Morrow County voters reject bid to recall board of commissioners

The three members of the Morrow County Board of Commissioners easily turned back a recall attempt Monday.

According to unofficial results from the Morrow County Clerk’s Office, voters rejected the recalls of commissioners David Sykes, Roy Drago Jr. and Jeff Wenholz by a 2-to-1 margin. In a statement after the results were posted, Sykes was forward looking.

“I am very pleased with the outcome of this election,” he wrote. “The people have spoken. Morrow County has a bright future, and I hope now we all come together to build a great place for ourselves and our children.”

A group called Morrow County Citizens for Liberty and Justice tried to remove the commissioners from office for a variety of reasons. Lead petitioner Stuart Dick argued that the commissioners had failed to adequately solve a long running conflict over ambulance service, deal effectively with the ongoing nitrate crisis in the Lower Umatilla Basin or obtain fair tax deals with Amazon Web Services data centers.

The commissioners countered by saying that they inherited the issues Dick criticized them for and that they were being addressed. Sykes also said that Morrow County would lose local control if he and his colleagues were recalled because Gov. Tina Kotek would appoint replacements.

By voting against the recall, Morrow County avoided having to completely replace its board of commissioners for the second time in three years. County voters recalled two commissioners in late 2022 while the third declined to run for reelection. Sykes and Wenholz had already been elected by the time the recall was certified, and after they took office, they appointed Drago to the third seat.

While Sykes and Wenholz aren’t scheduled for election again until 2026, Drago will appear on the ballot later this year. After running in a four-way election to serve a full term, Drago was forced into a November runoff with farmer Gus Peterson.