Editorial Board of Yamhill County News Endorses Lindsay Berschauer

By Editorial Staff

Yamhill County, OR – October 21, 2024

Two people continue to vie for the position of county commissioner, an $80,000 a year job on the board of directors for a $200,000,000 per year organization. It is a position of significant responsibility.

Lindsay Berschauer is the best candidate. After five months of campaigning there has been ample opportunity to assess each person’s experience, vision, work ethic, and philosophy. This is not a close call.

As the incumbent, Ms. Berschauer has had nearly four years of experience performing the duties of the office. That time in office included the two years of the pandemic, which represented generational challenges for government leaders. Ms. Berschauer was integral to the investment and spending of millions of dollars in federal covid relief funds. She, together with the other commissioners, invested said funds wisely and appropriately. Her time in office also included the 2020 forest fires, where she worked with the other commissioners to manage the emergency use of the fairgrounds to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people and animals displaced by the fires. Ms. Berschauer was instrumental in applying for state grant money to implement House Bill 4002, to guide the county to being one of only ten counties statewide to have set up a deflection program as required by the new law. She has a good working relationship with our federal representative, Andrea Salanis, and each level of government is working on challenges facing county infrastructure. This includes the recently completed highway 18 overpass and the soon to be commenced traffic circle at the junction of highway 18 and highway 99.

Mr. King does not have anywhere near this depth of government experience. He has no government experience at all. Aside from putting his name forward as a candidate, he has demonstrated very little interest in the details of the position he seeks. He has not attended any of the board meetings in person (he lately claims to attend remotely, and his supporters will believe him, but given the responsible nature of the job it makes sense to demonstrate your interest indisputably and clearly as others before him have) nor did he attend any of the budget meetings. Both commissioners Johnston and Berschauer attended meetings prior to their election. Mr. King’s failure to show even this minimal level of interest in the actual mechanics of the job is concerning.

Grants have featured prominently as an issue in this campaign. Obviously, Commissioner Berschauer has accepted grant money for projects such as the implementation of a deflection program in accordance with HB 4002. She has been consistent that she will examine the details of each grant to ensure it makes sense for Yamhill County. Yet, at this late stage of the campaign, Mr. King has not identified a single grant that he believes we should apply for that we have not applied for.

At one of his recent events, there was a high-level discussion that there are grants available for energy reliability and renewability. It turns out that there is a County Energy Resilience Program grant. The enabling legislation is HB 360 and the amount of the grant per county is up to $50,000. HB 360 begins with language “Program to Assist Environmental Justice Communities.” Section 3.2.2.3.1 of the application for this grant requires that a “county must consult with representatives from local environmental justice communities to identify and map communities that experience social vulnerabilities.” You might be wondering what that means. Don’t worry, because the legislature has taken time to define an environmental justice community in ORS 469A.400 as including “communities of color, communities experiencing lower incomes, tribal communities, rural communities, coastal communities, communities with limited infrastructure and other communities traditionally underrepresented in public processes and adversely harmed by environmental and health hazards, including seniors, youth and persons with disabilities.”

These conditions lurk behind the benign language of “energy resilience.” It is not difficult to imagine that most -if not all- of these grants will contain language like this. It is also not difficult to imagine that much of the grant money would end up in the pockets of consultants professing their expertise in such matters.

Mr. King’s apparent lack of interest in the details of the job and the details of his own platform is consistent with his oft repeated stance that he wants to “get out of the way” and allow experts and professionals to do their job. In other words, he does not plan to do much. The problem with this approach is that those persons unknown are not accountable to the voters. The Anglo-American philosophy has traditionally (and correctly) been that elected people are the public’s voice in government, but for some, apparently, elected people are government’s voice to the public.

Because Mr. King has signaled his intention to outsource his duties and judgment to unknown and unelected individuals his personal views count for little. Contrary to Ms. Berschauer who has plainly stated her support for the rights of Yamhill County residents whether those are gun rights, property rights, or other rights.

Gun rights have historically not been much of a local government issue, but in the wake of the passage of SB554 in 2021, local governments now can prohibit lawful concealed carry in their facilities. There is no group of people less risky or more law abiding than concealed carry permit holders, so this law does nothing to improve public safety. The intention of this law is to make the practical exercise of your rights as miserable and inconvenient as possible. The legislature in Salem has been overtaken by Portland style policy, but there is no reason to allow it to get a foothold here.

The choice is clear. You can vote for someone who has shown that she will fight tirelessly for the benefit of the county and the people who live here. Or you can vote for surrender. Surrender of local control in exchange for a pittance of grant money. Surrender of your gun rights for no benefit at all. Surrender of your democratic voice in government in favor of a web of unelected bureaucrats, consultants, and experts.

Berschauer or King? To ask the question is to answer it: Berschauer.

Photo Credit: Yamhill County News File: Lindsay Berschauer Website / Bubba King Facebook Profile Photo