Clackamas County Commission: Where Everyone Is Running For Something

It's election season in Oregon. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Oregon City, the seat of Clackamas County government, where the Board of County Commissioners is in full campaign mode.  

Take roll at a county commission meeting, and you may notice something:

Commissioner Bernard? Jim Bernard is running for county chair – the county's top elected office.

Commissioner Savas? Paul Savas is also running for county chair.

Chair Ludlow? John Ludlow is the county chair, and he's running for re-election.

Commissioners Tootie Smith and Martha Schrader are defending their seats in this election. Everyone else on the county board — three of the five commissioners — is running for chair. It's made already strained relations on the board even more tense.

At a recent televised debate, Savas said he's running for county chair to unite the board's message.

"I think singing from the same sheet of music and working as a team is primarily what I'm trying to drive for," Savas said.

But his opponents weren't going to let that stand.

"I guess I want to comment a little bit on that," Jim Bernard interjected. 

Bernard said Savas has caused problems by equivocating on issues. Bernard said he got tired of trying to answer Savas' questions — for example, on marijuana rules.

"But in the end, we needed the regulation," Bernard said. "He voted 'no.' This occurs a lot. And you know what leadership is? It's making a decision with the information you've got."

Ludlow, the incumbent chair, seconded that criticism of Savas.

"Commissioner Savas has been on the short end of more 3-to-1 and 4-to-1 (votes) than anybody. Bar none," Ludlow said. "I don't know what reality he's talking about, but the problem is not teamwork."

The pile on grew rough enough to prompt this question from debate moderator Raymond Rendleman, of the Clackamas Review: “Why should anyone negotiate with you, if you’re just going to vote ‘no’ on everything?”

Savas responded with a bit of sarcasm.

"Well, it feels like my birthday, I just really love that opening, thank you. It's not my birthday by the way," Savas said. 

There's a fourth person in the non-partisan race — Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay. He's also running on a platform of "working together," though he missed the recent televised debate.

It's very possible none of these four will get more than 50-percent of the vote this month, sending the top two to a run-off in November.

All the candidates have their differences. Take transit and transportation spending. Ludlow wants gas taxes spent on roads, rather than bike paths.

"This is Oregon, and I love Oregon. But about six months or eight months of the year, you're not going to be riding a bike unless you're in downtown Portland and you're a zealot," Ludlow said. "You're not going to be walking those trails. You're going to be getting in an automobile."

Bernard is pro-transit.

"Not all people can own a car — cars are very expensive. We have to have multi-modal opportunities. We need sidewalks that connect and paths that connect," Bernard said. "We don't have any other choice."

Savas said the key is reducing congestion: to move freight and people and ultimately create jobs.  

"I think that if you look at successful metropolitan regions where there's good, ample job growth and good available jobs, there's a certain amount of capacity, based on how much throughput, lanes, whatnot, that generates a certain amount of output, which is really goods, sales, services," Savas said. 

If the relationships within the Clackamas County commission are strained, the conflict is worse with the land-use managers at Metro, the regional government.

Ludlow said Metro is digging in its heels when it comes to deciding where development is allowed.

"Well, Metro doesn't want to sit at the table," Ludlow said. He later called Metro officials "bullies."

Bernard, however, said Metro's problem isn't with Clackamas County – it's with Ludlow.

"They're not willing to sit down at the table — it's not with me … it's with John," Bernard said.

Commissioner Savas has served on Metro advisory committees, and he argued it's possible to be in a working relationship — even with officials you disagree with — without being "submissive."

If Ludlow is re-elected, the commission could remain exactly the same as it is now. But if Bernard or Savas wins, the already fractured board would soon have another critical decision to make: filling the suddenly vacant seat on the board.