lasted
mere minutes in a January
work session, and sugges-
tions for committee place-
ments were ignored com-
pletely. Instead, multiple
partisans and real estate
professionals made their
way onto the boards.
“Hmmmm … Joshua is
the chair of FURA”
“We will hold a second
reading of this ordinance at
our next meeting, at which
time we’ll make a deci-
sion on it,” Henry said in
closing the discussion on
FURA during the March 4,
2019, meeting.
At this point, the FURA
discussion was put out to
the general public to dis-
cuss the merits of the issue.
On that March 6, Siuslaw
News published an article
on the subject, sharing it
on Facebook, including on
FO. But comments on the
article were nonexistent,
and the actual discussion
regarding a mayor’s ability
to choose applicants was
largely ignored.
Instead, a bigger conver-
sation was brewing in our
Letters to the Editor and
online.
“I want to express my
displeasure at the proposed
mural for the CLPUD
building,” read a letter re-
ceived on March 5, 2019.
The council had not
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openly discussed the mu-
ral, even during the FURA
discussion, and FURA it-
self had already made its
final approval on funding
the project earlier that Jan-
uary. There was a vote to
be held by the council on
April 1 regarding the mu-
ral, but that was only re-
garding whether or not the
mural met city code — not
about its design, aesthetics
or artistic merit.
In fact, if a council mem-
ber were to vote based on
public opinion regarding
the mural, it would have
been deemed illegal.
“There are so many dif-
ferent beautiful options
that could still be designed,
i.e., whales passing by our
coast, the dunes, a light-
house, dune buggies, our
state and national park for-
ests, etc.,” the letter stated.
“If anyone else agrees with
me or has an opinion either
way, please let the Florence
City Council know.”
Siuslaw News would lat-
er learn that the letter was
spurred on by a communi-
cation from conservative
leaders out to supporters.
On March 7, newly in-
stalled CEDC commit-
tee member and friend
of Henry, David Montes,
posted on Facebook a pic-
ture of the Quince Street
mural on FO.
“I can’t visualize wild-
life successfully making
it across that bridge,” he
wrote. While Montes said
the mural “was not ugly,” he
made it clear that it wasn’t
for Florence. “I think in its
attempt to be original it
became an art concept for
a different community,” he
concluded.
The post generated over
500 comments, with the
majority of the comments
negative toward the mural.
“The piece is definite-
ly a sharp contrast to ‘Old
Town,’ perhaps too much
of a contrast,” Sandy Kuhl-
man commented. “Feels
like Florence is having
an identity conflict. Also
disappointing that local
artists were not commis-
sioned.”
The next day, Beveridge
created her own post on
FO, asking for more opin-
ions on the mural.
“Send letters to 250
Hwy 101 or kelli.weese@
ci.florence.or.us,” Harvey
commented. “They read
and tally all of them. The
council meeting to decide
to permit the painting is
April 1 at 5:30 at city hall.
Use this to speak www.ci.
florence.or.us/council/re-
quest-address-city-coun-
cil-speakers-card.”
Beveridge and Harvey
work together politically
frequently, with Beveridge
also being the modera-
tor for Facebook sites like
Florence Liberty Alliance.
Regarding FO, she has
frequently used the page to
support Henry and the city,
such as pushing support
for the City Hall remodel
after some public opinion
had turned against it.
But the power of FO can
also be used against an in-
dividual.
“A post on the Florence,
Oregon FB page has gener-
ated a LOT of comments,”
she wrote Siuslaw News di-
rectly after the mural posts
on PO. “It’s regarding the
proposed mural. It seems
like something that is sto-
ry-worthy. The majority
of comments are opposed
to the design. The Public
Art Committee somehow
got a budget for this from
Urban Renewal. Hmmmm
… Joshua (Greene) is the
chair of FURA.”
A public discussion
about the FURA commit-
tee and its selection pro-
cess suddenly took a back
seat — drowned out by an
outcry regarding the mural
and questions regarding
Greene’s leadership. The
division between Henry
and Greene widened from
personal to something be-
coming more and more
partisan.
(Note: In the next
installment of this
investigative series into
partisanship impacts
on local government on
Sept. 16, Siuslaw News
explores how, as a social
media war against PAC
was heating up, a small
group of people began
writing the City regarding
the upcoming vote on the
FURA selection process
— and how, though there
were dozens of letters, all
shared similar phrasing
mirroring local ultra-con-
servative Facebook posts.
To read past install-
ments in this series, visit
www.thesiuslawnews.
com and click the “Special
Investigations” tab on the
drop-down menu.)
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