Last Night's Candidates' Forum

{Includes 9:42pm update.}

Attendance was a little low. I counted 25 who stayed to listen to the Commissioner candidates; about a third of the room left after the judicial candidates spoke.

The questions and answers were much better than at the previous forum. This is natural: as the campaigns continue, voters have more specific questions and candidates are more comfortable giving direct answers. John Yokum of the Seaside Signal was there and will do a good report.

My opening remarks were unscripted but went something like this:

I'm not sure how many of you know that the North Coast Republican Women joined forces early this year with a Republican State Senator, a Democratic State Representative and Crime Victims United President Steve Doell to petition the Oregon State Legislature to pass Jessica's Law, which provides for mandatory minimum sentences for child sex abusers as well as for better tracking of these predators.

These are not 18-year-olds who've had sex with their 15-year-old girlfriend-of-the day. These are 30-, 40-, 50-year-old deviants who have had sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 12 -- so, 8, 5, 18 months -- violent, horrible crimes that I have the luxury of holding my hands up to my ears and intoning "la-la-la-la-la" whenever reporting such events begins on the nightly news.

The effort of these Women and dozens of other groups across the state was so massively successful that Jessica's Law was passed within the first 57 minutes of the special session last week and has already been signed by Governor Kulongoski. It's good work and I'm very honored that Crime Victims United has endorsed my candidacy.

And so we can focus on one difference between me and my opponent. I have been and will be a strong and vocal proponent of public safety and of continuing to provide Clatsop County with the level of service it's come to expect. Some have tried to claim that my candidacy is all and only about propping up my husband's interests. I've been married to our District Attorney, Josh Marquis, for ten years and I have a enormous amount of respect for his advocacy and for the excellence he's attained in his field. But most of you might suspect that a woman who has the chutzpah to challenge a wealthy, land-owning, generational Astorian might have a few notions of her own.

Josh and I met when I was 41 and among some other core values, we shared an interest and a career in enforcement -- mine at the level of international sanctions and UN resolutions, his at ORS and federal statutes. We both believe that empty threats are just that: empty. Laws should either be enforced or we should seek openly to change them through the political process. They should not be skirted at the whim of a particular official on a pet occasion.

Today at the Budget Orientation session, the Jail Commander and the DA made compelling, resonable and credible presentations for additional staff. Their requests were less than half what was recommended by separate, independent studies of each department, studies that were commissioned by the BoC, cost some tens of thousands of dollars and that were paid for by you, the taxpayer. And at the end, the County Manager acknowledged the pressing need for the additional personnel but could not recommend them to the Budget Committee or the Commission. He said the expenditure of the additional dollars wouldn't fit within the policies set by the Long-Term Financial Plan. He asked what service -- what public safety service or DHS service or park maintenance -- would have to be cut to afford these new personnel. [See UPDATE below for later clarification.]

I ask: What about other areas of the budget? What about administration? What about the $800,000 that's budgeted for HVAC upgrades to the adminstration building?

What about the timber funds? Sure, the County must have a reasonable and prudent savings account, and as a general policy timber funds shouldn't be used for ongoing personnel and operational expenses. But the county won't turn to stone or go broke if we use some timber funds for those expenses. In fact, about half the timber funds ARE used for ongoing expenses, leaving $1.3 to $1.95 million or so in the savings account. We could take $250,000 from that account and fully fund those public safety requests.

Our choice: Ignore crimes or increase staff.

Here's another long-term vision. Clatsop County is going through a transition. A big part of that transition involves a heavy reliance on tourism. What is a tourist's biggest concern? Safety. Safe places to walk. Safe places to shop. Safe places to leave their luggage and their cars. Places that are safe from petty theft and vandalism. Our shopkeepers likewise depend on legal responses to deter petty theft, vandalism, and bad checks.

If we choose to be inflexible with our budget policies, we choose wrongly. I ask for your vote.

9:42pm UPDATE: The DA made his budget presentation to the full BoCC meeting this evening. Scott Derickson, the County Manager, recommended that the Board authorize the Budget Committee to consider the DA's request for two Deputy DA's and two Legal Assistants. After the meeting I asked Scott to clarify. He supports the request for the personnel because he is convinced of their need. Now it's up to the Budget Committee to figure out how to fund the positions, if they also agree to the need. And then Scott may or may not agree with the Budget Committee's recommended funding plan.

Stay tuned.