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2003-1235-Minutes for Meeting September 04,2003 Recorded 9/9/2003COUNTY rl TES FICIAL NANCYUBLANKENSHIP,FCOUNTY CLERKpS VAI 200301235 COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 09/09/2003 05;02;53 PM 11111111111111111111111 II III III 2003-1235 DESCHUTES COUNTY CLERK CERTIFICATE PAGE This page must be included if document is re-recorded. Do Not remove from original document. Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1130 NW Harriman St., Bend, OR 97701-1947 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 388-4752 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2003 Hearing Room - Administration Building - 1130 NW Harriman St., Bend The purpose of this meeting was for the Commissioners to make a selection of one of the three finalist candidates, whose names had been submitted by the Republican Central Committee, to complete the term of former State Representative Ben Westlund — District 53. In August the Commissioners had selected Mr. Westlund to complete the term of the State Senate position held by former Senator Bev Clarno, who was appointed to a regional Federal position. Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Tom De Wolf and Michael M. Daly. Also present was candidate Gene Whisnant. Also in attendance were Senator Ben Westlund; Anna Johnson of the Commissioners' Office; media representatives Jeff Mullins of KBND Radio, Barney Lerten of bend. com and The Bugle, Chris Barker of the Bulletin, a reporter from Z-21 TV, and approximately twenty other citizens. Chair Dennis Luke opened the meeting at 11: 00 a.m. LUKE: One of the privileges of being Chair is going last. So, Commissioner DeWolf, since Commissioner Daly went first last time, I would like to have you go first. DALY: I didn't know that was a privilege. Minutes of Special Meeting Thursday, September 4, 2003 Decision regarding Selection of State Representative Page 1 of 5 Pages DEWOLF: I didn't know that was one of the privileges, either. I thought we were going to toss a coin here. LUKE: It's one of the few privileges. DEWOLF: I didn't prepare any remarks for this morning, so I'm just going to ramble for a minute or so. I first ran for elective office in 1992 and won, for the City. I ran for County in 1996 and lost, and ran again in 1998 and won, and won last November. I've won and lost, I've served on the City Council, and served on the County Commission. And in all of these years, in all seriousness, this is the one part of this job that I would put very high on the list of my least favorite things to have been involved with. Electing someone to represent an entire District, whether State Senate or State Representative, is something that I stated last time, I believe very strongly that it ought to be done by all of the voters and not just by the three of us. But that's what our State Constitution says, when a vacancy happens; and we're here to do our best work. I believe I did that last time, when I voted to put now Senator Westlund into the position that he currently holds. And I'm doing it again today when I vote for Gene Whisnant to be our next State Representative for District 53. This has been a really difficult month for a lot of people. And people have said and done things that other people have disagreed with. Some of it has come out publicly and it has been really awkward, and has put a number of us into really awkward positions. I know that we all wish that maybe things could have unfolded differently, but this is very new territory for all of us. None of us involved in this process have faced this before. And the thing that I sincerely hope from my heart is that, assuming that there is at least one more vote like this, people will give Gene not only the benefit of the doubt, but the opportunity to be a terrific Representative for District 53. Minutes of Special Meeting Thursday, September 4, 2003 Decision regarding Selection of State Representative Page 2 of 5 Pages Personally, Gene is a good friend of mine. Lindi and I have socialized with Gene and Josie. We have numbers of mutual friends. I'm not speaking here about somebody that I don't know well and respect a great deal; and have a great time with outside of work. And I look forward to working with Gene. I've always found him to be a fair and honest man. Regardless of what people feel about the process, you can have your beefs with the Republican Central Committee, as that's everyone's right. What Dennis, Mike and I are faced with today is our job, according to the State Constitution. We were given three names, and the person I feel is the most qualified, based on his experience and his knowledge, is Gene Whisnant. And that's whom I am voting for this morning. MIKE DALY: I have a prepared statement, and I am going to kind of use it as notes. Please forgive me if I slur my words, and no close-ups, please — I just had a root canal done this morning and am all numb on one side. First, let me say that this has been an interesting process which became somewhat complicated as time went on. In the first decision, we had to appoint a new State Senator. We were given three candidates from which to choose by the Republican Central Committee. Linda Swearingen, Ben Westlund and Gene Whisnant were all good candidates. Linda and Ben both had the experience, and Gene Whisnant had the desire. My decision was to go with Ben Westlund because he had the experience and, most of all, he had been elected by the people of Deschutes County to the State Legislature on three different occasions. I felt that Ben Westlund had earned that position by his past service to the citizens of Deschutes County. I did not necessarily agree with Ben's recent vote to raise income taxes to help balance the state budget, but I have not discussed it with him and do not know all of the reasons he made that decision. In any event, he has served our citizens well during his years in the Legislature, and I stand by my decision to appoint him to the Senate position. Minutes of Special Meeting Thursday, September 4, 2003 Decision regarding Selection of State Representative Page 3 of 5 Pages Now we need to appoint someone to fill his previous position. I have to say that I am a little disappointed with the way the Republican Central Committee handled this process of submitting three names to us for consideration. If the three names submitted to us had contained the three most qualified candidates, Linda Swearingen should have been one of those candidates. She really is the most experienced of the candidates who had shown an interest in being appointed. However, her name is not included in the list of persons we were to consider, so it is a moot point. I will say beyond this that I don't think Linda originally had a desire to serve as a State Representative. When I interviewed her right after the Senate appointment, her answer at first was "no"; probably the reason was because she didn't want to have to run for office every two years. I have to commend the candidates who have come forward with their interest in this appointment. Johnny Corbin and Jason Fellows are both to be commended for their interest in wanting to serve. I do feel, however, that both of them should spend some more time being involved in the community, serving on other boards or commissions, to better prepare themselves for a position of this kind. There is no question in my mind that, of the three candidates from which we must choose, Gene Whisnant is by far the most qualified. He has worked very hard over the past years to prepare himself for this position, and I believe in rewarding hard work. He also has a deep desire to serve. Therefore, my selection to represent the citizens of District 53 is Gene Whisnant. DENNIS LUKE: I, too, was concerned about the process. The process has always been very important to me. And I ran into somebody not too long ago, and I had been very successful in killing a bill that they wanted. This was four years ago. They took me aside and said, you know, we learned a lot about the process from you, and how the system is supposed to work. You can still follow the law to the letter, but the process can be wrong. And people can feel cheated by the process. So, both the law and the process are very important, because if people feel they are being left out, they will either move forward and get involved, and jump around and do some things; or they will walk away. And there are far too many people who walk away from our election cycle as it is. Minutes of Special Meeting Thursday, September 4, 2003 Decision regarding Selection of State Representative Page 4 of 5 Pages I enjoyed the interviews we had yesterday. I think Mr. Fellows has a future in politics in Deschutes County, and I hope he follows through on it. Because I think he would do well. I wish Gene all the best. There are going to be some tough special sessions, if he is successful in the primary and the general elections. I don't think the problems the state is facing are going to go away. I find myself in a position of not being able to vote today, so the Chair is going to abstain. I will accept a motion, and we will move forward. DEWOLF: I move that we appoint Gene Whisnant as State Representative for District 53. DALY: Second. VOTE: DALY: Yes. DEWOLF: Yes. LUKE: The Chair abstains. Being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 11:10 a. m. DATED this 4th Day of September 2003 for the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. ATTEST: Recording Secretary Dennis R. Luke, Chair Tom DeWolf, CorlwAssioner ichael M. Daly ommissioner Minutes of Special Meeting Thursday, September 4, 2003 Decision regarding Selection of State Representative Page 5 of 5 Pages