Denise Krause
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| Screen shot from KOBI news story |
Voters in Jackson County, Oregon turned down two ballot measure making the county commissioner position nonpartisan and increasing their number from three to five. But in the same May election they voted 63% to 37% to cut the commissioners salary from $150,000/year to $75,000. The salary would then have been scaled to match the county's median income. That measure did not go into effect because the salary cut was contingent on passage of the measure to increase the number of commissioners.
Denise Krause led the volunteer effort on those three measures. She is a candidate for the open seat for county commissioner in the November election. She presented her case to the Jackson County commissioners at their regular Wednesday board meeting. The county commission and budget committee has finished budget hearings for the upcoming fiscal year. This is the time when the county commission adopts its final budget to begin July 1.
The commissioners took no action on Krause's request.
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| KOBI screen shot |
You say that we need to pay the highest salaries in Oregon to get such highly qualified candidates as yourselves. I don’t believe it. More importantly, the public you serve does not believe it. . . .
Your job is one of representation of the public. End the step-system that treats your jobs as career positions in which longevity is the test of quality. You are evaluated on how well you represent the public will. The public has spoken. Your job is not to manage the county employees, the budget, or create bigger government. You oversee one employee and give your opinion on the budget. Your job is to listen to the taxpayers and represent their interests.
There is precedent for commissioner-led salary cuts. Krause cited the early 1980s. High interest rates shut down housing construction. Receipts plummeted from timber harvests from Oregon's federal forests, the source of most of the county's general fund budget. The commissioners -- I among them -- cut programs and personnel almost in half. Commissioners cut our own salaries to set an example and show we were in sync with the public will during a deep recession.
Krause said that the current commissioners have a similar need to set an example that shows they understand and share the upcoming burden on taxpayers. She said "the county has to bring a major spending proposal to county taxpayers," referencing a replacement county jail, which has cost estimates of some $300 million.
The county commissioners campaign in opposition to the ballot measures emphasized -- exaggerated, in the view of the measures' proponents -- the cost of county commissioners. Krause reminded them that their campaign said commissioners offices, salaries, benefits, and allowances for travel and cell phones, would cost A LOT more money. "The campaign signs told a story the public believed," Krause told them. You sold the idea of sky-high costs for commissioners, she said, so now you need to live with the consequences. The public is aware and aroused, she said. They have spoken and you should listen.
Jackson County residents will be able to watch a recorded version of the commissioner meeting when it is posted in a few days. But to know to watch it, and to pick out the elements of a long meeting that has interest to voters, requires curation done by professional media organizations. The only media at the meeting was television station KOBI, a locally owned NBC affiliate station, which aired a 70-second story on the subject.
Local residents got bad news about the local news-environment this week. EO Media, the owners of the Rogue Valley Times, the newspaper that replaced the failed Medford Mail Tribune, announced staff cuts and plans to sell the newspaper chain. They reported on their cutbacks saying that the business model for profitable news gathering is unsustainable.
Krause has a story to tell. The public has demonstrated its concern about the salaries and perquisites of its elected officials. If Southern Oregon retreats back into a news desert, people will find out about their community from news feeds on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other non-curated sources. It is better than nothing but mis-information is a easy to produce as accurate information; wild fantasy can be more interesting than work-a-day truth, and is therefore more interesting and fun to pass around.
There is no substitute for professional news media.
12 comments:
"Cut your salaries. Now."
Fat chance.
Southern Oregon has been a news desert for a long time.
Oh sure, it has "professional media" but it's the minor leagues.
When was the last time there was in-depth investigative coverage that affected change? The MT did some but not in its last decade or so.
Amongst insiders, KOBI is not regarded well.
Local radio is just as bad. It's either hate talk or news ripped from the newspaper. Lack of trusted information sources is dangerous in a disaster.
Credible media and good education are so important to a functioning democracy. Southern Oregon is deficient in both.
Ms. Krause, thank you for speaking out on behalf of Jackson County taxpayers and voters!
"If Southern Oregon retreats back into a news desert, people will find out about their community from news feeds from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other non-curated sources."
What I'd like to know is why Grants Pass, which doesn't even want to fund its sheriff's department, can afford a daily, delivered newspaper and we can't.
The plausible takeaways from the vote to cut county commissioner salaries include: a) Many who voted for this measure did not realize that the measure wouldn't go into effect without the other companion measures also passing. This means that many who voted for this measure are low-information citizens who do not think much about public policy except from the viewpoint that government is the problem and that an opportunity to hamstring government shouldn't be passed up. b) Denise Krause is not reading the room. The point she is missing is that the vote to cut commissioner salaries was a MAGA vote, not a good-government vote. Many of those who want to cut commissioner salaries support our Republican county commissioners and will never support her. c) Making such a big deal out of the idea that our county commissioners are paid too much will discourage many well-qualified, policy-oriented, well-educated people from running for commissioner. That's not good. Denise Krause should focus on other issues--the jail, mental health care, respect for state government, land use policy and its effect on housing and economic development, public transportation, and jet boats on the upper Rogue (an environmental issue)--instead of whether Colleen Roberts, Rick Dyer, Dave Dotterer and whoever replaces Dave this fall "deserve" to be paid whatever. It's almost like the Democrats are trying to out MAGA the MAGAs here. A lot of people are probably paid too much, and so what? Cutting their pay won't help someone who spends an outrageous amount for gas to commute from Grants Pass or Rogue River to a job in Medford or Ashland because she can't afford the rent in Medford and Ashland. Let's lift people up; let's not tear them down even if they happen to be sitting county commissioners and we don't agree with their politics.
I strongly suspect that the current BoC will ignore the challenge posed by Denise Krause yesterday, despite the results of the Vote on the measure overhauling the Commissioners Compensation Bonanza. Perish the thought they get out of their oversized offices and actually get out and talk to the people who pay their bloated salaries, and unfortunately, believed the outright lies and disinformation they spread before the May Election.
Since Sadlow left town under cover of darkness, I've subscribed to the Daily Courier, and imho, they are doing outstanding work covering both Counties, and continually expanding coverage in Jackson County, while continuing to keep fire in the feet of the Josephine County Commissioners which appears to make ours look semi competent, and only partially corrupt.
In addition, The Courier has not missed a day delivering my paper.
In our paper media news desert there is a local radio station that is making a sincere and sustained effort to fill the gap. Jefferson Public Radio has greatly staffed up its local news department and is working hard to be an audible and relevant local news source. JPR is making efforts to provide a well curated and reliable local news source.
JOR is a valuable resource for Southern Oregon, as is the Grants Pass Courier, which keeps growing it's coverage into Jackson County.
Sadlow, not Sadlow. My bad.
You're 100 % on the low information voter scale,, as I discovered when knocking on doors in an effort to get out the Vote. I talked to a number of folks who had voted No, No, Yes on the three measures and were shocked to find out that # 3 would not go into effect without #2. Incidentally, the doors we knocked on were from Democratic Registration lists .
That said, I think you make good points through out your post, but I'm not in the Steering Committee.
Peter, as much as I admire Denise, and will be supporting her Candidacy for the Board, I can't help but feel a different spokesperson for future Reform Measures might be advisable.
Keep up the good work, Peter.
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