Jason Freilinger vs. Patti Milne for Marion County commissioner: a clear choice

County commissioner elections often get about as much attention from voters as an “exciting” (using that word in its most ironic sense) race for county assessor. Yawn...

But in Marion County, as elsewhere in Oregon, November’s election is going to determine who will play a big part in running county government for the next four years. Marion County’s budget is $350 million, affecting 315,000 county residents. That’s a big deal.

Currently Marion County’s three commissioners are all Republicans. Two are running for re-election this year, Patti Milne and Janet Carlson. Carlson is unopposed, while Milne has a strong Democratic challenger: Jason Freilinger.

The two candidates offer voters a clear choice. They have different backgrounds, and different governing approaches.

Patti Milne has been an elected official for seventeen years. She was a State Representative from 1993-1998 and is finishing her third term as county commissioner (1999-2010).

Jason Freilinger, by contrast, has worked in the private sector for the past fifteen years. He’s supervised up to 900 employees for cable companies and currently is Customer Loyalty manager for T-Mobile.

Land use probably is the area in which their differing political philosophies are most apparent. Milne is a strong proponent of individual property rights and largely unfettered development, even on high value resource lands.

Milne voted to allow a 43 lot, 217 acre Measure 37 subdivision on groundwater limited farmland in the south Salem hills to move forward, even though hydrogeologic experts hired by Marion County concluded there wasn’t evidence of enough water for the development. Recently a circuit court judge reversed this 2-1 Board of Commissioners’ decision, ruling that Milne and another commissioner had failed to properly consider both the facts and the law in this case.

Milne also voted to approve a 400 acre expansion of the Woodburn urban growth boundary that would turn farmland into industrial acreage, even though Marion County has over 2000 acres of undeveloped industrial property. This decision also didn’t pass muster legally. The Land Use Board of Appeals ruled that the City of Woodburn hasn’t demonstrated the need for this expansion.

Jason Freilinger takes a more balanced approach to land use. He’s in favor of carefully considering all the facts in a case before reaching a decision, since it is costly to all concerned (would-be developer, neighbors, taxpayers) when a court finds that the Board of Commissioners erred in approving or denying a development.

Farming is big business in Marion County. Freilinger wants to protect high value farmland from being unnecessarily paved over. He seeks to make sure that urban growth boundary expansions are truly needed, rather than the result of an unrealistic “if we rezone it, they will come” economic development notion. Freilinger wants to see the county attract more well-paying technology, manufacturing, and green industry jobs rather than minimum wage warehouse jobs.

Courthouse Square is another hot issue of considerable interest to Marion County voters. This block-sized development in downtown Salem houses most county offices and the Salem Transit Mall. At least, it used to. Courthouse Square, which cost taxpayers $34 million, has serious construction problems and has been declared unusable by building inspectors.

Office space for county employees, including the Board of Commissioners, is being rented at a significant cost. Taxpayers are still on the hook for $20 million needed to finish paying off Courthouse Square, but Milne and the other commissioners have settled with the architects/contractors for only $1.8 million. This has led to many questions being raised about how well the project was managed before and after construction.

Having taken office in 1999, Patti Milne was a county commissioner in 2000 when Courthouse Square opened. Problems with the building became apparent soon after. Milne supports a study that is underway of what went wrong with the project, and how the construction problems could have been prevented. However, she has declined to take responsibility for her actions as a county commissioner in overseeing Courthouse Square from prior to its opening to its current certification as dangerously unusable.

Jason Freilinger is making Courthouse Square one of his central campaign issues. He argues that a county structural engineer was barred by the Board of Commissioners from assessing the project, and even though problems with the building were evident as early as 2002, only minimal investigations into construction defects occurred until recently, when concrete slabs were found to be considerably weaker than specifications required.

Other issues point to both differences and similarities between Freilinger and Milne.

Freilinger is in favor of comprehensive family planning to reduce unwanted pregnancies, while Milne’s position is tilted toward abstinence-only programs in Marion County. Both agree, however, that taxes and fees shouldn’t be raised during the current recession.

Freilinger is being endorsed by the Marion County Farm Bureau and Oregon League of Conservation Voters, while Milne’s Voter’s Pamphlet statement for the May primary didn’t list any endorsements.

Comments

[CountyObserver]

Freilinger won't get above 35%. He's a joke. I'm not sure how you qualify saying that he is a "strong candidate." No record of public service. No fundraising. No civic involvement. Looks like he was recruited because he would toe the anti-growth/anti-development line. Look at who is supporting him...this is not a mainstream candidate with broad appeal. This guy is pretty fringe. Milne isn't a prize...but Freilinger is about as weak a candidate as one can expect. We know you hate Milne, and this is your blog. You can do and say what you choose. But let's not be delusional and think Freilinger is the second coming.

[Blogger Brian]

Hmmmm. I thought candidates with no experience in public office were all the rage now. Tea Party folks are getting elected because they aren't part of the political establishment, like Milne clearly is.

Yes, look at who is endorsing Freilinger. The Marion County Farm Bureau. Wow, what a bunch of wild-eyed radicals (not).

Keep on thinking that Milne is a shoe-in to win. That's how Miller won in Alaska and O'Donnell in Delaware. Overconfidence is deadly in politics.

You might just find that voters aren't wild about Patti Milne presiding over a $34 million Courthouse Square fiasco. These days politicians are being held accountable for wasting taxpayer dollars, as they should be.

[CountyObserver]

Brian, I truly wish that people would pay attention that the courthouse fiasco happened on Milne's watch. Fault or not...she needs to own it. But Freilinger can't capitalize on any of it. He is only appealing to his narrow group of supporters, and Milne is entrenched. There is no perceived need to boot her out of there...by more than your group(s). It's not enough. Especially in this year that will bode really badly for democrats. You can keep spinning that positive-sunshiney crap, but it is not grounded in reality or even a basic understanding of the electorate.

[Blogger Brian]

CountyObserver, the electorate is frustrated with political business as usual, not just Democrats. Because the Dems are in control of things at the national level, I agree that by and large Democratic candidates are facing an uphill battle to be elected this year.

However, I see special circumstances here in Marion County, with the Freilinger-Milne race. Given that Courthouse Square has been declared unusable, with a highly visible fence closing it off, I suspect that Salem/Keizer voters now realize much more fully that they actually are part of Marion County, and that decisions of county commissioners affect them.

Plus, Milne has ticked off many voters in various parts of the county with her unpopular votes on land use cases. They'll be motivated to kick her out of office. So I'm betting that the race will be considerably closer than you're expecting.

[quid]

don't kid yourself about Milne's supposed conservative views on land use >> she doesnt care about the little guy >> but has granted only exemptions to the big powerful interests
marion county is very corrupt .. and from experience the problem is rooted in the corrupt office of legal council
if u want details contact me > [email protected]
i dont like libs or democrats in general > but any change is a good change when it comes to marion county

[Davis]

If the May vote on the charter had been even a little bit close, I might be able to grant your criticism of Milne's land-use positions some credence. But with a margin of defeat of more than 3-1 (77% no), to believe that Freilinger's chief claim to fame (being a leading proponent of the charter) will be able to carry him to victory is delusion.

Besides, he is proving at every joint public appearance to be woefully ill-equipped to be a county commissioner. He is inarticulate, cannot nail down an answer to questions, and fails miserably to counter Milne.

Milne had no involvement with the planning or construction of Courthouse Square. As you, yourself, stated in the post, she joined the Board just as the building was completed. Since she is the longest-serving member of the current board, none of the commissioners can be held to blame for poor oversight of the construction. I am sure that there will be more to come in the way of damages/compensation/judgments from those at fault.

[Blogger Brian]

Davis, you need to read the post I put up tonight about how Freilinger crushed Milne at a League of Women Voters debate. See:
http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2010/09/why-jason-freilinger-out-debated-patti-milne.html

You're utterly wrong about Freilinger vs. Milne. Jason clearly had more facts at his command than Patti, which is a big weakness of hers. Like Stephen Colbert, she believes in making decisions from her "gut" in the spirit of truthiness -- not reality.

Regarding oversight of Courthouse Square, Freilinger pointed out that she was part of a Board that refused to allow independent inspectors from Marion County (or elsewhere) to inspect the construction as it was going on.

Then she failed to look into the building's problems that became apparent as early as 2002. So now we're left with a useless $34 million Courthouse Square, because Milne and the other commissioners put their heads in the sand and pretended everything was OK as the building disintegrated around them.