I'm talking about that period that lasted until the county government changed over to "home rule".
We had three salaried commissioners and a County Executive officer. Compared to today county government was a fairly modest affair. The Commission meetings where held in what was really a small side room in the courthouse on the main floor and the audience was pretty small. The issues were pretty much all the same ones we deal with today. They were just cheaper to solve.
I also remember very clearly how unhappy people were with the county government. They grumbled about everything (see? nothing really ever changes) but the one thing that would come up time again was how much money we would save and how much more representative our government would be if we went to home rule and stopped paying people to be full time commissioners. That was when the total budget for county government was a tiny 20 million or so. Now it's 70 million. The county shops, the Courthouse and, the "new" jail were just about it for buildings now we have a multi-story professional office building and a fully renovated meeting hall with the full media enhanced experience, and the Courthouse remodeled, the jail, the county shops..etc...etc..etc..
We saved nothing going to home rule and not paying those commissioners
a professional salary. We just hired a lot of other professionals. One outcome of home rule was the incredible proliferation of consultants and "studies" that have been conducted here over the last 20 years. Government has grown to the point where it is Clatsop County's major employer.
Government is so important to the economy now that Astoria City Manager Paul Benoit noted that it is the government sector, when one considers local, county, state and federal employees, that insulates the north coast from economic ups and downs.
Right now, in coffee shops and morning breakfast get togethers and in Face book discussions people are starting to talk about change. Some are pushing for the overthrow of home rule after the last election resulted in a liberal take-over of the county commission. They argue that going back to a paid commission elected countywide is the only way to defeat the liberal mob that have taken over and are moving quickly to solidify their position of government control on all levels.
I have serious doubts that this kind of change is the answer. I'm not entirely sure we have defined the problem if indeed one exists. The commission has blown up LNG. No surprise there. It's why they were elected. They are taking control of the Planning Commission and the new President of that commission has made it clear he wishes to operate strictly at the pleasure of the County Board as the laws state and in such a way that a separate planning commission is hardly necessary. What's wrong with that? The government is responding to the electorate. How can this be a problem? I can tell you that when someone is elected to office saying one thing but does another they don't stay in office long.
Throwing out home rule is a political solution to a philosophical difference. I can't think of many times that has made things better.
A good comparison is Tillamook, long standing commissioners being paid, they have much more outside funding for projects because they have sought it out, they have been in office for some time now doing what they can do to make their community better, and are more engaged with forestry issues in a meaningful way than we ever have been due to all our political theater. Government has become larger here in Clatsop County, and in some ways less effective under home rule. At the very least we need a county wide vote so that the target campaigning would not work for these extremists as well. The Chair of the democratic party in clatsop county is giving seminars on how to get the "lackeys" out of office, he's got it down to a numbers game. The end justifies the means, and look at what we have now, it's embarressing!
ReplyDelete"Government is so important to the economy now that Astoria City Manager Paul Benoit noted that it is the government sector, when one considers local, county, state and federal employees, that insulates the north coast from economic ups and downs." With the current state of affairs at the county level this will continue until only eateries and hostelries are left to pay for the expanding government, all industry and resource based businesses will be gone.
ReplyDelete“I am just…wondering, where is the glow of yesteryear? I’m wondering where the heroes went. Gosh, I don’t know how long ago they left. Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it is my responsibility to make it better. Interweave all these communities, and you really have an America that is back on its feet, a comfortable nation to live in again. I really think we’re gonna have to reassess what constitutes a hero.” ....Tom McCall’s interview with Author Studs Terkel
ReplyDeleteI know,Tom that you will not publish information that contraveines your views, but remember when we passed home rule and the sheriff had to actually have experience, education and knowledge for the job? We eliminated the provision later on, wound up with a sheriff whose total experience was pushing a patrol car around and the idea of home rule has been reduced since.
ReplyDeleteLet's go back to the time when we hired professional people to do jobs professionally.
As long as the Daily paper is run by who runs it, and we continue to have the same "DA", and the local chair of the democratic party and his few followers, we will have political chaos. Sad for all of us, we should all expect more from these people, but it's hard to get everyday people to understand this, so many are just trying to pay the light bill, this is tough place for many to make a living.
ReplyDeleteused to be a saying.....you get whatyou pay for....we pay them nothing, we get results that are worth nothing...they work for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWe need elected people in office that see Clatsop County as part of Oregon. These people seem to have none, if any relationships with business here, or business prospects outside the county. Clatsop County is not an island!
ReplyDeleteElecting those (sitting commissioners) children to run a business (Clatsop County) is paramount on rapid failure. These children only take, never give, and lie or tell fables when confronted. Yes, they are in bed with everything that spells socialism. They give the impression of listening but have carefully arranged everything in the playhouse.
ReplyDeleteDefinition of SOCIALISM
1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
Some people in the country are slowly waking up but it may be to late. It’s amazing that so many stand with their hands held out expecting all government entities to hand them everything. They believe all that these irresponsible so called leaders say and do.
YES IT’S TIME TO REFORM AND DO AWAY WITH
“THEIR HOME RULE GOVERNMENT”
AND RETURN IT TO OUR
“HOME RULE GOVERNMENT.”
TIME TO ACT IS NOW
Wally sounds like another criminal Sizemore, Defines socialism the way he wants.The future of our county looks bright, Progessive leadership is the best thing that has happened to this county.
ReplyDeleteIf you take a look at our history over the past 15 years, we generally don't elect the most qualified person running for County government, including the professional offices like DA and Sheriff. Instead, we elect the people we like. There is a big difference between being very qualified for the job and being liked.
ReplyDeleteIf we don't like the way the County is going, perhaps we citizens should find a very qualified person to run for office and stand behing him or her during the election.
If we hear things like "he is one of us" or "he has been around for a long time" or "I know his family" we should know to run from electing the person. If we hear that a candidate has education, training and experience in doing a similar job of management (which is what elected officials do), we should elect him/her. It is really as easy as that ... if we want the best government we can get that is.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteIt really isn't home rule form of government that is the problem. All
home rule means is that the citizens of the County decide what kind of
government we want. Read the charter, it makes sense. As a life long
county resident, I do not want my form of government to be decided by
the state legislature, which is what would happen if we were to abolish it.
I also do not think that the issue is pay. I for one think we actually
attract good qualified people to run for office, the problem is that a
small minority is electing these people. The real problem is that each
commissioner is elected by district, which means 20% of the residents
have a chance of choosing their commissioner and if only half of those
people vote, we have a very small number of people choosing the leaders
of the entire County.
I think the problem would be remedied by going back to electing
commissioners at large, the way it used to be when home rule was first
adopted in this County. Electing by district creates too many other
issues included favoritism of only certain areas, etc.
Some of the people in planning are anti industry and extreme enviros, we actually pay taxes to have some of these people prevent job creation, guess they don't get where their paycheck comes from!
ReplyDeleteAnother Sizemore, I beg your pardon. We or you only need to research the daily comings and goings to see the problems. A majority of those in public office keep pushing us towards a "European style government," can't they see the potential results? Greece-Italy-Ireland-Spain-UK-ect. Does this weeks suggest we are getting closer?
ReplyDeleteCase for a county wide vote, Huhtala could not get elected as a port commissioner on a county wide vote, but by district he's a county commissioner. TA DA!
ReplyDeleteFirst off the people who though Richard Lee and Ann Samuelson were great thought Home Rule was terrific, because neither could have been elected county-wide. Now the same could be said of a couple of current commissioners so is that a reason to move away from the professional manager model? That model has meant Clatsop County is almost alone in the state in having spent and saved wisely because instead of having local pols making ridiculous spending decisions a county manager makes those decisions?
ReplyDeleteOne poster says that "If you take a look at our history over the past 15 years, we generally don't elect the most qualified person running for County government, including the professional offices like DA and Sheriff. Instead, we elect the people we like. There is a big difference between being very qualified for the job and being liked."
Except for the judges the ONLY county-wide elected offices are sheriff and DA. Bergin was elected despite being endorsed by Forrester and all the "important" Astoria bigwigs and even then he won every single precinct in the county. He has professionalized the department, made some tough decisions rather than keeping staff for sentimental reasons. He was the head of the drug team, chief deputy , his fellow sheriffs elected him their state association president and he is well respected state wide.
The DA has only been here since he was appointed and then elected in a very contested election in 1994. Unlike all other offices there is NO residency requirement in Oregon for DA. So if he is doing such a poor job anyone could recruit a lawyer from ANYWHERE in Oregon to run without any real risk, yet Marquis just got re-elected to his 5th term. He too was elected by his fellow DA to be their association president. In turn they elected him to represent Oregon at the national level and that group elected him to represent the U.S. at the International Prosecutors Association. Marquis' office is considered a model office, has very little turn-over and you don't see screw-ups like across the river.
The problem is not the county elected officials or home rule. It is the people - both in and out of office - who think they own the town - politically or otherwise - because they are an "NBA" (Native Born Astorian) or who their folks were.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteCould you please provide some additional information on how sheriff Bergin has "professionalized' his "department" (or maybe "office")? From what I can tell, he has only carried on what Sheriff Raichl did: for the last seven years. Also,are you saying he made some tough decisions and kept staff for sentemental reasons or that he eliminated some of the good old boy staff? If the latter, who were eliminated? (
we can see the GOBs where were kept). Finally, please know that we all know that sheriffs are political. Selecting one of their members as sheriff of the year, president or some such thing is just a matter of these GOBs trying to save a member from political demise or chosing the one who raised his hand and said pick me pick me. The Oregon Sheriff's Association is simply another political party. Do you have a list of any achievements Bergin has made to improve the safety of people in Clatsop County?
As for Josh, what the lawyers in the state say is they don't want to take the cut in pay and political pressure Josh has created to try to rehabilitate the Clatsop County DA's Office. Do you have any achievements Josh has made to improve the safety of the County?
The problem Tom mentions is the people we elect. If we get only good old boys or people who cannot get a job somewhere else, we will continue to get the low quality work we are complaining about.
Bergin transformed the patrol division, the jail, and now the Transition Center.
ReplyDeleteThere have been low key "departures" os deputies who should have gone so time ago and having the 35 OTHER Sheriffs elect him their leader means something.
The DAs office has very little turn-over, wins almost all its major cases, and the fact that our DA is in national demand to train means he is not "someone who couldn't get a job elsewhere."
This sounds like a troll entry by someone who just resents the Sheriff and DA.If you want to run someone against them, do so, but don't try to claim that they are there because they are just likelable characters. In fact both are pretty controversial.
Pretty sad that "if" you graduate from a local high school in Clatsop County one of the main career goals locally would be to get a job working for the county. It used to be if you wanted a job, or two jobs in Clatsop County there was work. We now have such a reputation for not working with developers and investors, thank goodness for Warrenton, hope they can continue to hold their own despite the anti group that the Daily paper supports. The commissioners sure don't relate to businesses, seems they don't do much at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's simple, what we have now isn't working.
ReplyDeleteIs “Anonymous” one person or various sloppy thinking persons? Please get an online identity and stop being nameless. Reading comments from and responding to indistinctive commenters is a drag.
ReplyDelete